Total Eclipse of the Sun, July 28, 1851. 375 



and one point appeared to be in contact with the sun, as re- 

 presented in Fig. 4, which Fig. shows the appearance at the 

 termination of totality. The mass of light below this also 

 increased in altitude as the moon advanced, and that to the 

 eastern side diminished to less than one-half the altitude it 

 had when first observed, and these changes I think afford 

 the most satisfactory evidence that tiie prominences belong 

 to the sun and not to the moon. No change was observed 

 in the form or position of the prominences, or in the position 

 of the detached mass of light to that of the crescent, farther 

 than that due to the motion of the moon ; nor did there ap- 

 pear any instability or wavering in their colour or intensity. 

 I estimated the intensity and colour of the prominences to be 

 as following : — the centre parts to be very nearly equal to that 

 of a clear moon, both in shade and intensity ; towards their 

 edges it was brighter, and of a fine rose colour, particularly 

 the crescent, to which my attention was mostly directed ; it 

 was brightest, and of a rose colour at its point farthest from 

 the sun, the colour fading into yellow in the centre, and par- 

 taking of a light straw-yellow at the point nearest to the sun. 

 The other prominences had the same colour and shading ; and 

 observing these with the naked eye, I distinctly saw the 

 crescent with its marked colour. The place of the others I 

 could not point out, without having first become acquainted 

 with their position, through the aid of the telescope. They 

 became visible on the disappearance of the beads, and were 

 blotted out at the moment of their reappearance. 



The corona or glory which surrounded the moon during the 

 three and a half minutes that the totality lasted, was brightest 

 nearest the place of the sun, gradually becoming fainter as 

 the distance from the moon's edge increased, and extending 

 all round to about one-third of the moon's diameter, where 

 it was lost in space, or blended with the back ground of the 

 sky ; its colour was of a soft silvery white, with brighter 

 corruscations shooting through it all round, extending be- 

 yond the general light of the corona, and having a kind of 

 flickering appearance. 



Over a space of 30°, measuring from the sun"'s apex to- 

 wards the east, these corruscations were the greatest and 



2b2 



