XVIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



limb at the point where the second contact would take place, and 

 was watching the gradual brightening of 1474, and the magne- 

 sium lines. As the crescent grew narrower, I noticed a fading 

 out, so to speak, of all the dark lines in the field of view, but was 

 not at all prepared for the beautiful phenomenon which presented 

 itself when the moon finally covered the whole photosphere. 

 Then the whole field was at once filled with brilliant lines, which 

 suddenly flashed into brightness, and then gradually faded away 

 until, in less than 2 seconds, nothing remained but the lines I had 

 been watching. The slit was very close, and the definition per- 

 fect. Of course I cannot positively assert that all the bright lines 

 held exactly the same position that had been occupied by dark 

 ones previously, but I feel very sure of it, as I particularly noticed 

 several groups, and the whole arrangement and relative intensity 

 of the lens struck me as perfectly familiar. Mr. Pye saw the 

 same thing, for an instant only. Professor Winlock did not, as 

 his telescope at the time, in accordance with his directions, was 

 pointed to a spot at some distance from the sun's limb ; neither 

 did Mr. Abbay see it. 



*' This observation is a confirmation of Secchi's continuous 

 spectrum at the edge of the sun, and, I think, tends to make 

 tenable the original theory of Kirchoff as to the constitution of 

 the sun, and the origin of the dark lines in the ordinary solar 

 spectrum." 



General E. Abbott, in a letter to Professor J. E. Hilgard, states, 

 " We have settled that the corona, in part, at least, is solar. The 

 light is strongly polarized in radial planes." 



Professor Peirce says, in a letter, " that the true corona is 

 proved to be a solar atmosphere, extending about 80 miles above 

 the visible surface of the sun, there being three different sources 

 of proof of this." 



Lockyer, in his report, in *' Nature," of January 19, asserts 

 that the corona is a compound phenomena, arising some 5' or 

 6' high around the moon, with a light beyond, which different 

 observers have noted differently, now stellate with many rays ; 

 now stellate with few; now absolutely at rest; now revolving 

 rapidly. 



From the spectroscopic observations, Lockyer thinks that the 

 chromosphere may be built up of the following layers, which are 

 in the order of vapor density in the case of known elements : 



