THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



extends from 200,000 to 500,000 miles from 

 the sun. Beyond the inner corona is the 

 outer corona as already known and photo- 

 graphed during the eclipses of 1870 and 1871, 

 and extending about a million miles from the 

 sun. But far outside the outer corona there 

 is a region occupied by matter so situated 

 and so illmninated (or possibly self-luminous) 

 as to present the appearance of long rays ex- 

 tending, if we may judge from observations 

 hitherto made, directly from the sun to a 

 distance of 5,000,000 miles. Outside this re- 

 gion again lies another in which, whether by 

 the combination of multitudes of such rays 

 as are seen separately close to the sun or 

 through the presence of matter in other 

 forms, a softened luminosity prevails which 

 during total eclipse can be traced along the 

 zodiac at least 10,000,000 miles from the sur- 

 face of the Sim. Lastly, from observations 

 made during evening twilight in spring and 

 during morning twilight in autumn (at which 

 twilight hours the zodiac near the sun is most 

 nearly upright during the year) we can trace 

 the extension of the zodiacal luminosity seen 

 by Langley and Newcomb, to distances ex- 

 ceeding seven or eight times at least those 

 to which they traced it during total eclipse. 

 Nay, there are reasons for believing that 

 at times this luminosity has been traced 

 to such a distance from the sun as to 

 show that the zodiacal matter extends much 

 farther from him than the orbit of our own 

 earth. 



Now, in one sense, the relations here pre- 

 sented are not new. The zodiacal light has 

 been known from the time of Childrey, if 

 not from that of Tycbo Brahe. Mathemati- 

 cians have long seen that it must belong to a 

 solar appendage, rejecting utterly the doc- 

 trine advanced by some that it comes from 

 matter traveling round our own earth. Again, 

 the long coronal rays had been very confi- 

 dently regarded by most mathematical as- 

 tronomers, and indeed by all who had suffi- 

 ciently studied the evidence, as belonging to 

 matter near the sun. And though the zo- 

 diacal had never before been recognized dur- 

 ing totality, and so the gap between the 

 outermost coronal rays and the innermost 

 part of the zodiacal seen during twilight had 

 never been observationally filled up, yet the 

 mind's eye of science had clearly discerned 

 even that portion of the zodiacal. Still the 

 recognition of the whole range of solar sur- 

 roundings, in such sort that no question can 

 any longer, it should seem, be raised as to 

 their reality, even by those least able to fol- 

 low scientific reasoning, can not but be re- 

 garded as an important step. 



CONCERNING EONOBS TO SPIES. 



Me. CTRtrs "W. Field has dedicated 

 a memorial stone to the memory of 

 Aiidr6. It marks the place of his exe- 

 cution and hurial. It was uncovered 

 at noon, October 2d, as nearly as pos- 

 sible at the same hour that Andre was 

 hanged. But few persons were pres- 

 ent, and not a word was spoken by any 

 one. 



The monument is a plain polished 

 block of Maine granite, five feet in 

 height and three and one half feet 

 square. On the side toward the west 

 is the following inscription : 



" Here died, October 2, 1780, Major John 

 Andke, of the British Army, who, entering 

 the American lines on a secret mission to 

 Benedict Arnold for the surrender of West 

 Point, was taken prisoner, tried and con- 

 demned as a spy. His death, though ac- 

 cording to the stern code of war, moved 

 even his enemies to pity, and both armies 

 mourned the fate of one so young and so 

 brave. In 1821 his remains were received 

 at Westminster Abbey. A hundred years 

 after his execution this stone was placed 

 above the spot where he lay, by a citizen of 

 the States against which he fought, not to 

 perpetuate the record of strife, but in token 

 of those better feelings which have since 

 united two nations one in race, in language, 

 and in religion, with the earnest hope that 

 this friendly union will never be broken." 



Beneath was the name — 



" Aethue Penehyn Stanley, Dean of 

 Westminster." 



On the south side the inscription 

 reads as follows: 



" Sunt Lacrymaj rerum et mentem mor- 

 talia tangunt." — Viegil, " jEneid," I., 462. 



The only other inscription is upon 

 the north side, and is this: 



" He was more unfortunate than criminal. 

 An accomplished man and a gallant officer." 

 Geoege Washington. 



An inscription wUl be placed on the 

 east side next year, the centennial of 

 the execution. 



The spot where the monument stands 



