two drawings were made, one by Capt. Brandreth, and the otiu r 

 l.y Dr. Macdonald, F.R.S., in which the variation is so stroii- 

 that one would feel inclined to acquit the atmosphere of any 

 participation in the matter, and to relegate the whole outer ini- 

 iia to subjectivity alone, did not Mr. Brother's admirable pli 

 graphs show both phenomena, as I am told they do. Dr. \ 

 donald saw eight rays arranged with perfect symmetry; I 

 Ikandreth saw only two elliptical hoops crossing each otlu i 

 right angles. 



Capt. Cochran, of the Caledonia, besides the ring, saw a o-nr 

 plicated stellate figure, the rays of nearly equal length, while .Mr. 

 Dexter, at sea between Catania and Syracuse, saw, besides tlu 

 ring, only one ray of inordinate length. 



So much for the drawings. I think that if the records of tor- 

 tner eclipses be now examined, especially Mr. Carringtou s dia«- 

 ing of the eclipse of 1851, and compared with the others taken 

 at the same time, additional evidence will be gathered in tavor ot 

 the compound nature of the corona, which on the eviileiice nov 

 before me, I consider the great teaching of the present eelip^e. 

 Our experience in Sicily seems to be similar to that of the |.i»:iii- 

 ish observers, for Mr. Perry writes that, "some observed n\o 

 curved rays," while the rapid degradation of light oceurr^a jU 

 one-fifth of a solar diameter, but, so far as I know, no one m ^ki 

 was favored with a view of the dark intervals which were observe 



There is a strange and most interesting discordance ^<^tw^5" 

 some of the spectroscopic observations made in Sicdy and ^.p. • 

 At Agosta, where the totality was well visible for ten seeo '^. 

 Mr. JBurton detected a green line near E, with a taiigeimai^>^^^ 

 (distance from moon not stated). This line, which was al^o h ^^ 

 by the Italian observers, is doubtless the one recorded la^^ >t'^^ 

 by the American astronomers, but in Spain Mr. Perry ^J'^^'^'' "^ 

 bright lines at C near D, h (or E) and F were observed 8 ^^ 

 from the sun. At Syracuse, Prof. Harkness, whose *'^|j^^^^J'. ^„',a 

 moved into the various positions by Capt. Tupman, R-^^-/-"^*' / '^j.,,,,! 

 the green line in all parts of the corona, so far as about l ^'^^^ 

 the sun, and at one point thought he detected two green inj ^j ^^^ 

 refrangible than it ; but at several places he saw a ^^^^P ■ •,. 

 drogen spectrum (iiicliiding C) which he attributed to pron ^_^ 



prominence near the s 



5lit. 3 



lore proofs of the terrestrial r^^^^ 

 [ think, taken in connection ^^'^ ^ 

 >ui identlcull;/ the ^'""''/^'^^^^Qy, ii 



this portion of the cc 





fact that the dork mo 





would appear that tl 

 Spain, and here and t 



luTC T 



trum with its line m 



^ar'^E,' 





accept asestablishe.l 



bey<,„, 



l!iSEii;:,i:':;;n7';S 



the prominent spectn 





Abbiiy, oliaervmg at .^e 



one passage in Mr. 1', 

 a mispnnt, as I suspe 



\'\ tfier 



IS recorded. It runs 



, -Mr. 



