Such are his words; and when we consider that each of these solar inhabitants was supposed to extend about two hundred by one thousand miles upon the surface of the fiery ocean, we may subscribe to Mr. Proctor’s comment, that “Milton’s picture of him who on the fires of hell ‘lay floating many a rood,’ seems tame and commonplace compared with Herschel’s conception of these floating monsters, the least covering a greater space than the British Islands.” [Illustration: FIG. 14.--POLARIZING EYE-PIECE.] I hope I may not appear wanting in respect for Sir John Herschel--a man whose memory I reverence--in thus citing views which, if his honored life could have been prolonged, he would have abandoned. I do so because nothing else can so forcibly illustrate the field for wonder and wild conjecture solar physics presented even a few years ago; and its supposed connection with that “Vital Force,” which was till so lately accepted by physiology, serves as a kind of landmark on the way we have come. This new science of ours, then, youthful as it is, has already had its age of fable. After a time Nasmyth’s observation was attributed to imperfect definition, but was not fairly disproved. He had, indeed, a basis of fact for his statement, and to him belongs the credit of first pointing out the existence of this minute structure, though he mistook its true character. It will be seen later how the real forms might be mistaken for leaves, and _in certain particular cases_ they certainly do take on a very leaf-like appearance. Here is a drawing (Fig. 12) which Father Secchi gives of some of them in the spot of April 14, 1867, and which he compares to a branch of cactus. He remarks somewhere else that they resemble a crystallization of sal-ammoniac, and calls them veils of most intricate structure. This was the state of our knowledge in 1870, and it may seem surprising that such wonderful statements had not been proved or disproved, when they referred to mere matters of observation. But direct observation is here very difficult on account of the incessant tremor and vibration of our own atmosphere. [Illustration: FIG. 15.--SPOT OF SEPT. 21, 1870. (REDUCED FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY S. P. LANGLEY.)] [Illustration: FIG. 16.--SPOT OF MARCH 5, 1873. (REDUCED FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY S. P. LANGLEY.)]