( «<H ) 



H and K, but to a much smaller dcuroo and somctimos toward the 

 violet, sometimes towai-d the red. Cei'lain shade<l lines of JA/ and aS/, 

 on the eontrarv, showed no evidence of a displacenKMit, nor did the 

 iron lines withont considerable shadinji", the faijit calcium line at 

 ). 3949,()5(i and many other lijies. 



If we admit no other explanation of line-shiftino and -widening' 

 besides those, based on Doitlkr's pi-inciple ami on the effect ot 

 pressure and temjieratnre, we arrive at very strange conclusions 

 relative to the condition of the elements in the solai' atmosj)hei'e. Not 

 less sur[)rising is, as noticed by Jewell ^), the small amount of the 

 absoi"i)tion in the shaded pai'ts of the lines, wdieii we consider the 

 enormous depth of the solar atmosphere and the high pressure which 

 nuist exist in the absorbing layers, for them to [)rodnce a broad 

 absorptionband. 



By making various suppositions concerning the condition of the 

 gases in the solar atmosj)here, Jewell succeeds in (hiding an inter- 

 ])retation of most of these astonishing facts. But it must be granted 

 that his explanations include a greater nund)er of arbitrary and mu- 

 tually independent hyj)otheses than is the case with our ex[)lanations, 

 foumled as they ai-e on selective ray-cui-\ing and readily deduced 

 from that principle for each sepai-ate phenomenon, without intro- 

 ducing new suppositions. 



Oidy the dark central lines of the Fraunhofer lines are to be 

 ascribed, in our theory, to real absor[»tion. Their shaded backgi'ound 

 of \arying intensity we consider as an etfecl of anomalous dispersion 

 of the not absorbed neighbouring waves. This selective scatterijig 

 will be strongest in those places where the density -gradients are 

 relatively steej), viz. in whirls in the deeper regions of the gaseous 

 body. But some of the widely dispersed rays may be gathered by 

 the corona owing to its "tubular" structure and be conducted along 

 its greater or smaller streamers. 



This will especially ap[)ly to the most strongly refracted waves, 

 whose position in the spectrum is \qv\ close to the i-eal absor|»lion 

 lines ; thus pseudo emission lines are produced in about the middle 

 of the pseudo absorption bamls. "■') 



1, Astroph. Journ. Ill, p. lOG. 



~) A most remarkable fact is that the shading of K, H, the iron-line A 3720.080 

 and of some other strong shaded lines is sometimes partially L roken up into a 

 series of faint nebulous lines, symmetrically situated about the central line. In 

 each case the distance apart of the component lines increased as the distance from 

 the center increased (Jkwell, Astrophysical Jouiiial S, p. "jI 53). 



It might have been predicted ])y our theory that we should meet with this 

 phenomenon now and tiien. 



