By means of this positive charge the sun exerts a vast attractive power upon all negatively charged particles which come near it. We have already remarked that the grains of sun-dust which have united to form meteorites lose under the influence of ultra-violet light their charge in the shape of negative electrons, extremely minute particles, of which perhaps one thousand weigh as much as one atom of hydrogen (1 gramme of hydrogen contains about 10^{24} atoms, corresponding to 10^{27} electrons). These electrons wander about in space. When they approach a positively charged celestial body they are attracted by it with great force. If the electrons were moving with a velocity of 300 km. per second, as in Lenard’s experiment, and if the sun were charged to one-tenth the maximum amount just calculated, it would be able to draw up all the electrons whose rectilinear path (so far as not curved by the sun’s attraction) would lie at a distance from the sun 125 times as great as the distance between the sun and its most remote planet, Neptune, and 3800 times as great as the distance between the sun and the earth, which, after all, would only be one-sixtieth of the distance from our nearest fixed-star neighbor. The sun drains, so to speak, its surroundings of negative electricity, and this draining effect carries to the sun, as could easily be proved, a quantity of electricity which is directly dependent upon the positive charge of the sun. Thus, so far as electricity is concerned, ample provision has been made for maintaining equilibrium between the income and expenditure of the sun. * * * * * When an electrical particle enters into a magnetic field it describes a spiral about the so-called magnetic lines of force; when at a greater distance, the particles appear to move in the direction of the lines themselves. The rays of the corona emanating from the solar poles show a distinct curvature like that of the lines of force about a magnet, and for this reason the sun has been regarded as a big magnet whose magnetic poles nearly coincide with the geographical poles. The coronal rays nearer the equator likewise show this curvature (compare Fig. 30). The repelling force of the radiation pressure there is, however, at right angles to the lines of force and much stronger than the magnetic force, so that the rays of the corona are compelled to form two big streams flowing in the equatorial direction. This is especially noticeable at times of sun-spot minima. During the times of sun-spot maxima the strength of the radiation pressure of the initial velocity of the grains of dust seem to predominate so markedly that the magnetic force is relatively small.