42 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



useful information respecting the corona, during the 

 progress of the eclipse of December 1870 ; and the 

 question may suggest itself, how far it is wise to discuss 

 the subject of the corona now, when in a few months 

 we may be in so much more advantageous a position 

 for theorising respecting it. 



This is a consideration well worth dwelling upon ; 

 yet the arguments by which we are to deal with it are 

 sufficiently simple. If we have already exhausted all 

 means of inquiry applicable to what we already know 

 respecting the corona, then our proper course is to wait. 

 It would undoubtedly be absurd in that case to attempt 

 to evolve from the depths of our moral consciousness 

 a theory respecting this wonderful and mysterious 

 phenomenon. 



But in truth there is little fear of our thus over- 

 riding observation. In these days observation pro- 

 gresses with such amazing rapidity that reasoning is 

 left far in the rear. It is not too much to assert that 

 if all observation were from this moment to cease, the 

 students of science would find abundant employment 

 for a decade of years, at least, to come, in examining 

 and utilising the observations which have been already 

 made. 



Let us, then, look round our storehouse, and see if 

 we may not at once, and almost at random, light upon 

 a few observations which may serve to help us in 

 interpreting the wonders of the corona. 



A few months ago Captain Noble was looking at the 

 planet Venus when almost directly between us and the 



