It may be objected to the spherical theory that a tail 50,000,000 miles
long would call for a sphere 100,000,000 miles in diameter, and that
would be too vast for our solar system. But it is claimed for this
sphere that it consists of the same material as the so-called tail, and
that it has the same capability of moving among planets without manifest
disturbance to either.
The sphere at the perihelion would envelop the sun, and as a noticeable
reduction is sometimes found in its so-called tail, the cometic
atmosphere may impart to the sun at that time whatever is necessary to
its use.
That there is something in common between the sun's corona and cometary
matter was shown by the last solar eclipse observed in South Pacific
Ocean, where the spectrum of sun's corona was found to be the same as
that of a comet's tail. Are we to attribute in any degree the different
appearances of the sun's corona to the presence or absence of a comet
at its perihelion? At the eclipse of the sun seen in Upper Egypt two or
three years ago, a comet was seen close to the sun, but I have seen no
account of the appearance of the corona at that time.
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