664 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



leno-th was one diameter, and it was certainly brighter at the end far- 

 thest from the sun. It remained perfectly steady," adds Professor 

 Abbe, " after I once noticed it, and gradually I became aware of a faint 

 light partially connecting it with No. 3, so that the final impression left 

 on me was that these two constituted one fan-shaped projection similar 

 to No. 2, but fading out in the central portions. The axis of No. 1 and 

 of Nos. 3 and 4 passed nearly, if not exactly, through the sun's center. 



No. 5 extended fully five diameters from the sun's limb, " and was 

 in all respects similar to No. 1. Its base was broader than that of No. 

 1, which I attributed," says Abbe, "to the glare of the increasing 

 corona " and of a mound of the ruddy prominence matter (low-lying, 

 so as to form only an extension of the sierra). The light of No. 5 was 

 fainter, Professor Abbe thought, than that of No. 1. " Its edges were 

 straight, except in so far as tbe coronal glare appeared to unduly 

 broaden the base. Its axis passed very nearly through the sun's center, 

 and was in the prolongation of the axis of No. 2." 



Professor Abbe's explanation of these rays or streamei's occurred to 

 him an hour or so after seeing them. He advances it as one which 

 "will probably result in the overthrow of all previously entertained 

 theories respecting the character and cause of these streams of light." 

 But in reality it is not nearly so novel as he seems to imagine. It is, 

 indeed, partly new, and in our opinion it is in great part true ; but 

 what is true in it is not new, and we question greatly whether what is 

 new in it can possibly be true. Let astronomers judge. 



" Meteor streams," says Professor Abbe, " is the key to the solution 

 — not such meteors as some suppose to be falling into the sun daily, 

 but the grand streams of meteors that cause the numerous shooting 

 stars of Auo-ust and November, and of the existence of which there is 

 indubitable proof. These streams consist of fine particles or pieces, 

 each a long way from its neighbor, but all rushing along in parallel 

 orbits about the sun, like the falling drops of rain in a thunder-shower. 

 The August stream is calculated to be several hundred thousand miles 

 broad and thick, and many million miles long. Such a stream, when 

 far beyond the sun, but still lighted up by it, would reflect to us a 

 faint uniform light precisely like that of these rays. If one end of the 

 stream Avere farther from us than the other, the effect of the perspective 

 would be to produce a tapering or wedge-shaped appearance. In some 

 other part of our orbit, or with the meteor stream in some other part 

 of its orbit, the perspective might vanish and the two ends appear of 

 the same width. In this way we shall undoubtedly be able to exiolain 

 the very numerous historical and memorable occasions on which flam- 

 ing coronas, swords, comets, etc., seen in the sky during a total eclipse 

 have been regarded by the superstitious as divine omens." 



"We have very little doubt that the great extension of the corona in 

 certain directions during many total eclipses, and the probably far 

 greater extension of a fainter, not readily discerned lustre during all 



