The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-26
CLOUDS ON THE SUN.
RECENT STUDIES OF VAPOR
 MASSES
In she saIar Envelope.

more directly essential to animal and vegetable life on the earth than any in- 1uence from other celestial objects. Again, since all of the stars are be- lieved to be suns, huge, hot and lumi- nous. much of the knowledge that is gained in regard to the central body of our solar system would be applicable to the rest of that infinite multitude.
 For nearly two centuries the world has been more or less familiar with dark spots on the sun. It has heard much less of certain bright patches, called faculae, often seen in solar pho tographs, and observed visually through telescopes, but these markings are not novel. Neither are the huge, pink, com paratively calm protuberances often seen on the limb of the sun and known to be composed of hydrogen. Practical ly unknown hitherto have been certain features of the gaseous envelope of the sun which are being studied at the Yerkes Observatory by means devised by Professor George E. Hale, the direc- tor.
 The nature of this work will be better understood if one refreshes his memory concerning the theoretical stratification of what may be called the solar atmos- phere. The bright surface which the ordinary beholder sees is layer of clouds called the philosophers. This is pra ctically the foundation of things, be- low which one cannot penetrate far. In the opinion of Langley and other good authorities, the minute bright lc-na Of ha nhntn- sphere specks or granules of which the photosphere is compassed are the upper ends of slender filaments, which are vertically disposed. These are appa- rently thrust over into g. slanting posi- ton around the edges of a sunspot, thus imparting to the ''penumbra" the appearance of grain stalks prostrated by a storm. Next above the photo l sphere comes what Professor Young calls the reversing layer," because it makes dark lines out of what would otherwise be bright ones in the spec trum of the sun. Still higher lies the chromosphere, shell of pink gas, most I ly hydrogen, but also containing other elements. It is out of this layer that the hydrogen protuberances seem to rise.
 Finally, there is that nebulous exten- sion, the corona, which is seen only at times of total eclipse.
 l Before he became director of the
 Yerkes Observatory, and while still living in Chicago, Professor Hale began
 taking photographs of the sun in a new way. He interposed a spectroscope be-
 tween his telescope and camera Many of the lines which are exhibited in the solar spectrum have been identified as those obtained in terrestrial laborato- ries and belonging to well known ele- ments Some are due to hydrogen, some
 to iron, some to helium and some to call ciurn. By an ingenious adjustment of his apparatus, therefore, Professor Hale
 was able to admit to his camera only I the light of single line, and represent ling only solitary element in the sun. For various reasons, the calcium lines were particularly adapted to such ex- lperiments. A picture taken with his spectre -heliograph would show, not
 what one sees in an ordinary picture of
 the sun, but only those regions on it's
 surface, or above Its surface, where
 calcium vapor existed.
 For time it was thought that the bright areas thus revealed were the
 same as the facu1ae, but by degrees
 several students of the phenomena in question reached different conclusion.
 Hitherto faculae have been discovered lonly in the same regions as spots-that lis to say, within thirty or thirty-five degrees of the equator-whereas Hale's pictures showed a kind of network ex- Itending all over the sun and up to the lpoles. Moreover, when single patches lin the calcium photographs were com Ipared with facular areas in the same lgeneral neighborhood, it was found that the former were often much larger Hence it became evident that a new class of phenomena had been detected To this Professor Hale now applies the lname "f1occuli," or little clouds, prefix ling thereto the name of some element
 which is there seen in the form of va
 pof- ..}4
 His latest studies of calcium and hy-
 drogen f1occu1i have been conducted
 with magnificent new instrument. the j Rumford spectre telegraph, which is
 adjusted to the forty-inch telescope g T the Yerkes Observatory An account oi recent work, in which the director had
 the cooperation of Ferdinand Elerman
 is contained in publication just issued ,and is admirably illustrated with pho
 tograpTs.
 A new procedure is now indicated fol
 the first time. By making exposures al what are believed to be different level: lon the sun, different outlines are se'
 cured in the same region. Hints art
 thus afforded of the shape of the flo' cult. Generally speaking, those masse:
 are broader at great elevations thai
 at lower ones. Of course if they could be seen in profile on the edge of tht : sun, as hydrogen protuberances are ,, both the exact height and variations il lateral extensions could be mapped , One could tell whether they spread ou Hike mushrooms, or like elms, or likt
 bulrushes. As yet, however, that is no possible. The only information can bt secured by the method here mentioned This does not give such precise results as one might wish, and the work al ready done must undergo criticism from other. experts before it's trust , worthiness can be fully judged. Pro ' lessor Hale presents his own interpre tation of the facts with modesty, ant lets the photographs speak for them
 selves. The work is incomplete, toe Professor Hale has met with certail l ;t, re+ffaor Yoint11rac at fb