ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 313 



The commonly received explanation of the corona has attributed 

 it to an atmosphere surrounding the sun, which was illuminated 

 by the light of the sun in the same way that our atmosphere is 

 Illuminated in twilight. This will undoubtedly exj)lain the lumi- 

 nosity found nearest the disc; but it can hardly be received as 

 satisfactory in regard to the luminous prongs which extend out 

 to such a great distance. It must be remembered that these 

 prongs jn'ojected a distance greater than the whole diameter of 

 the sun, and must have reached an altitude, if they belonged to 

 the sun, of at least a million of miles. This is, of course, beyond 

 all possibility; and the idea of the whole phenomena being of a 

 solar-atmospheric origin is untenable. Equall}' untenable must: 

 be the idea that it is a solar aurora, because an aurora supposes 

 an atmospheric medium in which it exhibits itself. 



The impression which was firmly made upon my mind by wit- 

 nessing it was that, in some way, the interstriated part, at least, 

 was formed in the earth's atfliosphere. 



The second phenomenon attracting attention was that of the 

 sudden appearance of a number of protuberances of various 

 shape and magnitude, which projected beyond the black disc 

 of the moon, and were of a bright rosy-red color. We saw 6 

 or 8 in all. It must be remembered that these were of immense 

 size. The largest was not less than 70,000 miles in altitude. 

 They seemed to have a cloudy consistency ; and the form of some 

 of them forbade the idea that they could have been either solid or 

 liquid. These protuberances are seen in all total eclipses ; but in 

 no two are they in the same place, or of the same form. They 

 ar6 thus shown to be of a changeable and transitory character. 

 This was really all that could certainly be known about them, 

 until the application of the spectroscope to celestial bodies gave 

 us a new road to a knowledge of them. By means of this, we are 

 able to distinguish a solid body from a gaseous, a self-luminous 

 from a reflective body ; and, even more, to determine with cer- 

 tainty the very elements composing the incandescent body. This 

 mode of investigation, used first in the total eclipse of 1868, and 

 still more in that of the recent eclipse, has revealed to us that tiie 

 red protuberances are mainly a mass of incandescent hydrogen 

 gas. The thought is overpowering. Here are vast accumulations 

 of blazing matter, reaching to a height of 50,000 to 100,000 miles. 

 What convulsions in the matter of the surface of our sun does this 

 view of it reveal ! 



That the spots which are seen on the surface of the sun will 

 finally be proved to be identical with the protuberances, I venture 

 to predict. 



A few moments before totality, and during that period, nearly 

 all the telescopic observers at our station noticed faint whitish 

 bodies floating past their glasses. Prof. Hough saw 3 ; Mr. Swift 

 4 or ;3 ; Mr. Simons 5 or 6 ; Mr. House as many ; and I saw 4, at 

 least. At the time, they made no impression on my mind. I 

 thought of thistle-down, or some other winged seed. Others 

 thought of midges which had been awaked" by the darkness; 

 others of swallows. But when we came to compare our observa- 



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