THE EARTH IN METEORIC SHADOW. 165 



different indeed from the dark sky of midnight (as is 

 shown by the circumstance that during the darkest 

 total eclipse of the sun no third magnitude star has 

 ever been seen, and only the brightest stars of the 

 second magnitude). Moreover, during a total eclipse 

 it is only on parts of the sky remote from the sun that 

 stars are seen ; close to the sun the brightness of the 

 corona hides the stars from view. But it is precisely 

 in this brighter portion of the sky during total eclipses 

 that these streamers have been most favourably seen. 



It is absolutely certain, in point of fact, that if 

 these streamers are due to meteors, of which I have 

 for my own part very little doubt, the systems to which 

 the meteors belong are close to the sun where we see 

 the streamers. The mere fact that the streamers are 

 bright near the sun's place proves this. Imagine a 

 meteor system at the earth's distance from the sun, 

 seen athwart the sun's place during a total eclipse. 

 Then it is true that from the parts of the system lying 

 apparently nearest the sun, the greatest quantity of 

 light would be reflected toward us, but the diminution 

 in the quantity of light would be very slight, and 

 would be more than compensated by the darkening of 

 the sky with increasing distance from the central and 

 brighter parts of the corona. Apart from this, the line 

 of sight would be directed through a longer range of 

 meteors, the greater the distance of any part observed 

 from the sun's place. A streamer produced in this 

 way would be more conspicuous the farther the part 

 observed was from the sun. The reverse, however, is 



