THE EARTH IN METEORIC SHADOW. i6l 



vaporised under the sun's heat, we see that even if no 

 such phenomenon as a total eclipse of the sun had ever 

 been seen, one could predict that when the sun's light 

 was intercepted by an extra-terrestrial body like the 

 moon, a glory of light such as the solar corona would 

 be seen around him. Those multitudinous meteoric 

 streams in his neighbourhood, lit up by a splendour 

 compared with which that of our sun at noon is almost 

 as darkness, could not fail to be conspicuous around 

 the globe of the sun, so soon as his own splendour was 

 shielded from us by the interposed body of the moon. 

 As I wrote, in my treatise on the sun in 1870, before 

 the true nature of the corona had been generally re- 

 cognised, so I write now when none are in doubt as to 

 the corona being a solar and not a lunar or terrestrial 

 appendage * We have two distinct lines of argument : 

 we are led by the consideration of the phenomena 

 actually presented by the corona to the conclusion that 

 multitudes of bodies too minute to be separately visible 

 exist around the sun ; while we have been led by the 

 consideration of what we know respecting multitudes 

 of minute bodies actually travelling around the sun, to 

 the conclusion that a corona or aureole of light would 

 be seen around him during total eclipse.' This being 

 so, we cannot hesitate to accept, as at least partially ex- 

 plaining the phenomena of the solar corona, the theory 

 that its lustre is in great part due to the streams and 

 systems of meteoric bodies travelling around the sun, 

 in his immediate neighbourhood. 



But we have next to notice a peculiarity of the 

 m. M 



