1878 i ■*••*•" [Barker. 



were at all brilliant, proves clearly the absence in the solar coronal region 

 of any considerable mass of incandescent gas or vapor ; which shining by 

 its own light would of course give a bright line spectrum. The presence 

 of Fraunhofer lines in the coronal spectrum shows conclusively the pres- 

 ence of reflected sunlight in the light of the corona and goes to establish 

 the theory long ago suggested, that masses of meteoric matter raining 

 down upon the solar surface from all directions, reflected to us the light of 

 the sun and were therefore the essential cause of the coronal phenomena. 

 And, finally, the fact of the increased brightness of the continuous spec- 

 trum, as compared with the intensity of the dark lines of Fraunhofer, goes 

 to strengthen the probability that there is still other light in the corona 

 which comes to us from the incandescent liquid or solid matter of these 

 incandescent meteoric masses. These conclusions, deduced very simply 

 from my own spectroscopic results, agree completely, I am happy to find, 

 with those drawn from your most excellent photographs, as well as from 

 the ingenious heat-measurements of Dr. Edison and the polariscopie deter- 

 minations qf Dr. Morton. 



General Conclusion. 



The general conclusion then, arrived at by the observations of our party 

 upon this eclipse — a conclusion to which all the results point with singu- 

 lar unanimity— is that the solar corona consists of a mass of meteoric 

 bodies falling in from space upon the solar surface, which meteors 

 being intensely heated by the resistance encountered at their enor- 

 mous velocity, as well as by radiation from the sun, become highly 

 luminous, and emit a light which gives a continuous spectrum. More- 

 over, this mass of incandescent meteors is shown not to be equally 

 extended in all directions around the sun, but appears to be ellip- 

 soidal or at least spheroidal in form. That the larger part of the coronal 

 light comes from the incandescence of these meteors, there can apparently, 

 be but little doubt But a considerable portion of it appears to have quite 

 a distinct origin, and to be due to the reflection of solar light by these solid 

 or liquid masses. Hence the appearance of the dark solar or Fraunhofer 

 lines in the spectrum. A third, and in this eclipse an extremely small 

 portion of the light of the corona, would seem to be due to incandescent 

 gaseous matter, either injected into it from below, or produced from the 

 meteoric masses themselves by the intense heat. This portion it is which 

 gives the bright line spectrum, as feeble in this eclipse as it was strong in 

 previous ones. Of the material composing this gas, there is yet, as it would 

 appear, no indication. 



From what has now been narrated, it must be conceded that the Draper 

 Eclipse Expedition -was singularly and exceptionally fortunate. No small 

 part of this good fortune is clue, as we believe, to the courtesy and liberality 

 of the railroad and express companies over whose routes either the party 

 or their instruments traveled. I desire to mention especially, in this con- 

 nection, Col. Thos. A. Scott and Mr. Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania 



PEOC. iMER. PHILOS. 80C. XVIII. 102. O. PRINTED JAN. 27, 1879. 



