SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 340. 



seems almost certain, therefore, that the 

 three comets which appeared respectively 

 in 1843, 1880 and 1882 originally consti- 

 tuted one gigantic body, which, on the occa- 

 sion of a previous visit, perhaps about the 

 time of the Norman conquest of England, 

 had been torn in pieces by the sun's action 

 precisely as was the case with the fragment 

 which returned in 1882. 



Whether the meteoric stones of which 

 mention has been made are in any way re- 

 lated to the minute shooting stars, and 

 whether or not they also at one time formed 

 constituent parts of comets, we cannot 

 say with certainty, but there seems to be 

 no clear line of demarkation between the 

 two classes of bodies. It appears to be sim- 

 ply a difference of dimension. A few of 

 the fragments are massive enough to make 

 their way through the air, and are known 

 as meteoric stones. The great majority are 

 so small that they are dissipated in the 

 upper regions of the atmosphere. 



On July 8, 1842, occurred a total eclipse 

 of the sun, the line of totality passing over 

 central and northern Europe. Great inter- 

 est in this event had been aroused, largely 

 due to the enthusiasm of the English as- 

 tronomer Francis Baily. What we may 

 call the first of the series of eclipse expedi- 

 tions, since become such a conspicuous fea- 

 ture, were sent out at this time. Among 

 those who made the long journey — long for 

 those days — were the Astronomer Royal, 

 Baily, Struve from Poulkova, Schumacher 

 from Altona,andArago from Paris. Though 

 the corona and solar prominences had been 

 frequently seen and described in a casual 

 manner by previous witnesses of similar 

 phenomena, such accounts had attracted 

 little attention. Apparently most of the 

 observers on the present occasion were to- 

 tally unprepared for the spectacle which 

 confronted them. So far as it concerns the 

 cause of science, these now familiar append- 

 ages of the sun may be said to date their 



discovery from this occasion. Baily is par- 

 ticularly eloquent in his account of the 

 corona, closing as follows : " Splendid and 

 astonishing, however, as this remarkable 

 phenomenon really was, and although it 

 could not fail to call forth the admiration 

 and applause of every beholder, yet I must 

 confess that there was at the same time 

 something in its singular and wonderful 

 appearance that was appalling ; and I can 

 readily imagine that uncivilized nations 

 may occasionally have become alarmed and 

 terrified at such an object, more especially 

 at times when the true cause of the occur- 

 rence may have been but faintly understood, 

 and the phenomenon itself wholly un- 

 expected. 



" But the most remarkable circumstance 

 attending the phenomenon was the appear- 

 ance of three large protuberances, appar- 

 ently emanating from the circumference of 

 the moon, but evidently forming a portion 

 of the corona. I never lost sight of them 

 when looking in that direction, and when 

 the first raj'^ of light was admitted from the 

 sun, they vanished with the corona alto- 

 gether and daylight was instantaneously 

 restored." 



The importance of these phenomena was 

 now for the first time brought home to as- 

 tronomers, and the desirability of investi- 

 gating their true character. A variety of 

 theories were advanced, some old and some 

 new, some not far from the truth and others 

 very much so. Professor von Felitsch, of 

 Griefwald, published a treatise in which he 

 proved to his own satisfaction that corona, 

 prominences and chromosphere were purely 

 optical appearances. 



Some of the mists and haze enveloping the 

 subject were cleared away by the eclipse of 

 1851, which was successfully observed in 

 Norway and Sweden, but it was not until 

 1860 that the true character of these phe- 

 nomena, that of solar appendages, was firmly 

 established. This occasion marked an im- 



