Lesson ill.] THE strir, 1 j 



the sun, and mentioned his discovery to another 

 philosopher, he was told that the thing was utterly 

 impossible, and that there must be some defect 

 either in his glasses or his eyes : it was added also, 

 as another proof of the assertor's candour and pe- 

 netration, that as such a circumstance was not 

 noticed by Aristotle, the pretended discovery could 

 be nothing less than presumption or deception^ 

 However, that there are spots on the sun, has since 

 been indisputably confirmed, and is- now univer- 

 sally admitted. Of these spots, the dark ones are 

 ealled macula, to distinguish them from the others, 

 which are of a brighter appearance than the rest of 

 the sun's surface, and which have obtained the 

 name offaculce. 



Concerning the nature of these spots, there have 

 been various opinions entertained by different per- 

 sons. Some have supposed maculae to be large 

 portions of opaque matter moving up and down in 

 the fiery fluid, of which the sun was thought to be 

 composed or surrounded, revolving near its sur- 

 face, and sometimes beyond it. Others have taken 

 them for the smoke of volcanoes in the sun, or the 

 scum floating upon a huge ocean of fluid matter, 

 Faculae, on the contrary, have been called clouds 

 of light, and luminous vapours j and, because ma- 

 culae have been sometimes observed to change into- 

 faculae, it has been conjectured, that the latter 

 were the bright flames of volcanoes rapidly blazing 

 out, after the dark smoky matter, which produced 

 the maculae, became dissipated by combustion^ 

 These are the opinions I hat have been commonly 



held 



