THE ECLIPSE OF 1870. 6 1 



spectrum of the corona is a continuous rainbow-tinted 

 streak, without either dark lines or bright. Such a 

 spectrum is given by solid and liquid bodies glowing 

 with intensity of heat. And the inference, therefore, 

 was that the corona consists of minute bodies travelling 

 close by the sun, and owing the greater part of their 

 light to the great heat with which they are transfused. 

 But the American observers in 1869, or at least some 

 of them, found that besides the ribbon of rainbow-tinted 

 lighij the spectrum of the corona shows bright lines. 

 Some observers saw only one bright line, others saw 

 three. This observation would indicate that a portion 

 of the coronal light comes from a gaseous source ; and 

 from the position of one of the bright lines, Professor 

 Harkness was led to the strange conclusion that the 

 glowing vapour of iron is a constituent of the solar 

 corona! Yet further, because the position of these 

 coronal lines corresponded with the position of the 

 bright lines seen in the spectrum of the aurora, 

 Professor Young, one of the most skilful of the 

 American spectroscopists, came to the conclusion that 

 the corona is a perpetual solar aurora ! 



The observations of the American astronomers and 

 physicists were not accepted by all. No valid reasons 

 were given, indeed, for rejecting them, but they were 

 pronounced, in general terms, to be ' bizarre and 

 perplexing in the extreme.' Possibly, too, some of our 

 English physicists had not formed a duly high opinion 

 of the skill of their American fellow-workers. But, be 

 this as it may, certainly k the American astronomers 



