Gautier on the Physical Constitution of the Sun. 345 



GAUTIER ON THE PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION OF 



THE SUN. 



The Archives des Sciences, 20th April, 1864, contains a paper 

 by M. Emile Gautier, reviewing various observations, opinions, 

 and discoveries of eminent astronomers, from the consideration 

 of which he deduces the following conclusions. In giving* 

 these and other speculations we may be permitted to remind 

 our readers that they supply a mass of hypothesis worth con- 

 sideration, but certainly not to be accepted as ascertained 

 fact. 



1. '"''The sun is a liquid globe, incandescent, composed of 

 elements like those which enter into the composition of the 

 earth, and probably into that of the planets of the system. 

 They exist in a state of liquidity, such as the earth passed 

 through, according to the current opinions of geologists.* The 

 high temperature which preserves the elements in a liquid 

 form, necessarily dilates their volume, and explains the rela- 

 tively small density of the fused globe.'" 



2. " An atmosphere envelops the liquid mass, and holds in. 

 suspension vapours and emanations of all kinds, so that the 

 inferior layers may be much heavier than those of the terrestrial 

 atmosphere. The rotatory movement of the central globe 

 need not be supposed to be transmitted to the most elevated 

 regions of the solar atmosphere with the same angular velocity. 

 We may therefore presume that the solar atmosphere exercises 

 an action of rubbing or friction on the globe. " 



3. < *'The emanations or metallic vapours surrounding the 

 sun, and impregnated with dust, smoke and lava, form around 

 him a layer of variable thickness, and give rise during eclipses 

 to the red borders and protuberances." 



4. " The solar spots are partial modifications of the surface, 

 due either to coolings, or to chemical actions that cause a 

 momentary reunion in masses of salts or oxides issuing from 

 the mass in fusion and floating on the surface. At the end of 

 a certain time — which may exceed a terrestrial year — the che- 

 mical action of other elements, or an elevation of temperature, 

 gives rise to new bodies. The dark nucleus of the spots 

 corresponds to the thickest part of the solid crust ; the penum- 

 bra to the pellicle, which in every formation of this kind is 

 seen on the surface of a metal in fusion, and which is always 

 produced about salt or scorias. Both are liable to be cracked, 

 and to form figures through which the brilliant fused mass may 

 be seen in the form of luminous bridges or spots." 



* Geologists are not specially responsible for this opinion. Whether truo or 

 false, it is not evidenced by the superficial formations with which their labour lies. 



