SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 19 
particular chemical element desired which may exhibit itself 
as glowing gas or vapor in the sun’s photosphere. The white 
patches are outbursts of dazzlingly bright calcium vapor sur- 
rounding a group of large sun spots, and being expelled with 
ereat velocity from the sun’s interior to a height of many 
thousands of miles, they indicate the play of titanic forces be- 
neath the sun’s photosphere. 
A still more extraordinary outburst was observed by Dr. 
Hale some years ago. The brilliantly white calcium floceuli 
rapidly formed around and closed over a large swirling, ey- 
clonic spot, completely shutting it from view in less than 27 
minutes, and spreading till it covered a vast area estimated 
at 400,000,000 square miles. ‘*‘An hour later the eruption had 
settled down, the vapors had passed away, and the group of 
spots looked as it did before the eruption took place.’’ The 
next day a great electrical storm occured on the earth followed 
by one of the most brilliant auroras that was ever witnessed in 
this country. 
These are examples of the gigantic scale on which the 
mighty forces generated in the intensely heated gases of the 
sun are operating. 
