Ivi Appendix. 



of all these phenomena. In regard to the auroras of last February he has 

 pointed out that a meteor-stroam made its pi-esence known by shooting-stars 

 at the time of the auroral display of the 4th. In the case of aui'oras in 

 January he traces a stream of meteors from the neighbourhood of Jupiter, 

 where but a short time before phenomena of a very singular character were 

 observed, which he claims to have been the effect of similar auroral displaj^-s in 

 the Jovian atmosphere. Jupiter's third satellite passed between us and the 

 disc of the planet in December last. Those who were observing it saw with 

 surprise that instead of appearing bright on the grey background of the 

 planet's atmosphere, it appeared black in contrast with a light of unusual 

 brilliance and of a rosy tint, which seemed to be produced in the atmosphere 

 of the planet, and which some observers conjectured to be a Jovian aurora. 

 A few days afterwards, early in January, 1872, some fine auroras brightened 

 the atmosphere of our own planet, and very shortly afterwards an extra- 

 ordinary number of protuberances and hydrogen jets made their appearance 

 on the sun. The stream of meteors — to the action of which M. Silbermann 

 attributes the occurrence of all these phenomena — continued to pass the 

 earth for some weeks afterwards, making its presence known by shooting stars 

 radiating from a particular point in the heavens, near the place of Jupiter, 

 and by the auroras of 4th February and 22nd and 23rd of the same month, 

 which accompanied these apparitions. 



The central point in the astronomical work of the past year is undoubtedly 

 the observation of the eclipse of December last. The secrets of the chromo- 

 sphere having been so successfully unravelled, the attention of astronomers 

 was, during the last eclipse, devoted in a great measure to the solution of 

 another grand solar problem — the constitution of the Corona. This question 

 may be said to have been definitely set at rest by the observations then taken. 

 The most successful observations were those of M. Janssen, and I very much 

 regret that his detailed account of them has not yet reached this distant corner 

 of the world, not having been presented to his associates of the French 

 Academy of Sciences up to the end of June. On this account, and because 

 this address is otherwise too long, I propose to remit my remarks on this 

 eclipse to some future occasion. Here I will merely say that the observations 

 of December last definitely prove that the coronal light, wliich is seen during 

 a total eclipse, is not a simple phenomenon. It is ]iartly derived from refiection 

 of solar light by the particles of a true solar atmosphere, and partly from 

 hydrogen, and probably some other substances, which are at a sufficiently high 

 temperature to be self-luminous. 



Setting aside the eclipse observations for the present, the most interesting 

 of the work that has been performed by astronomers during the past year is 

 that which relates to the chromosphere of the sun. Since the method of 



