252 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the eclipse of 1901 probably failed to add much to our knowledge of 

 the sun. 



Aside from the problems relating to the sun's constitution, there 

 is still outstanding the question as to the existence of an intra- 

 mercurial planet. This problem can be studied to much greater 

 advantage at total eclipses than at other times. Photographic charts 

 can be made of the whole region about the sun during totality. An 

 examination of several sets of such photographs, taken at different 

 eclipses, should confirm or ref^^te the existence of such a planet. For 

 greater certainty the sky should be photographed in duplicate at each 

 eclipse. Although sufficient material for the decision of this question 

 could apparently he accumulated rapidly, this has not yet been accom- 

 plished for a variety of reasons. At the eclipse of 1900, several parties 

 were provided with apparatus especially planned for this work. The 

 weather was everywhere perfect, but accidents of one kind or another 

 affected the results. The Smithsonian party, however, obtained pho- 

 tographs, one of which showed stars fainter than the eighth magnitude. 

 Several suspicious objects Avere found on these plates, which remain 

 unconfirmed, owing to the failure of other attempts. This and other 

 questions, which, it was hoped, would be decided by the eclipse of 1901, 

 must await some later eclipse for their solution. 



To-day, although much is known about the sun, its deeper secrets 

 are yet unraveled. The foundations of physical science appear, in- 

 deed, to be somewhat shaken. It is hinted that molecules and atoms 

 are, after all, but 'convenient fictions,' signifying, perhaps, that the 

 human mind is not capable of grasping the ultimate conditions of 

 matter. We hear of corpuscles, wliich are inconceivably small 'frag- 

 ments of atoms.' These corpuscles are carriers of electricity. It may 

 be that in this line lies the explanation of many terrestrial, solar, and 

 even cosraical, phenomena. 



