14 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



of minimum solar disturbance. On the other hand, in 

 brightness the corona of 1842 resembled, if it did nut 

 surpass, that of July 1878. 



' I had imagined/ says Baily, ' that the corona, as to its 

 brilliant or luminous appearance, would not be greater than 

 that faint crepuscular light which sometimes takes place (sic) 

 in a summer evening, and that it would encircle the moon 

 like a ring. I was therefore somewhat surprised and 

 astonished at the splendid scene which now so suddenly 

 burst upon my view.' 



The light of the corona was so bright, O. Struve states, 

 that the naked eye could scarcely endure it ; ' many could not 

 believe, indeed, that the eclipse was total, so strongly did 

 the corona's light resemble direct sunlight' Thus while as 

 to extent the corona in 1842 presented the appearance to 

 be expected at the time of maximum solar disturbance, if 

 our theory is sound, its brightness was that corresponding to 

 a time of minimum disturbance. Its structure corresponded 

 with the former condition. The light of the corona was not 

 uniform, nor merely marked by radiations, but in several 

 places interlacing lines of light could be seen. Arago, at 

 Perpignan, observed with the unaided eye a region of the 

 corona where the structure was as of intertwined jets giving 

 an appearance resembling a hank of thread in disorder. 



Certainly, for an eclipse occurring two years from the 

 time of minimum, and five years from the time of maximum 

 disturbance, that of July, 1842^ has not supplied evidence 



1 The actual condition of the sun in 1842 may be inferred from the 

 following table, showing the number of spots observed in 1837 the 

 preceding year of maximum disturbance in 1842, and in 1844 the 

 following year of minimum disturbance ; the observer was Schwabe of 

 Dessau : 



Days of Days without New groups 

 observation spots observed 



1837 . . . 1 68 o 333 



1842 . . . 307 64 68 



1844 ... 321 in 52 



Only it should be noticed that nearly all the spots seen in the year 1844 



