GREAT SOLAR ECLIPSES. 25 



* that the protuberances are connected with the sun, 

 and that it is absurd to assert the contrary.' 



It appears to me that very little doubt can exist as 

 to the general character of the red prominences, though 

 we are very far from asserting that their exact consti- 

 tution can be readily determined. 



In the first place, it is tolerably clear that they are 

 not fixed in position. No motion has, indeed, been 

 observed in them during the short time that they have 

 continued visible in total eclipses. But we know that 

 thfe whole of the sun's surface is in a state of continual 

 agitation. The spots break out, vary in form, expand, 

 contract, expand again, whirl around their nuclei, are 

 suddenly spanned by sharply defined bridges of light, 

 and after many such changes vanish altogether. All 

 this while the region around the spots shows obvious 

 traces of a continual flux and reflux of matter. Then, 

 again, there are the periodic variations in the frequency 

 of spots, and of the faculae and maculae which accom- 

 pany them. And although there are only two bands 

 on the sun's surface (corresponding in position to the 

 temperate zones upon the earth's surface) on which 

 these changes take place, yet we have distinct evidence 

 that the great eleven-year period affects the whole 

 surface of the sun. For at the time when spots are 

 least frequent the sun's disc presents sometimes for 

 several months an appearance never observed at any 

 other time. Instead of appearing darker round the 

 edge of the disc, it is seen perfectly uniform in tint 

 over its whole surface. This variability in the appear- 



