A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 3 



fourth, that the region in which the Fraunhofer lines have 

 their origin has been ascertained and shown to be an atmos- 

 pheric envelope (which may be some two or three hundred 

 miles deep) lying immediately above the atmosphere; fifth, 

 that the theory that the sierra is of the nature of an atmos- 

 phere has been invalidated, and that the earlier opinion (which 

 Professor Respighi had supported on the evidence of his spec- 

 troscopic observations) has been confirmed, if not demonstra- 

 ted, namely, that the sierra consists of multitudes of rosy 

 prominences, resembling the large ones in all other attributes 

 except size. 16 A, A2WU+1811, 247. 



THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF DECEMBER, 1870. 



The following report of the late solar eclipse, and of the 

 results accomplished by it, is furnished by one of the most 

 eminent of our American astronomers, and one who occupied 

 a prominent part in the observations made : 



The weather along the narrow line of the late total eclipse 

 was generally unfavorable. Out of twenty or more parties 

 of observers, whose positions extended from the Atlantic to 

 the Adriatic, about half saw nothing whatever of the total 

 phase, and most of the other half were seriously interfered 

 with by the clouds. The Americans were generally more 

 fortunate than their European brethren. At Xeres, near the 

 Atlantic coast of Spain, Professor Winlock's party was en- 

 tirely successful. So was the English party at Cadiz under 

 Lord Lindsay. At Oran, in Algeria, the station selected by 

 Professors Tyndall and Huggins, a dense black cloud covered 

 the sun a few minutes before the critical moment, and did not 

 disappear till all was over. At Syracuse, the party from the 

 Naval Observatory, Messrs. Hall, Harkness, and Eastman, 

 were successful ; while at Catania and on Mount Etna none 

 of the parties saw any thing. 



The first object of nearly all the parties was to learn some- 

 thing of the constitution of the corona, and especially to con- 

 firm or disprove the observations of the American observers 

 on the eclipse of August 7, 1869, which seemed to show that 

 the corona consisted of a glowing gas. The instrumental 

 means employed for this purpose were the spectroscope, the 

 polariscope, and photography. 



One of the best organized spectroscopic parties was that at 



