286 Address of Sir William Thompson. 
tion extremely difficult. Still, with such great skill as Mr. Hug- 
gins has brought to bear on the investigation, it can scarcely be 
a 
cording to the laboratory results of Frankland and himself, go 
far toward confirming the conviction that in a few years al 
the marvels of the Sun will be dynamically explained according 
of weather. It seems to have been proved that at least some 
sensible part of the light of the “corona” is a terrestrial atmos- 
pheric halo or dispersive reflexion of the light of the glow 
hydrogen and i helium ” round the Sun. (Frankland am 
Lockyer find the yellow prominences to give ery decided 
bright line not far from D, but hitherto not identified with an 
confidently trusts to our Government exercising the same wIs¢ 
berality as heretofore in the interests of science. 
Sola~ Heat. 
The old nebular hypothesis supposes the solar system and 
other similar systems through the universe which we see at 4 
“ance as stars, to have originated in the condensation of fiery 
nebulous matter. * This hypothesis was invented before the dis 
rovery of the thermo-dynamics, or the nebulew would not have 3 
been supp to be fiery; and the idea seems never to have ae 
occurred to any of its inventors or early supporters that the 
