
RED PROMINENCES SEEN DURING TOTAL ECLIPSES OF THE SUN. 473 
nences,—would have been adduced in proof of the existence of such a stratum ; 
but no such inference is drawn from that phenomenon. 
Besides this, M. ARAGo supposes that the clouds forming the red prominences 
probably occasion the isolated spots which have no central nucleus (penombres 
isolées, penombres sans noyau) ; but, as he immediately adds, that those spots are by 
no means common, and when they occur, occupy but an inconsiderable part of 
the sun’s disc, it is evident that he must conceive the clouds which form them to 
be isolated, and widely scattered,—an idea quite inconsistent with the supposi- 
tion, that they form a continuous envelope surrounding the sun. 
From these considerations, it appears evident that M. Araco’s hypothesis re- 
garding the red prominences, involves simply the idea that those objects are 
clouds floating in the sun’s atmosphere; and therefore, that his opinion is the 
same as Sir Joun Herscuet’s, whose views, stated at p. 461, form the ground- 
work of the hypothesis I have now proposed. In addition to the idea that the 
red prominences are clouds,—which, according to Humzotpt, was first announced 
by M. Araco,—I have endeavoured to shew, that those clouds probably form a 
continuous envelope surrounding the sun; and I have further supposed that this 
envelope is the chief agent in causing the diminished brightness of the sun’s disc 
towards the edges,—that when apertures occur in the envelope, they possibly con- 
stitute the faculee on the solar disc,—and that those apertures also occasion the 
bright rays in the corona seen during total eclipses of the sun. 
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VOL. XX. PARTI. 6L 
