310 AXXUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, 



sun's almosphere. 3. Tho siiu's luminous mattor is of the nature 

 of clouil. 4. Tlio foiinalion of spots on tho sun is, in some way, 

 inlluciu'L'd hj- tlio jjlanct Venus. — Ast. Notices, 18t)5. 



IJfforc tlm Fivurli A( ;ultniy was nad a nn'iiinir on " An Ine- 

 quality of tlie Apparent Movement of the Solar Sjjots, eauseil by 

 their Depth," by M. Faye. The Writer eonehuleil asfoHovvs: 1. 

 The spots are not due to ))rojections or elonds plaeed aliove tlie 

 j)holosphere. 2. Tiiey eanui>t Ije fairly eompared to snperlieial 

 strata. 3. They are apertures oeeurrinj; aeeidentally in a lum- 

 inous envelo])e, whose tiiieknes.s, variable perhaps with latitude, 

 appears to be about front O.OOo to ().0(»i» of the sun's radius 4. 

 ]M;iny of the irre;;nlarities a])pareiitly so e:ipri(;ious, ol)served fre- 

 quently by astronomers, aiul attributed either to a <j^yration analo- 

 gous to our cyclones, or to a spontaneous tendency in the spots to 

 separate from each other, or to the nuitual inthienet^ of nei<;lil)or- 

 inj^ spots, are exjjlained >inqily, either by the new iae(juality or by 

 the loiiiinued variation of the jjroper movement from one jjarallel 

 to another. 5. The astonishing rej^nlarity observable in the 

 movements of the .spots durinjj^ entire months seems incom))atii)le 

 will) all hypotiieses whieh place the j)hotosplier(! under the abso- 

 lute dependence of currents develojjcd external to the sun's 

 nucleus. The progressive retardation of the rotation of the pho- 

 tosj)liere in jiroporlion as the poles are a))proached, is .so regular a 

 jihenomenon, and exerts itself through such an enormous depth, 

 that it caimot be due to superlicial agents, such as the cyclones. 



The following is'Uie reiuarkable opinion and theory of Sir John 

 llcrsehel with regard to the nature of those curious objects dis- 

 covered by Mr. Nasmyth.on the surface of the sun, and gen(;rally 

 called, from their i)eculiar shajjc, " willow-leaves." We believe 

 Sir John first jiropounded this theory in an article on the sun, pub- 

 lished in " Good Words ; " but it does not seem to have been noticed 

 by many astronoiuers. However wild the hypothesis may appear, 

 it has just received a further sanction from its eminent author, by 

 its republication in his new book of "Familiar Lectures." Sir 

 John says : " Nothing remains but to consider them [the so-called 

 Avillow-leaves] as separate and indei)end(!nt sheets, flakes, or 

 scales, having some sort of solidity. And these flakes, be they what 

 the}" may, and whatever may be said about the dashing of mete- 

 oric stont's into the sun's atmosphere, etc., are evidently the 

 immediate sources of the solar light and heat by whatever ini'ch- 

 auism or whatever processes they may be enabled to develop, 

 and, as it were, elaborate, these elements from the bosom of the 

 non-luminous fluid in which they ai)pear to float. Looked at in 

 this point of view, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of 

 some peculiar and amazing kind ; and though it wtnild be too 

 daring to speak of such organization as i^artaking of the nature 

 of life, yet we do know that vital action is competent to develop 

 both heat, light, and electricity." Strange and startling as is such 

 an ex23lanation, yet scientitie men will remember that, when we 

 knew as little about the cause of the black lines seen in the si>ec- 

 trum of the sun, as wq^ now know about these appearances on 

 the sun itself. Sir John Herschel suggested, in 1833, that very 



