1870.] The Solar Eclipse of August last. 33 



The next protuberance lies imbedded in the moon's border, and has 

 in form the appearance of a short, deeply-articulated worm; its 

 mean position is 69° 17'; its length 46,700 miles, and its greatest 

 height 9900; between that protuberance and the point c on the 

 woodcut, are two flames in the midst of the glow previously de- 

 scribed. Midway the diffused light rises to an elevation of 60,500 

 miles. We now come to a curiously-formed protuberance. Some 

 have compared it to an ear of corn, but in the photographs it appears 

 like an eagle with outspread wings resting on the trunk of a tree 

 which leans towards the north. On one plate where the tree-stump 

 is cut off by the advancing moon, the resemblance to an eagle on 

 the wing is perfect. The form of this object indicates instability, 



Fig. l. 



and impresses one with the idea that it is a great travelling whirl 

 of flame, the direction of whose rotation— as indicated by the posi- 

 tion of the wings and the projection of one on the other— is retro- 

 grade, or in the same direction as the motion of the hands of a 

 watch. Dr. Mayer, chief of the Burlington Section of the Phila- 

 delphia Photographic Expedition, has examined, with care, the 

 successive photographs of it, and he says that although at first he 

 thought that the last impression differed from those preceding in 

 that the wings had become longer and more in a line with each 

 other, yet on subsequent examination he could not really decide 

 that a perceptible motion had taken place during the time of totality. 

 The height of this object is 36,700 miles, and the spread of the 



VOL. VII. D 



