On the Solar Eclipse of 9th September, 1885. 387 



where the moon first touched the sun at the commencement of 

 the eclipse, and at the point directly opposite thereto — that is, 

 where the moon first emerged from before the sun's face. 

 Proctor's generalisation, again, as to the relative development of 

 the outer and inner corona, was certaiuly confirmed on this 

 occasion. He says : — 



" ' 1. Where any great gap or rift appears in the outer or 

 radiated part of the corona, there a depression is seen 

 in the inner and brighter portion. 



" ' 2. Where the inner portion of the corona is depressed, 

 there the coloured prominences are wanting, and the 

 sierra is very shallow.' 



"I think, if you will consider this carefully, you will agree 

 with me, that what we saw confirms the generalisations here 

 given. The colour of the corona, I should say, was that of very 

 brilliant electric light, with, however, a faint but decided tinge 

 of gold." 



The Bishop of Nelson gives the following account of the 

 corona, as seen by him : — 



"No sooner had the luminous body of the moon established 

 itself on the eyes, and the luminous ring or chromosphere with its 

 protuberances — which seemed to my eye to be at points corre- 

 sponding to 4 or 5 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and 11 o'clock on the face 

 of the sun, treated as an imaginary clock face — there came the 

 next grand spectacle, almost instantaneously, yet with a slight 

 deliberation (worthy as of regal stateliness), with nothing of the 

 scenic or startling transformation slide or scene about it : from 

 the luni- solar disc as a centre, and from the chromosphere, shot 

 forth the glory of the corona from all points — well-likened to a 

 Brunswick star, and, if I may be pardoned for such a matter of 

 fact association and illustration, reminding me of some of those 

 feats of armour decoration which may be seen in the corridor of 

 the White Tower of London, where stars of every order are 

 formed of rays made up of the sheen of bayonets or ramrods, 

 polished and burnished almost as white as snow. There was a 

 tendency to a square shape impressed on the whole, with the 

 exception of what was about the line of the moon's equator, the 

 bright rays extending to quite a distance of If times the sun's 

 diameter on that side, and not nearly so much on the opposite 

 side. . . . On some occasions of total eclipses this corona 

 has been said to be too bright to be gazed at by the unshaded 

 eye, but it was scarcely so on this occasion ; one could look at it 

 without pain. It- seemed to have a somewhat vibratory move- 

 ment, coruscations of light playing on the rays of the luminous 

 stars. I saw through the binocular glass certain faint leaf-like 

 bands of light, but too faint and too momentary to make any 



