— ee . . Lacs 
De. 28, 1882 | 
NATURE 
‘ 
199 
Johnson and Dr. Th. Gill (NATURE, vol. xxvi. pp. 453, 574), 
to both of whom a reply is due, and should have been given 
sooner had I not been absent from Florence and otherwise 
engaged, 
Firstly, I must correct my assertion as to the occurrence of 
Malacocephalus tevis in the Mediterranean ; after having exa- 
mined the type specimen and that mentioned by Mr. Johnson, 
both in the British Museum and after a further examination of 
my specimens, which I had considered as young MWalaco-ephali, 
I have now not the slightest doubt that they are quite distinct. 
They are an undeScribed and most interesting form of Macrurids 
allied to Coryphenotdes, which I propose calling ymenocephalus 
talicus. I have in my possession six specimens, both adult and 
young ; in two of the former J have found the ovaries fully deve- 
loped with mature ova. 
As to the ‘‘singular fish of a deep black colour with small 
eyes, a naked skin, and a most abyssal physiognomy,” which I 
got at Messina, it has no connection whatever with Cizasmodon 
niger, but is, as I before assserted, a Stomiatid, very different 
from all the known forms, including Dr, Giinther’s Bathyop his. 
It stands apart in many 1espects, and is the type of a new genus 
and perhaps of a new section of that singular family. I intend 
shortly to describe and figure it under the name of Bathophilus 
nigerrimus, along with other strange fish collected during my 
deep-sea and ichthyological researches in the Mediterranean. 
HENRY HILLYER GIGLIOLI 
R. Zoological Museum, Florence, December 17 
Electrical Phenomenon 
ON retiring to bed shortly after midnight on the 13th inst., I 
experienced a phenomenon which, though not of itself uncom- 
mon, was, I think, unusually developed. On pulling off a 
flannel vest which I wear next my shin, over my head, I became 
conscious of a strange sensation in the .a.:es, accompanied by a 
distinct crackling noise, and bright sparks which were plainly 
visible in the dimly lighted room. ‘To make sure that I was 
not the subject of a delusion, I repeated the operation many 
times, in each case rubbing the flannel half-a-dozen times—not 
more—against my hair. Not only were the same phenomena 
observable every time,-but also if, after removing the flannel I 
then approached my knuckles to that part of it which had been 
in contact with the hair, a whole volley of sparks passed between 
the flannel and each knuckle at a distance of not less than /wo 
inches. As often as I repeated the experiment, so often did the 
phenomena repeat themselves, until I at length retired to bed 
not altogether without apprehension, that I might awake in the 
night with the bed-clothes on fire, by reason of the discharge of 
some extra big spark between my hair and a conyenient 
blanket. No such catastrophe, however, occurred, and on 
repeating the operations the next morning, I could not repro- 
duce the phenomena. The next evening | azain repeated the 
experiment, and this time by very violent rubbing could just 
get a faint discharge between the flannel and knuckles when 
almost in contact. On other nights since these I have not 
succeeded in getting any such effect, or at most a very feeble one. 
To what, then, am [ to attribute the marked difference of the 
first night? Was it due to something peculiar in the condition 
of the hair, the air, or the flannel? Perhaps some of your 
readers can suggest. As regards the first of these I ought to 
state that it had, on the afternoon of the 13th, been subjected to 
the operations of cutting, shampooing, and brvshing ‘‘by ma- 
chinery,” at the hands of the barter. That was, however, seven 
hours earlier in the day, and any electricity developed by the 
friction of the last operation ought to have been dissipated long 
before twelve o’clock—especially as the night was damp and 
misty. IMs Mal I 
29, Victoria Road, Finsbury Park, December 19 
PHOTOGRAPHING THE CORONA} 
(2 SOEs of the highest interest in the physics of 
our sun are connected, doubtless, with the varying 
forms which the coronal light is known to assume, but 
these would seem to admit of solution only on the condi- 
tion of its being possible to study the corona continuously, 
* “On a method of Photographing the Solar Corcna without an Eclipse.”’ 
Paper read at the Royal Society by William Huggins, D.C.L., LL.D., 
F.R.S., December 21. 
and so to be able to confront its changes with the other 
variable phenomena which the sun presents. ‘‘ Unless 
some means be found,” says Prof. C. A. Young, “for 
bringing out the structures round the sun which are 
hidden by the glare of our atmosphere, the progress of 
our knowledge must be very slow, for the corona is visible 
only about eight days in a century, in the aggregate, and 
then only over narrow stripes on the earth’s surface, and 
but from one to five minutes at a time by any one ob- 
server’ (“The Sun,’’ p. 239). 
The spectroscopic method of viewing the solar promi- 
nences fails, because a large part of the coronal light gives a 
continuous spectrum, The successful photograph of the 
spectrum of corona taken in Egypt, with an instrument pro- 
vided with a slit, under the superintendence of Prof. 
Schuster during the solareclipse of May 17, 1882, shows that 
the coronal light as a whole, that is the part which gives a 
continuous spectrum, as well as the other part of the light 
which may be resolved into bright lines, is very strong in 
the region of the spectrum extending from about G to H. 
It appeared to me, therefore, very probable that by 
making exclusive use of this portion of the spectrum it 
might be possible under certain conditions, about to be 
described, to photograph the corona without an eclipse. 
In the years 1866-68 I tried screens of coloured glasses 
and other absorptive media, by which I was able to in- 
solate certain portions of the spectrum with the hope of 
seeing directly, without the use of the prism, the solar 
prominences (Monthly Notices, vol. xxviii. p. 88, and vol. 
xxix. p. 4). I was unsuccessful, for the reason that I was 
not able by any glasses or other media to isolate so very 
restricted a portion of the spectrum as is represented by a 
bright line. This cause of unsuitableness of this method 
for the prominences which give bright lines only, recom- 
mends it as very promising for the corona. If by screens 
of coloured glass or other absorptive media the region of 
the spectrum between G and H could be isolated, then 
the coronal light which is here very strong would have to 
contend only with a similar range of refrangibility of the 
light scattered from the terrestrial atmosphere. It ap- 
peared to me by no means improbable that under these 
conditions the corona would be able so far to hold its 
own against the atmospheric glare, that the parts of the 
sky immediately about the sun where the corona was 
present would be ina sensible degree brighter than the 
adjoining parts where the atmospheric light alone was 
present. It was obvious, however, that in our climate 
and low down on the earth’s surface, even with the aid 
of suitable screens, the addition of the coronal light 
behind would be able to increase, but in a very small 
degree, the illumination of the sky at those places where 
it was present. There was also a serious drawback from 
the circumstance that although this region of the spec- 
trum falls just within the range of vision, the sensitiveness 
of the eye for very small differences of illumination in 
this region near its limit of power is much less than in 
more favourable parts of the spectrum, at least such is 
the case with my own eyes. There was also another 
consideration of importance, the corona is an object ot 
very complex form, and full of details depending on small 
differences of illumination, so that even if it could be 
glimpsed by the eye, it could scarcely be expected that 
Observations of a sufficiently precise character could be 
made to permit of the detection of the more ordinary 
changes which are doubtlessly taking place in it. 
These considerations induced me not to attempt eye- 
observations, but from the first to use photography, which 
possesses extreme sensitiveness in the discrimination of 
minute differences of illumination, and also the enormous 
advantage of furnishing a permanent record from an 
instantaneous exposure of the most complex forms. I 
have satisfied myself by some laboratory experiments that 
under suitable conditions of exposure and development a 
photographic plate can be made to record minute differ- 
