122 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



not like that of the moon, by rugged mountain peaks and deep 

 valleys, but by stupendous masses of burning gas, which are 

 whirled up by storms ragiog over the surface of the sun, as are 

 the pillars of sand by the sirocco of the African desert. These 

 flames are visible beyond the disc of the moon after it has hid the 

 luminous body of the sun. Such mountains of glowing gas have 

 been noted during every eclipse of which we possess a scientific 

 record ; and it was observed that they sprung from a ring of 

 rosy-colored light which enveloped the dark orb of the moon. 

 Outside them, and extending at places for a degree beyond the 

 the sun, there was always observed an irregular halo of white 

 light. For a long time, through the most perverse reasoning, 

 these phenomena were supposed to be appendages of the moon ; 

 but the observations made during the eclipse of 1842, and the 

 photographs made during that of 1860, left no doubt that these 

 protuberances or prominences belong to a solar atmosphere; less 

 luminous than the body of the sun. 



It was after the eclipse of 1860 that the value of the spectro- 

 scope, in the investigation of solar physics, became evident ; and, 

 therefore, the next eclipse was looked forward to with eagerness 

 as likely to enable the spectroscopist to determine, beyond a doubt, 

 the nature and composition of the protuberances and the corona. 

 Consequently, a number of expeditions left Europe to observe, at 

 different points along its central line, the eclipse of August, 1868, 

 which began in Africa, crossed the Red Sea to Aden, and then 

 traversed the Indian Ocean, India and Malacca. A Prussian 

 expedition, under Dr. Yogel, stationed itself at Aden, where 

 totality occurred soon after daylight. M. Janssen, an eminent 

 French astronomer, made his observations at Gondoor, in India, 

 and M. Rayet in the Peninsula of Malacca. Several English 

 parties were organized, foremost among which were those under 

 Major Tennant and Lieut. Herschel, both of whom took up 

 positions in India. Dr. Vogel and Major Tennant aimed chiefly 

 at obtaining photographs of the eclipse. During this eclipse 

 there were observed several large protuberances and a corona. 

 The rosy-coloured banks of cloud from whence these protuberances 

 sprang wei-e brightest about the equator. One very prominent 

 protubernnee retained the same position, and underwent very 

 little alteration in shape during the period of the eclipse. The 

 interest of the eclij^se centred in the spectroscopic observations of 

 the protuberances. Upon the whole, the reports of the different 



