Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 157 



able atmospheric circumstances, are so wonderfully different in their 

 appearance from those presented by the diminished apertures for- 

 merly and necessarily in use, that it would not be very surprising if 

 some observers, unaware of what had previously been seen and de- 

 scribed, should imagine that the phenomena revealed by their newly 

 acquired and powerful telescopes were really new discoveries. And 

 this is what, there is good reason to believe, has in some instances 

 actually occurred. Such a mistake may also be more likely to be 

 made when a new name has been applied by some recent observer to 

 an appearance long familiar to others, though previously unnamed. 

 A name, no doubt, has the advantage of affording a convenient 

 handle whereby to grasp the thing described ; but, unless it is very 

 correct and appropriate, it conveys an erroneous impression of the 

 appearance to which it is applied, and may become far more injurious 

 than advantageous. It seems to me, therefore, to be desirable to 

 direct attention to what has been Ions; ago observed and described, 

 and also to put on record some results of a pretty constant scrutiny 

 of solar phenomena with powerful and excellent telescopes during 

 the last twelve or fifteen years. 



The mottled appearance of the solar surface requires no very large 

 amount of optical power to render it visible. I have often observed 

 it with a good refractor of only 2^- inches aperture and a power of 

 60. Examined with a large aperture, such as 6 or 8 inches, it 

 becomes evident that the surface is principally made up of luminous 

 masses imperfectly separated from each other by rows of minute 

 dark dots, — the intervals between these dots being extremely small, 

 and occupied by a substance decidedly less luminous than the gene- 

 ral surface. This gives the impression of a division between the 

 luminous masses, especially with a comparatively low power, which, 

 however, when best seen with high powers, is found to be never 

 complete. The masses thus incompletely separated are of almost 

 every variety of irregular form — the rarest of all, perhaps, being 

 that which is conveyed to my mind by Mr. Nasmyth's appellation 

 of " willow leaves," viz. long, narrow, and pointed. Indeed the only 

 situation in w r hich I have usually noticed them to assume anything 

 like such a shape, is in the immediate vicinity of considerable spots, 

 on their penumbra, and frequently projecting beyond it irregularly 

 for a small distance on to the umbra, — an appearance with respect 

 to which, in my " Description of a new Solar Eyepiece," which I 

 read before the Society in April 1852 (see 'Memoirs,' vol. xxi. p. 161), 

 I employed the following expressions : — " The interior edge of the 

 penumbra frequently appears extremely jagged — the bright ridges on 

 its surface, which are directed nearly towards the centre of the spot, 

 being seen projected to irregular distances on to the cloudy stratum 

 [or umbra~\, and looking much like a piece of coarse thatching with 

 straw, the edge of which has been left untrimmed." After nearly 

 twelve years of careful observations of the same phenomena, I do 

 not think that I could improve upon this description. 



Of the general appearance of the sun's surface, I have met with 



