98 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



perplexing in the extreme to hear these results 

 described as demonstrating the atmospheric origin of 

 the chief portion of the corona. 



The only new fact which seems in the least to 

 countenance this remarkable statement, is the cir- 

 cumstance that the light received from the direction 

 in which the moon's dark disc lay was found, when 

 analj sed by the spectroscope, to resemble the light 

 received from the corona. At first sight this seems to 

 show that the corona itself is an atmospheric phe- 

 nomenon. For certainly the light received from the 

 direction of the moon's dark disc cannot come directly 

 from a solar appendage. And as great stress was laid 

 on this circumstance by some, unfamiliar with what was 

 to be expected when this light came to be examined, 

 it seems just possible that Sir W. Thomson may have 

 been guided by their strongly-expressed opinion. 



But as a matter of fact no other result could have 

 been expected. I had myself pointed out in March 

 1870, that reflected light of precisely the observed 

 nature must be received from the moon's direction. 

 The air above and around the observer including 

 necessarily that lying towards the moon's disc must 

 needs be illuminated by the same coronal glory which 

 the observer gazes upon with such wonder during 

 totality ; and the light of that atmosphere, so illumin- 

 ated, must present the same characteristics as the 

 direct light of the corona, precisely as the light of the 

 sky when examined with the spectroscope shows the 

 same dark lines as the direct light of the sun. 



