THE SUN'S SPOTS. 385 



opaque vaporous envelope investing the photosphere, by 

 which the radiation of solar light and heat is impeded; 

 3. The impure condition of our atmosphere, arising, for 



in Oefelii Rerum Boicarum Scriptores, torn. i. 1763, 

 p. 485. 



1200 A.D. On the last day of February, there was, ac- 

 cording to Joaquin de Villalba (Epidemiologra espanola, 

 Madr. 1803, torn. i. p. 30), complete darkness for six 

 hours, turning the day into night. This phenomenon 

 was succeeded by long-continued and abundant rains. 

 " El dia ultimo del mes de Febrero hubo un eclipse de 

 Sol que duro seis horas con tanto obscuridad como si 

 fuera media noche. Siguieron a este fenomeno abun- 

 dantes y continuas lluvias." A very similar phenomenon 

 is recorded for June, 1191, by Schnurrer, th. i. pp. 

 258, 265. 



1241 A.D. Five months after the Mongolian battle at 

 Liegnitz, the Sun was darkened (in some places ?) and 

 such darkness caused that the stars could be seen in the 

 heavens at three o'clock on Michaelmas day. ** Obscuratus 

 est Sol (in quibusdam locis?), et factse sunt teiiebre, ita 

 ut stellrc viderentur in coelo, circa festum S. Michrclis 

 hora nona." Chronicon Claustro-Neoburgense (of the 

 Monastery of Neuberg, at Vienna : this chronicle com- 

 prises the annals of the period from the year 218 A.D. 

 to 1348) Fez, Scriptores rerum Austriacarum, Lips. 

 1721, torn. i. p. 458. 



1547 A.D. The 23rd, 24th, and 25th of April, conse- 

 quently the days preceding, and immediately succeeding 

 the battle of Miihlbach, in which the Elector John 

 Frederick was taken prisoner. Kepler says in Para- 

 Itpom. ad Vitellium, quibus Astronomice pars Optica 

 traditur, 1604, p. 259, "The elder and younger Gemma 

 record that in the year 1547, before the battle between 

 Charles V and the Duke of Saxony, the Sun appeared 

 for three days as if it were suffused by blood, while at 

 the same time many stars were visible at noon." *' Re- 

 fert Gemma, pater fit filius, anno 1547, ante conflictum 

 Caroli V cum Suxoniaj Duce, Solern per ires dies ceu 



