126 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



picture by Liais of the corona as he saw it during the 

 eclipse of 1858, is one which has been ridiculed as 

 altogether a work of the imagination. It presents 

 the corona with peculiarities of detail so remarkable, 

 that if we regard them as real, they dispose finally of 

 the theory that the outer corona is merely due to the 

 illumination of our own atmosphere. Accordingly, the 

 advocates of the atmospheric theory had scouted the 

 pretensions of Liais's picture ; and even many who 

 regarded the corona as a solar appendage, could scarcely 

 believe that some of the strange figures shown in the 

 picture were not to some extent idealized. Here, 

 however, we have such figures reproduced by a gentle- 

 man whose skill in draughtsmanship will hardly be 

 questioned, while the fact that Mr. Holiday has not 

 advocated any theory of the corona, removes all 

 possibility of doubt as to the accuracy of the drawing 

 being unconsciously affected by preconceived opinions 

 on the part of the draughtsman. I venture to take 

 exception to the remark that the corona had become 

 more diffuse by the middle of the totality ; for, it is to 

 be remembered that, with the progress of totality, the 

 observer's power of appreciating faint light would 

 naturally increase, and that accordingly he would be 

 enabled to recognise those outer and fainter parts of the 

 corona which had in the first instance escaped his 

 notice, 



The consideration of circumstances such as these 

 causes me to attach so much the more value to the 

 photographic records of the eclipse, which are not 



