34 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



he and Bond have concluded that they are fluid. It soon 

 became doubtful whether a fluid ring would be any more 

 stable, and Professor Peirce hence conceived the idea that it 

 was held up by the attractions of the satellites. Mr. Him, a 

 French physicist, has lately presented a paper to the French 

 Academy, in which he maintains that the ring is neither solid 

 nor fluid, but is a swarm of small particles, which looks solid 

 owing to the great distance at which we see it. The idea is 

 not new, as it was developed mathematically more than ten 

 years ago by Mr. J. C. Maxwell, of England ; but Mr. Hirn ad- 

 duces some new arguments to its support. One of these is 

 that when the ring is seen on its dark side, which is present- 

 ed to us on very rare occasions, it does not seem absolutely 

 black, a little light shining through. 



COINCIDENCE OF SOLAR OUTBURSTS AND MAGNETIC 



DISTURBANCE. 



An interesting coincidence between solar outbursts and 

 magnetic storms, if not a relation of cause and effect, is sug- 

 gested by Professor Airy in a communication to Nature. In 

 this, referring to an announcement by Father Secchi of a re- 

 markable outburst from the sun's limb, which lasted nearly 

 four hours, as witnessed by him on the 7 th of July, he remarks 

 that a magnetic storm commenced the same day, its influence 

 upon all the instruments being unusually sudden and percep- 

 tible. The disturbance diminished gradually to the evening 

 of the second day, and was accompanied during a part of the 

 time by an aurora. If a connection really existed between 

 the two phenomena, the transmission of the influence from the 

 sun to the earth must have occupied two hours and twenty 

 minutes, or a longer time if Father Secchi did not see the act- 

 ual beginning of the outburst. 12 A, August 22, 1872, 328. 



BRIGHT LINES IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE. 



Professor C. A. Young has published a preliminary report 

 to Professor Peirce, superintendent of the Coast Survey, de- 

 scribing the bright lines he found in the spectrum of the 

 chromosphere during his observations at Sherman, Wyoming 

 Territory, the most elevated point on the Pacific Railway. 

 Professor Young was sent to this point at the instance of 

 several men of science, w T ho wished to have some trials made 



