Nature hangs such a screen in front of the earth when the moon passes between it and the sun; but as the moon is far too small to screen all the earth completely, and as so limited a portion of its surface is in complete shadow that the chances are much against any given individual’s being on the single spot covered by it, many centuries usually elapse before such a _total_ eclipse occurs at any given point; while yet almost every year there may be a partial eclipse, when, over a great portion of the earth at once, people may be able to look round the moon’s edge and see the sunlight but partly cut off. Nearly every one, then, has seen a partial eclipse of the sun, but comparatively few a total one, which is quite another thing, and worth a journey round the world to behold; for such a nimbus, or glory, as we have suggested the possibility of, does actually exist about the sun, and becomes visible to the naked eye on the rare occasions when it is visible at all, accompanied by phenomena which are unique among celestial wonders. The “corona,” as this solar crown is called, is seen during a total eclipse to consist of a bright inner light next the invisible sun, which melts into a fainter and immensely extended radiance (the writer has followed the latter to the distance of about ten million miles), and all this inner corona is filled with curious detail. All this is to be distinguished from another remarkable feature seen at the same time; for close to the black body of the moon are prominences of a vivid crimson and scarlet, rising up like mountains from the hidden solar disk, and these, which will be considered later, are quite distinct from the corona, though seen on the background of its pearly light.