THE SUN'S SPOTS. 363 



we here only briefly give the most general features, suffi- 

 ciently applicable to the details of the phenomena upon the 

 surface of the Sun, science at present assumes the existence 

 of three envelopes round the dark solar sphere; viz. one 

 interior cloud-like vaporous envelope, next a luminous invest- 

 ment (photosphere), and above these, as appears to have 

 been especially shown by the solar eclipse of 8th of July, 

 1842, an external cloudy envelope, which is either dark, or but 

 slightly luminous. 6 



6 " D'apres 1'etat actueldenos connaissances astronomiques 

 le Soleil se compose: 1. d'un globe central a peu pres 

 obscur; 2. d'une immense couche de nuages qui est sus- 

 pendue a une certaine distance de ce globe et 1'enveloppe de 

 toutes parts; 3. d'une photosphere; en d'autres termes, d'une 

 sphere resplendissante qui enveloppe la couche nuageuse, 

 comme celle-ci, a son tour, enveloppe le noyau obscur. 

 L'eclipse totale du 8 Juillet, 1842, nous a mis sur la trace 

 d'une troisieme enveloppe, situee au-dessus de la photosphere 

 et formee de nuages obscurs ou faiblement lumineux. Ce 

 sont les nuages de la troisieme enveloppe solaire, situes en 

 apparence, pendant 1'eclipse totale, sur le contour de 1'astre 

 ou un peu en dehors, qui ont donne lieu a ces singulieres 

 preeminences rougeatres qui en 1842 ont si vivement excite 

 1' attention du monde savant." " According to the present 

 condition of our astronomical knowledge, the Sun is com- 

 posed: 1st. of a central sphere which is nearly dark; 2nd. 

 of a vast stratum of clouds, suspended at a certain distance 

 from the central body, which it surrounds on all sides ; 3rd. 

 of a photosphere, or in other words, a luminous sphere inclos- 

 ing the cloudy stratum, which in its turn envelopes the dark 

 nucleus. The total eclipse of the 8th of July, 1842, afforded 

 indications of a third envelope, situated above the photosphere, 

 and formed of dark or faintly illumined clouds. These clouds 

 of the third solar envelope, apparently situated during the 

 total eclipse on the margin of the Sun, or even a little beyond 

 it, gave rise to those singular, rose-coloured protuberances, 

 which so powerfully excited the attention of the scientific 



