174 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



nence was checked in its outward course by the re- 

 sisting solar atmosphere, the denser matter only by 

 the sun's attractive force ; and this force, inconceivably 

 mighty though it is, could only deprive the depart- 

 ing matter of a portion of its velocity. A portion 

 amounting to about 125 miles per second would still 

 remain, and would carry the erupted matter away 

 through space until it entered the domain of some 

 other sun. 



It will be observed that, startling though the theory 

 may seem, there is nothing forced about any of the 

 suppositions on which it is based. The theory that the 

 solar prominences are phenomena of eruption is re- 

 garded by the leading observers of these objects as 

 highly probable, if not certain. The aspect of these 

 strange formations shows that they are flung through a 

 resisting medium ; and therefore it is certain that they 

 must be projected much more swiftly than we should 

 infer by merely regarding them as projectiles flung 

 through a vacuum. It seems highly probable that, as 

 in the case of terrestrial volcanoes and geysers, denser 

 matter is flung forth along with the gases of the promi- 

 nences. And it is certain that such matter, like the 

 ball from a cannon, or stones and cinders from a volcano, 

 would be much less affected by the resistance of the 

 atmosphere than the lighter gaseous matter projected 

 along with it. Admitting these four postulates, of 

 which two are highly probable, and two certainly just, 

 it follows, as an inevitable conclusion, that the sun 

 rejects matter from his substance, such rejection being 



