The Evolution of the Sciences 



a state of ceaseless agitation, the corona, on the 

 contrary, remains invariable throughout the 

 duration of the eclipse ; it leaves, as the 

 astronomer Young said, the impression of a 

 calm and serene immobility. 



Such is, in its main lines, the spectacle 

 offered to our contemplation with the naked eye 

 or through a telescope during the totality of the 

 eclipse. On the reappearance of the sun the 

 phenomena are repeated in inverse order, but as 

 the eye has become accustomed to the darkness 

 they are more readily noticed; the jagged 

 rose-coloured edge of the chromosphere and of 

 the protuberances is distinguished more clearly 

 and the corona remains visible for a minute 

 after the eclipse has ceased to be total; then the 

 light reappears gradually, and the irradiation of 

 the photosphere extinguishes the glow of the 

 less brilliant parts. 



But those who, turning away from the 

 spectacle in the sky, observed what was happen- 

 ing on the earth, might have witnessed a strange 

 phenomenon which has remained inexplicable. 

 Arago describes it as follows : "At the moment 

 when the eclipse was on the point of becoming 



202 



