126 



NATURE 



\yiinc 13, 1872 I 



season for the grand ///(tA*. The chromosphere had again 

 belched forth, and far above the sun could be seen the 

 ejected matter, reaching to the height of 94,500 miles. 

 The debris was in the form of jets or wisps, which ap- 

 peared to be falling toward the chromosphere, here and 

 there fretted with sharp horns or bristles. The remains of 

 the first eruption existed unchanged since last seen, at 



1.40 P.M., but the changes in the form of the new one 

 were rapid ; at one point the filaments were so interlaced 

 as to resemble close network. In the more elevated por- 

 tions the jets soon lost their brilliancy, and in less than 



an hour scarcely anything remained but a few stray wisps 

 floating low down near the chromosphere. 



Fig. 5 e.xhibits the change which the last outburst had 

 undergone at c. 20 p.m. 



lAO.P.M. April2. 1673. 



During the phenomena the C and F lines were com- 

 pletely broken up, being displaced toward both the red 

 and violet ends of the spectrum, the greatest displacement 

 being toward the violet, in the F line extending to the 

 iron line above F numbered 2082 in Kirchhoff's map. The 

 D3 line also suffered a sensible displacement. I examined 

 the magnetic needle during the outbMrsts and an hour 



afterwards, but could detect no unusual disturbance, 

 the evening there was a slight auroral display. 



In 



The portion of the chromosphere in which the eruptions 

 took place was in the neighbourhood of a group of spots 

 which were just making their appearance upon the eastern 



,2,.2Q.J>.at., Aprils. 1 S 72 



limb of the sun. The spots were completely surrounded 

 by facute which radiated from the spots themselves, and 

 could be traced to the sun's edge. Fig. 6 shows the po- 



sition of the spots upon the sun at the time of the erup- 

 tions. The sketches were made at the time of observation, 

 and are as correct as the duration of the phenomena 

 would .1II0W, the general form and most of the details 

 being preserved. John H. Leach 



