34 The Solar Eclipse of August last. [Jan., 



wings 70,800 miles. The next protuberance extends to between e 

 and i on the woodcut ; it is of very irregular outline, and shows 

 portions of its substance detached from the general mass and floating 

 freely above it. The most elevated and bright of these detached 

 flames floats at a height of at least 20,000 miles above the surface 

 of the sun. Beyond i a white nebulous cloud rises to the elevation 

 of 60,500 miles. Next follow two protuberances at k. 



We now pass to the western limb of the sun, and meet with the 

 remarkably large and massive protuberance at g on the woodcut. 

 It is shaped like a bird's head, with the beak and under-side of the 

 head resting on the limb of the moon. On a photograph taken at 

 Ottumwa, Iowa, just before the sun came out, this protuberance had 

 the exact appearance of an albatross head with the beak open, 

 holding a rounded mass between the extremity of the jaws. The 

 protuberance at f bears the most striking resemblance to a cater- 

 pillar. It extends through an angle of 11°, or 81,800 miles; its 

 maximum elevation, which is at the head of the caterpillar, is 23,000 

 miles. Out of the head issued two horns ; the one nearest the front 

 being the higher of the two, and terminated with a knob or ball 

 from which curves a broken line of light to the border of the moon. 

 The next prominence at h has the shape of a grain of rice slightly 

 constricted in the middle. Between h and a is another protuberance. 



Professor Young, who examined these prominences during the 

 totality, has continued his spectroscopic notes of the prominences 

 since the eclipse, and on September the 13th he obtained a 

 view from which the accompanying woodcut is taken. He 



Fig. 2. 



describes it as a long, straggling range of protuberances — the sketch 

 giving a very fair idea of the number, form, and arrangement of 

 the immense cloudy mass. The points a and b were very bright. 



On September 18th he noticed a remarkable phenomenon, 

 which, although not bearing directly on the eclipse phenomena, is 

 sufficiently rare to make it deserve recording in these pages. 

 Whilst examining the spectrum of a large group of spots near the 

 sun's western limb, his attention was drawn to a peculiar knobbi- 

 ness of the f line (on the sun's disc, not at the edge), represented 

 by the following cut a, at the point e. In a very few moments 

 a brilliant spot replaced the knobs ; not merely interrupting and 



