fact that while it is supposed to extend for millions of miles from the sun, the recent comet passed within two hundred thousand miles of the sun, and yet its orbit was not affected in the least, as it would have been if it had plowed its way through a material substance. In taking photographs of the corona it is seen to be larger as the time of exposure is longer. This shows that the corona extends indefinitely, and it decreases in brilliancy in exact accordance with the mathematical laws of diffraction. These laws involve very complicated mathematics, but by them alone Dr. Hastings has proved that there must be diffraction where the corona is, and that it must follow the same laws as those observed. There is a small envelope around the sun, but in the opinion of Dr. Hastings it does not extend beyond what is known as the chromosphere. * * * * * The question seems to be settled, with considerable certainty, that nothing exists inside of Mercury large enough to be dignified by the name of planet. 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.