THE SUN AND SOLAE PHENOMENA. 
307 
it was found tliat the light from the corona was reflected light, 
and reflected too by the atmosphere of the earth. Another 
celebrated astronomer, at the same time that he believes in the 
. existence of an atmosphere around the sun, still considers that the 
extraordinary rays of the corona are optical ; and he has even 
been able to .produce them artificially, by introducing a circular 
screen between the eye and the rays of light coming through an 
aperture in the walls of a dark chamber. But so many discre- 
pancies exist between observers, that it is quite impossible to 
reconcile the accounts. Red prominences were seen by one 
observer which were quite invisible to his neighbour. Protu- 
berances which were seen red at Miranda were seen white at 
Valencia. The rays of the corona at two different stations at 
the same moment were in different directions. Strangest of all, 
the decrease of the eastern protuberances, like the increase in 
the western, were more rapid than the moon’s motion would 
allow of. There can be no doubt, too, but that the rays of 
the corona were seen curved, intermixed, and even tangential 
to the edge of the moon. We may state that the illus- 
trations have not been selected by us on account of their eccen- 
tricity : both drawings have been made by very eminent 
observers — the one of the eclipse of 1858, by M. Liais ; and 
that of 1860, by M. Feilitzch, who had previously observed the 
eclipse of 1851 . The latter observer noticed that the corona 
was much brighter in the last eclipse than in that of 1851.* 
The most trivial incidents during a total eclipse of the sun 
are watched with the greatest interest, particularly during- 
those few moments when total darkness overspreads the earth. 
Having been stationed near Reynosa, in Spain, in company 
with Messrs. Buckingham and Wray, the writer was able to 
observe the last eclipse of 1860. First comes that gradual 
march of the moon over the sun, which latter, even when half 
obscured, is not sensibly diminished in lustre. Then the gra- 
dual waning- of the crescent of the sun, until it is reduced to 
the merest thread of light, and then the obscurity begins. 
The thread of light is irregular, as we see by means of the 
telescope, and whilst we are looking- at it (now invisible to 
the naked eye) we notice that it is broken up into frag-- 
ments, brighter than stars and somewhat resembling electric 
sparks. Now, between the broken sparks, the first rays of 
the corona break out with the brilliancy of a glory ; in another 
moment, the sun is completely hidden ; the dark velvet sur- 
face of the moon is seen projected on the silvery corona, 
and all is in obscurity — a dai-kness not complete like that 
For remarkable differences of drawing we refer to the diagrams in the 
Astronomer Royal’s Lecture as given in the London Review of September 
21 , 1861 . 
NO. III. 
Y 
