-V/A' WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.*. 357 



.Hid (lie i-ir distant nebulae, which latter have yielded spectroscopic 

 photograph! under the skilful management of Dr. Hugging, and 

 Dr. Draper of New York. Armed with greatly improved apparatus 

 the physical astronomer has been able to reap a rich harvest of 

 scientific information during the short periods of the last two 

 solar eclipses ; that of 1879, visible in America, and that of May 

 last, observed in Egypt by Lockyer, Schuster, and by Continental 

 observers of high standing. The result of this last eclipse expedi- 

 tion has been summed up as follows : " Different temperature 

 levels have been discovered in the solar atmosphere ; the constitu- 

 tion of the corona has now the possibility of being determined, 

 and it is proved to shine with its own light. A suspicion has 

 been aroused once more as to the existence of a lunar atmosphere, 

 and the position of an important line has been discovered. Hydro- 

 carbons do not exist close to the sun, but may in space between 

 us and it." 



To me personally these reported results possess peculiar interest, 

 for in March last I ventured to bring before the Royal Society a 

 speculation regarding the conservation of solar energy, which was 

 based upon the three following postulates, viz. : 



1. That aqueous vapour and carbon compounds are present in 

 stellar or interplanetary space. 



2. That these gaseous compounds are capable of being dis- 

 sociated by radiant solar energy while in a state of extreme 

 attenuation. 



3. That the effect of solar rotation is to draw in dissociated 

 vapours upon the polar surfaces, and to eject them after combus- 

 tion back into space equatorially. 



It is therefore a matter of peculiar gratification to me that the 

 results of observation here recorded give considerable support to 

 that speculation. The luminous equatorial extensions of the sun 

 which the American observations revealed in such a striking 

 manner (with which I was not acquainted when writing my paper) 

 were absent in Egypt ; but the outflowing equatorial streams (I 

 suppose to exist) could only be rendered visible by reflected sun- 

 light, or by electric discharge when mixed with dust produced by 

 exceptional solar disturbances ; and the occasional appearance of 

 such luminous extensions would serve only to disprove the hypo- 

 thesis entertained by some, that they are divided planetary matter, 



