THE SOLAB ECLIPSE OF 1871. 145 



philosopher, whose business is to confine his gaze to a narrow 

 slit between two strips of metal, and to watch nothing else but 

 the exact position and appearance of a few bright or dark lines 

 across what appears but a strip of colored ribbon. He must 

 resist the temptation to look aside and around with the stub- 

 bornness and self-denial of another St. Antonio. Besides this, 

 he must thoroughly understand exactly what to look for, and 

 now to find it. By combining the results of his observations 

 with those of the others, who in like manner have undertaken 

 to work with another instrument, or upon another part of the 

 phenomena, we get a scientific result comparable to that which, 

 in a manufactory, we obtain by the division of labor of many 

 skilled workmen, each doing only that which by his training 

 he has learned to do the best and the most expeditiously. 



FURTHER DETAILS BY POST. 



Although the formal official reports of the Eclipse Expedi- 

 tion are not yet published, and may not be for some weeks or 

 months, we are able from the letters of Lockyer, Jannsen, 

 Respighi, Maclear, etc., to form some idea of the general 

 results. We may already regard two or three important 

 questions as fairly answered. The reversal of the dark solar 

 lines of the spectrum which was first announced by the great 

 Roman observer, Father Secchi, and seen by him without an 

 eclipse, may now be considered as established. It is true that 

 all the observers of 1871 did not witness this. Some were doubt- 

 ful, but others observed it positively and distinctly. 



In such a case negative results do not refute the positive 

 observations of qualified men, especially when several of such 

 observations have been made independently ; the phenomenon 

 is but instantaneous, a mere flash of bright stripes in the place 

 of dark lines across the colored ribbon of the spectroscope, 

 which happens just at the moment before and after totality, 

 and is presented only when the instrument is accurately direct- 

 ed to the delicate curved vanishing thread of light which is the 

 last visible fragment of the solar outline, and that which makes 

 the first flash of his reappearance. 



A little explanation is necessary to render the significance of 

 this " reversal " intelligible to those who have not specially 

 studied the subject. 



1st. When the spectroscope is directed to a luminous solid, 

 a simple rainbow-band or u continuous spectrum" is seen. 

 When, on the other hand, the object is a luminous gas or 



