THE RECENT ECLIPSE OF THE SUN 23 



observations rejected in this summary fashion ; and they, therefore, 

 crossed the Atlantic in great force to observe the Mediterranean eclipse 

 of December, 1870. 



It was with some little regret, I must confess, that, as the eclipse 

 of 1870 drew near, I found many of the intending observers proposing 

 to direct their chief attention to the question whether the corona is a 

 solar appendage or a mere glare in our own atmosphere. It seemed to 

 me clear that the atmospheric theory was completely disposed of by 

 the evidence, while a host of interesting questions remained to be an- 

 swered respecting the nature of the amazing solar appendage thus 

 shown to exist. "I think I have not erred," I wrote in October, 1870, 

 " in insisting that we have ample evidence to prove that the corona is 

 a solar appendage ; but what sort of appendage it may be, remains 

 yet to be shown. Observations directed to show whether it is or not 

 a solar appendage will, I apprehend, be a total waste of time ; and it is 

 for this reason that I have, at the meetings of the Astronomical Society 

 and elsewhere, deprecated all such observations." (Preface to second 

 edition of " Other Worlds.") Nay, I fear I even offended one or two 

 by the zeal with which I urged the importance of endeavoring to de- 

 termine, not whether the corona is a solar appendage, but what sort 

 of solar appendage it may be. 



However, the observations were made, photographs and sketches 

 were taken, and the general conclusion drawn from the work of 1870 

 was that which Sir John Herschel, only six weeks before his lamented 

 decease, enunciated in the following terms in a letter addressed to my- 

 felf : " The corona is certainly extra-terrestrial and ultra-lunar." 



Even then, however, some doubts still remained in a few minds. 

 The question of the corona was still mooted in essays and lectures 

 nay, the atmospheric theory was so successfully defended before the 

 British Association last August, as to lead Prof. Tait to remark that, 

 in his opinion, it was in the main true ; while the president of the 

 meeting Prof. Thompson even expressed the opinion that the spe- 

 cial observations made last December proved that the greater part 

 of the corona was a mere phenomenon of our own atmosphere. It 

 must be pointed out, however, in justice to these eminent mathemati- 

 cians, that only one side of the question had been adequately presented 

 to them. 



Thus another year had passed, and the subject of the corona stood 

 almost exactly as in the autumn of 1870. Well-appointed expeditions 

 were again about to set forth to view an important eclipse, and again 

 the question which the observers had before them was the worn-out 

 problem whether the corona is or is not a solar appendage. 



But much more faith was placed in photography than had been the 

 case in 1870. Then, men doubted whether photography could give 

 good pictures of the. corona. The colored prominences had been pho- 

 tographed repeatedly; but the finest telescopes had failed to bring the 



