Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1871-11-29
The sun and Its GIbry.

caused much admlrlng com
ment and stimulated Interest in
the coming eclipse Of tAe sun.
This takes place on the 18th Of
December. Tits total and
will be visible to best adyan-
tage in India, Java and Aus
Istralia. In referring ID this
sulject the New York Times
says the English expedition,
under Mr.. Lockyer, has already
set sail in the Mi,zapote which
Eslip, as we learn, to9fbcd al
Malta some days ago Every.
thing that forethought' or ex-
perience could suggest has
rbeen provided to attain favora.
BILE results, The chief thing
aimed at is, as most readers
are aware, to determine the
nature of the SUMS corona; OF
more strictly, to verify the con
clusion generally admitted to
have been,reached last August.
10 accomplish this, instru-
ments Of the highest perfection
so far known will be used, and
the various tests will, it is
hoped, correct and affirm each
other. In this way tie teles-
cope, the spectroscope and the
telegraphic camera will be EN-.
ployed, and advantages gained
from their combined. ohsprva
tion that could not possibly
arise from the single use OF
either. This was grandly
shown during the eclipse OF
last August, when there werc
times at which each instrument
lid service not to be done by
the others, and in some service
of inestimable value. Fol
example, at the station Of Mr..
Brothers, the photographer,
clouds swiftly obscuring the
sun for babe the use OF the
camera for almost the whole
time of totality. Yet there
were just eleven seconds oI
that period Of abs lutte clear
ness; and in eight of those
seconds the finest picture Of the
corona that exists was taken.
1t is sometimes asked what
good will it do us to know the
precise nature Of the sun,
corona? The question is o
course a foolish one, but still
in this practical age, there may
be profit in answering it. One
set Of benefits, we may observe
then to begin with, is incident.
al. The hill,climber at Potosi
grasping a bush to help his as
cent, laid bare the virgin silveI
beneath. Professor Young, il
making coronal observations
hit on lsomething far more
splendid than any ore thai
ever ''supplicating shone. liz
discovered fact, Cor what il
held by able scientists to be /
fact, and will soon, doubtless
be put beyond dispute), abou
the suns atmosphere of pro
found interest and Importance
He found, that is TO say
that the solar atmosphere i,
composed, instead of the case,
that make up the atmosphere
of the earth, of the vapors o
our own wellknown terrestrial
metals. This, assuredly, is
discovery of vast consequence
and will, probably, apart from
its intrinsic moment, lead t(
others Of as yet but conjectura
worth. But the fact and Sil
John Herschel has pronounced
the evidence already obtained
to be decisive, that the coron,
is extraterres rial, produced ii
no wise by our own atmos-
phere-that 1t Is a real solal
appendage, reaching at least 4
million miles from the suns
surface, is not to be easily over
estimated in its prospective
bearing on the development OF
astronomical science, and pro.
badly, indeed, on the whole
arcana of nature. The estab-
lishment of the fact that Ger.
tain metals are common to
both sun and earth is interest
ing as suggesting common
origin; and the discovery first,
of the veritable nature of the