Henry Draper

"Within the last few years a new form of chemical analysis has arisen, which ascertains substances by observation upon the color and properties which they impart to flames during combustion. It has been long known that the combustion of certain bodies gave certain colors to flames; strontia, for ex­ample, affording the beautiful crimson so well known in . But no sure method existed of using the facts of combustion for chemical investigations, until the invention of the . Spectrum analysis enables us to detect the minutest trace of the constituents of substances burnt. It has already discovered several unsuspected new metals; has given us the power of analyzing bodies whose com­position we had not the means of ascertaining, and has proved to us that many of the elements of the earth are present in the inaccessible sun, and even in those more remote stars whose distance the most refined researches of astronomy cannot determine."

"As the occurred at a time when there were no s and the was in a condition of minimum activity, it seemed probable that new facts concerning the might be ascertained. For this reason I organized an expedition, consisting of my wife and myself, my friends, Profs. and , and Mr. Edison. , , was selected as the station for a temporary observatory, because~ while it was near the central line of totality, it was supplied with water from the granite of Cherokee Mountain, which facilitated photographic operations, and was in a region that was dry and apt to be cloudless. Being on the line of the , apparatus could be easily transported."

"Toward the close of 1868 Professor Draper became greatly interested in a project to establish an observatory in , and had numerous consultations upon the subject with , at that time the controller, and , the architect of the park. In Decembert the park was visited and the site of the observatory selected. It was a knoll at about 105th street, 130 feet above the water, and commanding an unobstructed view. Dr. Draper was appointed the director of this new observatory, and plans were arranged for securing the $250,000 which was estimated would be required for carrying the project into operation."

"I propose in this preliminary paper to indicate the means by which I have discovered oxygen and probably in the sun, and also to present a new view of the consitutiion of the solar spectrum. Oxygen discloses itself itself by bright lines or bands in the solar spectrum, and does not give dark absorption ines like the metals."