XVIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



him in the April number of the ** American Journal of Science 

 and Arts," with two 6-inch object-glasses, having a field of 

 about 20° each, and previously clamped to the desired position. 

 A similar scrutiny of the ecliptic near the sun was made by Dr. 

 Gould, at Burlington, in connection with Prof. Coffin's party, 

 using a Tolles' telescope of five inches' aperture and a field of 

 nearly 2°, provided with occulting discs at the focus. But 

 neither of these observers, nor any others engaged in similar re- 

 search, found any indications of planets nearer than Mercury. 



Dr. Gould says in a letter to Prof. Morton: "An examina- 

 tion of the beautiful photographs made at Burlington and Ottum- 

 wa, by the section of your party in charge of Professors Mayer 

 and Himes, and a comparison of them with my sketches of the 

 corona, have led me to the conviction that the radiance around 

 the moon, in the pictures made during totality, is not the corona 

 at all, but is actually the image of what Lockyer has called the 

 chromosphere." 



Prof. Pickering, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 who observed at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, concludes his report as fol- 

 lows : — 



"An increase of heat and actinic power is observed in the 

 beginning of the eclipse, caused by an increased brightness of the 

 sun's disc near the moon's limb. The spectrum of the corona 

 appears to be free from dark lines, but may contain two or three 

 bright ones. Its stria) are spiral rather than radial, and its light 

 is unpolarized. The sky adjoining it, however, reflecting light 

 from the earth, shows strong signs of polarization." 



From Prof. WinloT^k's report we learn that " The chromo- 

 sphere was carefully examined both before and after the eclipse. 

 Only three lines could be seen, C, one near D, and F. During 

 tot;ility only, the brightest protuberance on the lower limb of the 

 sun was examined carefully. In the short time occupied in get- 

 ting into this, nothing was seen but a faint continuous spectrum ; 

 but since the observing telescope took in only a small part of the 

 spectrum at once, nothing conclusive can be inferred from the 

 observation as to the non-existence of bright lines in the corona. 



" During totalitv, eleven bright lines were seen. Besides the 

 three described above, there was a short line at or very near E ; 

 the three lines of B were bright and very sharp, and there were 

 four lines above F. Although these lines were very bright on a 

 dark ground, all of them but the three seen before the eclipse 

 disappeared instantly on the first burst of sunlight, and the same 



