152 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
or of opaque clouds^ and eventually througli these into a black- 
ness, which is thought by many to indicate the darli solid mass 
of the Sun. We have indications of still other wonders, and 
by carefully observing the astounding phenomena which ac- 
company the total eclipses of the Sun, we have in all pro- 
babihty been brought acquainted with the true solar at- 
mosphere extending beyond the photosphere. The great 
solar eclipse of July 18, 1860, was an opportunity upon which 
all astronomers seized. The central path of the moon^s 
shadow and the hmits of totality having been carefully deter- 
mined, the English astronomers selected Spain as their base 
of observation. Mr. Warren de la Rue, armed with well- 
prepared photographic apparatus and materials, and aided 
by trained assistants, placed his observatory at Rivabellosa, 
about two miles from the town of Miranda. From this point, 
which was most fortunately chosen, a series of photographs 
were obtained, which confirmed all that had been previously 
stated of certain rose-coloured prominences, which appear on 
the edge of the Sun when the total observation is complete.* 
The engraving which we have given shows the peculiar forms 
of these remarkable appearances (Plate YI.) . The excrescences 
assume various shapes, sometimes appearing like mountain 
ranges, often like gigantic flags streaming upon steady 
winds ; then again they appear like clouds, and not un- 
frequently assume fantastic shapes, which have been com- 
pared to falling trees and to boomerangs. That these 
belong to the Sun, and not to the Moon, is certain, since the 
moon in its progress over the Sun gradually hides those to 
which it is approaching, and discloses those from which it is 
receding. These masses of matter, whatever they may be, 
are of enormous size ; many of them, it has been calculated, 
stood out from the edge of the sun to distances of no less than 
40,000 or 60,000 miles. Who shall say what these strange 
masses may be ? Sir John Herschel says, Flames they 
certainly are not ; clouds of some sort it is extremely probable 
they are, of most excessively thin and filmy vapour, floating 
in a transparent atmosphere, which must for that purpose 
extend to a very considerable height above the luminous 
surface of the Sun.^^ 
In this rapid sketch an endeavour has been made to give a 
clear description of the different phenomena which have com- 
pelled the attention of our astronomers. We have learned 
that there is a vast solar atmosphere which extends far beyond 
* See for most complete and accurate details, tlie Bakerian Lecture for 
1862, on the Total Solar Eclipse of July 18, 1860, observed at KivabeUosa, 
near Miranda de Ebro in Spain. By Warren de la Rue, Pli.D., E.R.S. 
“ Philosophical Transactions,” Vol. 152, part 1. 
