ASTKONOMY AS A SCIENCE. THE SUN. 123 



little more than an affirmation of words, betokening, not 

 scientific facts, but conditions and conceptions which 

 science has failed to reach. 1 



These, however, are speculative matters, contri- 

 buting little to the true physical history of the sun. 

 The solar spots, assiduously watched by such observers 

 as Schwabe, Carrington, De La Rue, Lockyer, &c., have 

 added much more to our actual knowledge, though 

 still leaving it incomplete as to their nature and origin. 

 The indication they give of rotary motions of the pho- 

 tosphere, varying at different distances from the sun's 

 equator, is one curious result of very recent observa- 

 tion. More curious still are those delicate and beauti- 

 ful observations with the spectroscope, which tell us, 

 without aid of eclipses, the nature of the curious rose- 

 coloured emanations from the sun's surface, hitherto so 

 vainly speculated upon ; and which in associating them 

 with the agency of known elements (however vast the 

 difference in degree) bring us nearer to that unity which 

 it is the purpose of all science to attain. Much is still 

 to be learnt regarding these gaseous solar envelopes, and 

 the changes unceasingly going on in them. But the 

 objects and methods of research are well defined, and 

 the zeal given to their pursuit is a sure guarantee of 

 success. 



Time, however (supposing a sufficient duration of 



1 I find Professor Ohallis propounding another speculation on this 

 matter, viz., that the sun may be the recipient of undulations from 

 more remote stars conveying them forwards through its own molecular 

 mass, and itself not losing power by this continual transmission. An 

 hypothesis of this kind tells little more than the intrinsic difficulties of 

 the question. 



