OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 67 



position of .the spots seen in high latitudes, the error of my estima- 

 tion cannot be very great. In any case a few degrees would certainly 

 cover it, and it remains a fact that I have observed spots at least witliiu 

 10° of the north jiole of the sun. The importance of this observation 

 will appear when it is stated that very few spots have been observed 

 outside of the zones lying 40° on either side of the equator. I know 

 of but two instances on record in which spots have been observed 

 beyond this limit. La Hire observed a spot 70° from the equator, 

 and more recently, in the month of June, 1846, M. Peters observed 

 at Naples a spot 50° from the equator. 



It is further to be remarked that, according to the conclusions of the 

 English observers, the solar spots attain higher latitudes during the 

 years of the maximum number of sppts, and recede more and moi-e 

 towards the equator as the minimum is approaching; and it is to be noted 

 that the present year is precisely, or at least very nearly, a minimum 

 year. It is doubtles.s owing to the unusual thinness of the chromo- 

 sphere during this period that spots have been observed in so high 

 latitudes tliis year. It is true that the spots were small, but, never- 

 theless, they were genuine spots, with all the characteristics of larger 

 spots. 



It is difficult for one who has seen the phenomena which I have 

 described, to come to any other conclusion than this : that the veiled 

 spots are breaks or true openings in the photosphere, seen through the 

 imperfectly transparent gases composing the chromosphere, openings 

 themselves partly or wholly filled by the vapors ejected by the foi'ces 

 from the interior of the photosphere. If this hypothesis should prove 

 to be the expression of a fact, then we should expect to find that the 

 photosphere is perforated by thousands of crevasses either partly or 

 entirely filled with tlie vapors and gases from the interior, which can- 

 not be ejected entirely outside for want of sufficient energy, save for 

 a compai'atively very small number situated in the equatorial zones, 

 where this energy appears maximum, and is able to repel and dissolve 

 the gases from the interior. 



Before the observations of this year, I had arrived at precisely the 

 same conclusions in regard to the openings of the photos[)here in all 

 latitudes; and to the existence of invisible spots concealed by tiie 

 chromosphere. These conclusions were derived from my observations 

 with the spectroscope, made at Harvard College Observatory during u 

 period of thirty-five months. A discussion of these observations is 

 reserved for a future communication. 



Though one can hardly form a settled opinion with regard to the 



