position to learn very much more about the sun than we can about the stars. On the general surface there are here and there darker portions-these are the "spots." 3. The brighter portion of the sun is called the "photosphere"; that is to say, the "light sphere"; because most of the light which we get from the sun comes from that portion itself. Here and there, in addition to the spots, you see some portions which are brighter than the rest of the surface of the sun, or the photosphere, and these are called "faculæ," or "torches;" facula being the Latin for a torch; and the people who first gave names to these things called these brighter portions "faculæ," and these dimmer portions "macula"; the one meaning torches, and the other meaning spots. 4. The first great fact which was got from the study of these spots was this-that this great sun is very much like our own earth, in so far as it turns on an axis in exactly the same way that our earth does. Not only do the spots change their position on the face of the sun, in consequence of the sun's rotation on its axis, but they change very much from day to day, and even from hour to hour; so that we have evidence not only that the sun is rotating like our earth, but that the atmosphere of the sun is subjected to most tremendous storms; storms so tremendous, in fact, that the storms on our own earth are not for one moment to be compared with them. 5. The fact that the spots do really move with the sun and are really saucer-like hollows in the brighter portion, is shown by the appearance which is always presented by a spot when it is near the edge of the sun. Sometimes, as many of you know, the moon comes between us and the sun, and then we get what we call a "partial" eclipse of the sun; and you also know that if the moon comes right between us and the sun, all the sunlight is cut away from us, and we get what is called a "total" eclipse of the When we get the sun totally eclipsed,-when all the sun is cut away from us,-then we see certain things which sun. we do not see when the sun is not eclipsed or when the sun is only partially eclipsed. The importance of observing these things, and of learning all we can in the precious moments of a total eclipse, is the reason why civilized Governments, whenever there is an eclipse of the sun, send out expeditions to those places where the eclipse will be seen as total. For instance, there has recently been an eclipse of the sun visible as a total one in Spain, North Africa, and Sicily, and consequently civilized Governments sent out expeditions to observe the sun in those places. 6. Now let me give you some idea of what those parties saw. The sun was entirely covered by the moon, but strange to say, in those regions just outside the sun, where generally we see nothing whatever, were here and there bright points of light; and here and there a sort of hazy light, which revealed something new. Thus, in those regions round the sun where the naked eye, with the uneclipsed sun, sees nothing whatever, there are all sorts of strange and wonderful things. These wonderful things have been seen for a very long time. And I may tell you that these were only half the wonders seen. Outside these brighter portions were other and fainter appearances further away from the sun. The understanding of these things is at present almost beyond the best of us, so much do people who try to find out all about them vary, not only in the accounts they give of the things they see, but also in their explanations of what they mean. In a remarkable series of drawings, made by a very distinguished astronomer during the eclipse which happened a few years ago, we get a perfectly distinct ring close to the body of the moon; outside that ring we get another ring somewhat less distinct; and then, in addition to those two rings of different brightnesses, we get five rays, as seen in one picture, in one particular portion of the sun's limb or edge. Astronomers for a long time past have agreed to call those brighter portions, the solar "prominences," or "red flames;" and they form part of an envelope round the sun called the colour sphere-as it is in this region that the various colours are seen in eclipses. So that over the sun, as we see it every day, we have bright spots and dark spots, like so many milestones. 7. By the use of a new instrument we have been able to determine the existence of tremendous tempests on the sun, or wind-storms you may call them if you like, exceeding anything that we can imagine here. We can watch the wind travelling along the sun at the rate of 120 miles a second; we can watch the different portions of the solar covering torn up and carried high into the solar air at the rate of 40 miles a second-40 miles a second, not 40 miles an hour-and in this way we have been enabled to show not only that there are tremendous storms and wind currents there, but that they are the same sort of currents which you get in a tea-kettle, going far down into the sun -much further down into the sun than we know anything about-and right to the outer portions where we can study all about them. 8. At present our knowledge with regard to the sun may be stated to be as follows:-We know a little about the spots; we know a little about the outer rim, that outer bright portion which is called the photosphere or light sphere. Underneath that I think we know absolutely nothing whatever; and the more a man talks to you about what is inside the sun, if you will take my advice, the less you will believe in him. Also, with regard to the outer portions of the sun, what lies outside, I beg you even in that case not to place too much reliance upon very certain statements. I do not think the thing is certain either one way or the other; but the man of science, the man who is anxious for truth, can always afford to wait; and I think we can afford to wait in this case; we only know very little about it, and that little is confined to a very limited region. We don't know exactly what is outside the sun; we don't know what is inside; but if we fix upon the outside of the sun, as we see it generally, and work gradually (it may be a work of centuries, perhaps,) first looking outside, then a little lower in, and so on, in the long run we shall obtain a sure and certain knowledge. SPELL AND GIVE THE MEANING rota'tion, revolving. reli'ance, trust. THE ARMADA,1-MACAULAY. Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay, was born in 1800; died in 1859, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His essays first won him fame by their wonderful fulness of knowledge, and clearness and brilliancy of style, and his unfinished History of England fully sustained this high reputation. His ballads, written when he was at Cambridge, are perfect of their kind. The Armada is one of them. 5 ATTEND, all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise; K 20 |