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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from U. S. Naval Observatory 

 CORONA OF THE SUN DURING A TOTAL ECLIPSE: SCIENCE DISCOVERED HEUUM IN 

 THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE SUN EONG BEFORE IT WAS KNOWN 

 TO EXIST ON OUR OWN PEANET 



It was during a total eclipse of the sun, visible in India in 1868, that Eockyer, 2 British 

 astronomer, saw in the spectroscope a bright yellow line which did not correspond to the line 

 of any then known element. He called it helium, after the Greek word for sun. Twenty- 

 seven years later an element was found on earth which gave the same bright yellow line in 

 the spectrum. Thus, what the sun had revealed half a century ago as existing more than 

 ninety minion miles beyond our reach, began to be studied at first hand in 1895. Today that 

 gas promises to make the ship of the skies a safe and practical reality. 



rowful event for one of its good citizens. 

 In 1903 a well was drilled at the little vil- 

 lage of Dexter, in southern Kansas, and 

 a great flow of natural gas was encoun- 

 tered. The nearest gas field at that time 

 lay a considerable distance to the east, 

 and the owner of the well, having visions 

 of Dexter becoming a great manufactur- 



ing center, invited the countryside to 

 assemble and celebrate the event. 



On the day appointed, and in the pres- 

 ence of a goodly crowd, the well was 

 opened and the gas allowed to roar forth ; 

 whereupon, in order to make the demon- 

 stration dramatically complete, a lighted 

 torch was thrust into the gas — and the 



