56 F. W. Very— A Cosmic Cycle. 



could be recognized " (p. 442). M. Trouvelot says : " We 

 knew already that great prominences show themselves quite 

 frequently at the ends of the same diameter,, and we even sus- 

 pected that a relation existed between them ; but as these 

 objects often occupy quite a considerable extent upon the sun, 

 it w*as difficult to determine whether their being met at diamet- 

 rically opposite points was a simple coincidence, or whether 

 they were in relation and obedient to a common cause. The 

 observation of the 26th of June seems to be in favor of the 

 last supposition." 



Secchi says : * " M. de la Rue has remarked that great spots 

 are generally situated at the extremities of the same diameter. 

 The same law also applies very often to the development of 

 great prominences. This coincidence agrees well with the 

 hypothesis of an action analogous to that which produces the 

 tides." 



An examination of the longitudes of the planets on June 26, 

 1885, shows that Mercury and Saturn were nearly in line with 

 the earth, but the tide-raising power of the combination does 

 not seem great enough to produce such an extraordinary effect 

 as that of the gigantic prominences seen by Trouvelot. 



Evidences of Explosions within the Stars. 



As Ranyard has pointed out, instead of the doctrine that the 

 stars are products of condensation from nebulae, could be 

 equally well substituted the opposite one that the nebulae have 

 been thrown out explosively from previously existing stars, 

 without doing violence to the appearances ; and it may be that 

 both processes are real, and that a criterion for distinguishing 

 between them should be sought. 



The curved streaks of nebulosity in the Pleiades appear to 

 have some connection with the stars. The largest stars : 

 Alcyone, Maia, Electra, and Merojpe, are in the midst of neb- 

 ulae, and some of the streaks, especially those around Maia, 

 have forms which at least are not inconsistent with the suppo- 

 sition that they may have emanated from the star at various 

 times. 



Miss Clerkef computes as a possible minimum value of the 

 distance of the Pleiades, 1,500 billions of miles, or 250 light- 

 years. " An assemblage like the Pleiades distributed round 

 our sun would extend compactly three-quarters of the way to 

 a Centauri, its feelers and appendages indefinitely farther." % 

 The brilliancy of the brighter stars in this case is several hun- 



* Le Soleil, 2 e ed„ vol. 1, p. 192, Paris, 1875. 



f Miss Agnes M. Clerke, The System of the Stars, p. 226. 



%Loc. cit, p. 227. 



