248 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
the line should remain fixed during the eclipse; but if the corona is due to diffrac- 
tion this line should change; it should grow shorter in the light from one side of 
the corona, and longer on the other. The observation was now reduced to 
watching for a change in the relative length of two green lines. 
At the beginning of totality the line from the west side was much the 
longer, but as the eclipse progressed it shortened notably, while the line from the 
east side, shorter by about one-third at the beginning of the eclipse, grew longer. 
When the ecUpse ended the proportions of the lines were exactly reversed. 
There had been a change equal to two-thirds the length of the lines, while the 
Sun and Moon had only changed their relative positions by an extremely small ' 
amount. The only way in which this phenomenon can be accounted for is on 
the detraction theory. The material view of the corona will not answer for it. 
But there are other discrepancies in the older view which have been known for 
some time. The principle ones are : i. It is known from study of the Sun that 
the gaseous pressure at the surface must be less than an inch of mercury, and is 
probably less than one-tenth of an inch, but an atmosphere extending to the sup- 
posed limits would cause an enormous pressure at the Sun's surface, especially 
since the force of gravity on the Sun is very much greater than on the earth. 2. 
The laws of gravitation would require a solar atmosphere to be distributed sym- 
metrically around the Sun, while the corona is enormously irregular in form. 
The Sun is irregular in outline, which would make its diffracted phenomena show 
the observed irregularity, but it is symmetrical as regards density. 3. The most 
interesting discrepancy of the theory of the solar atmosphere is the fact that while 
it is supposed to extend for millions of miles from the Sun, the recent comet 
passed within two hundred thousand miles of the Sun, and yet its orbit was not 
affected in the least — as it would have been if it had ploughed its way through a 
material substance. In taking photographs of the corona it is seen to be larger 
as the time of exposure is longer. This shows that the corona extends indefinitely, 
and it decreases in brilliancy in exact accordance with the mathematical laws of 
diffraction. These laws involve very complicated mathematics, but by them 
alone Dr. Hastings has proved that there must be diffraction where the corona is, 
and that it must follow the same laws as those observed. There is a small 
envelope around the Sun, but in the opinion of Dr. Hastings it does not extend 
beyond what is known as the chromosphere. 
The question seems to be settled, with considerable certainty, that nothing 
exists inside of Mercury large enough to be dignified by the name of planet. 
There may be, and there probably are, for the perturbations of Mercury indicate 
it, multitudes of small masses circulating around the Sun like the planets, being 
fragments of comets or condensations of primitive matter, whose combined lustre 
is seen in the Zodiacal Light. 
The other results of the work of the Commission, so far as now known, are 
connected with the structure of the corona, the solar appendage, which extends 
