There may be, and there probably are, for the
perturbations of Mercury indicate it, multitudes of small masses
circulating around the sun like the planets, being fragments of comets
or condensations of primitive matter, whose combined luster is seen in
the zodiacal light.
The other results of the work of the Commission, so far as now known,
are connected with the structure of the corona, the solar appendage
which extends out for millions of miles from the sun's disk. In the
photographs of the Egyptian eclipse of last summer these streamers can
be traced back of each other where they cross; no better proof of their
extreme tenuity could be given.
The duration of an eclipse of the sun depends on three things, the
distance of the sun from the earth, the distance of the moon from the
earth, and the distance of the station from the equator. All of these
were favorable to a long eclipse in the case of the recent one, and the
six minutes of totality gave opportunities for deliberate work not often
enjoyed.
* * * * *
A BURIED CITY OF THE EXODUS.
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