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or photosphere, a better term — the solar spectrum would give 

 a series of brilliantly colored bright bands. It has been 

 stated that vapors are opaque to their own class of rays ; 

 therefore, since the rays produced by burning irou or mag- 

 nesia or lithium or other metals, are not transmitted 

 through the vapors produced by the combustion of those 

 metals, the solar spectrum gives an extensive series of dark 

 bands. That every black line in the solar spectrum repre- 

 sents rays emitted from some metallic body in the state of 

 combustion in the sun, is exceedingly doubtful. It has 

 been already shown that many of the dark lines are due to 

 the want of absolute transparency of our own atmosphere. 

 But, Kirchoff 's view of the coincidence of the black lines of 

 the solar spectrum with the bright lines of terrestrial flames 

 is a fair deduction from his experimental observations. 



Whilst these inquiries of Kirchoff, Bunsen and others 

 have been progressing, investigations elsewhere have 

 brought corroborative evidence. The party of Astrono- 

 mers who went to Spain in 1860, to note with all accuracy 

 the phenomena of the solar eclipse of that year, brought 

 back evidence of tongues of flame or clouds glowing with 

 the reflected lights of an intense combustion coming strong- 

 ly into view when the bright light of the sun was obscured 

 by the moon's body. 



Prof. Airy, states it as his belief " that the sun is boiling up 

 and that the prominences observed werejumes given off. 



The sun's disc is covered by masses of curiously shaped 

 and ever moving forms, called by their discoverer, Mr. 

 Hasting, the " willow leaves." The inference is that these 

 are tongues of flame ever bursting from this incomprehen- 

 sible mass and dispersing light and its attendant forces to 

 all the planets. 



By the aid of optical science, of chemical experiments, 

 and astronomical observations, we are advanced to the fol- 

 lowing deductions : 



