INTKODUOTION. 1 3 



The reports of Professor Holden and his associates speak for themselves, aud will certainly 

 be fouud valuable aud interesting. The question of an intra-Mercurial planet would appear to be 

 definitely settled in the negative by Professor Holden's work. Professor Hastings's observa- 

 tions, and his discussion of them, unquestionably open (if they do not also close) an important and 

 interesting inquiry as to the correctness of certain generally received views as to the nature of the 

 corona. The observations of Mr. Upton are extremely valuable, and the same is true of nearly 

 all the others, throwing new light, as they do, not only upon the strictly astronomical problems of 

 the eclipse, but upon the meteorology and natural history of a comparatively unknown region. 



Peinceton, December, 1883. 



