at Rivabellosa, in the Upper Ebro valley;
Secchi set up his instrument at Desierto de las Palmas, about 250 miles
to the south-east, overlooking the Mediterranean. From the totally
eclipsed sun, with its strange garland of flames, each observer derived
several perfectly successful impressions, which were found, on
comparison, to agree in the most minute details. This at once settled
the fundamental question as to the substantial reality of these objects;
while their solar character was demonstrated by the passage of the moon
_in front_ of them, indisputably attested by pictures taken at
successive stages of the eclipse. That forms seeming to defy all laws of
equilibrium were, nevertheless, not wholly evanescent, appeared from
their identity at an interval of seven minutes, during which the lunar
shadow was in transit from one station to the other; and the singular
energy of their actinic rays was shown by the record on the sensitive
plates of some prominences invisible in the telescope. Moreover,
photographic evidence strongly confirmed the inference--previously drawn
by Grant and others, and now with fuller assurance by Secchi--that an
uninterrupted stratum of prominence-matter encompasses the sun on all
sides, forming a reservoir from which gigantic jets issue, and into
which they subside.

Thus, first-fruits of accurate knowledge regarding the solar
surroundings were gathered, while the value of the brief moments of
eclipse gained indefinite increase, by supplementing transient visual
impressions with the faithful and lasting records of the camera.

In the year 1868 the history of eclipse spectroscopy virtually began, as
that of eclipse photography in 1860; that is to say, the respective
methods then first gave definite results. On the 18th of August, 1868,
the Indian and Malayan peninsulas were traversed by a lunar shadow
producing total obscuration during five minutes and thirty-eight
seconds. Two English and two French expeditions were despatched to the
distant regions favoured by an event so propitious to the advance of
knowledge, chiefly to obtain the verdict of the prism as to the
composition of prominences. Nor were they despatched in vain. An
identical discovery was made by nearly all the observers. At Jamkandi,
in the Western Ghauts, where Lieutenant (now Colonel) Herschel was
posted, unremitting bad weather threatened to baffle his eager
expectations; but during the lapse of the critical five and a half