A VOYAGE TO THE SUN. 51 



reflecting the sun's light ; and we could already per- 

 ceive how much more brilliantly they are illuminated 

 than the meteors which pass close by the earth. For 

 the sun presented a disc many times larger than as he 

 appears to the terrestrial astronomer. So that the 

 meteor systems, infinitely more numerous as well as 

 severally richer in the sun's neighbourhood, and illu- 

 minated many times more brightly, formed a con- 

 spicuous but irregular halo around the sun. We could 

 perceive also that as their motions (far more rapid than 

 those of the meteors first encountered) carried groups 

 and clusters of them into the solar atmosphere, they 

 began to glow with inherent light, partly, no doubt, 

 because of the increased heat to which they became ex- 

 posed, but chiefly, as I judge, because the sun's electrical 

 action was then more freely communicated to them. 

 I do not suppose that atmospheric resistance can 

 have been in question, since even such tenuous bodies 

 as comets pass far nearer to the sun without being 

 appreciably affected by this cause. 



It was the sudden access of brilliancy in meteor 

 systems close by us, which gave us the first intimation 

 that we were about to cross the boundary of the solar 

 atmosphere. We were all prepared, as we thought, to 

 experience in some striking manner the effects pro- 

 duced as we passed from the ether of interplanetary space 

 into the sun's atmosphere, infinitely rare though it 

 might be at this distance from his surface. But we 

 were in no sense prepared for the surprise which actually 

 awaited us. Of a sudden we passed from absolute 



E 2 



