Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/228

 200 HISTORY OF THE [1870-80 eclipse of 1878 has demonstrated that the unknown cause, what- ever it may be, which produces the periodical sun-spots at intervals of about eleven years, also affects the coronal atmosphere of the sun." * The corona in this eclipse gave a continuous spectrum, without any of the bright lines which had been seen on former occasions. The I474K line was conspicuous by its absence, which was established not only by eye observations, but also by photo- graphs taken by Dr. Draper, Professor Harkness, and Mr. Lockyer, a diffraction-grating having been placed in front of the camera. The writer of a note in The Observatory, from which the above information is taken, goes on : " We trust that the success of this method will be a lesson to certain Fellows of the Royal Astro- nomical Society, who with glib assurance asserted that it was physically impossible to photograph the spectrum of the corona, and who did their best to prevent the method from being even tried under Mr. Lockyer 's auspices in the eclipse at Siam." f In the year 1878 a legal transaction took place somewhat to the financial benefit of the Society, the story of which is precisely described in the Monthly Notices, 39, 211 (February 1879) : In the year 1836 Dr. John Lee, who was then Treasurer of the Society, executed a deed of gift, by which he conveyed to the Society the advowson of Hartwell, and in 1844 by another deed of gift he conveyed the advowson of Stone, in Buckinghamshire, to the Society. Shortly before the date of these deeds his estate had been resettled by Private Act of Parliament, by which the manors of Hartwell and Stone were entailed, leaving Dr. Lee with only a life interest in them. The living of Stone fell vacant in the lifetime of Dr. Lee, and the Society presented Dr. Booth, who held the living until last April, when he died. Soon after the death of Dr. Booth the Council received formal notice that the present Lord of the Manor of Hartwell, Mr. Edward Lee, intended to dispute the Society's title to both livings, on the ground that they were (in legal language) appendant to the manors and consequently included in the entail. The Council nevertheless presented the Rev. James Challis, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, who, besides being the son of Professor Challis, a distinguished Fellow of the Society, had many other recommendations. Mr. Lee took steps to dispute the presentation, and the Council employed a solicitor who had unusual opportunities of being acquainted with such matters. The result of this investigation was that he found that the advowson of Stone had long been severed from the manor, and that the Society's title was good ; but that in the case of Hartwell the matter was at least very doubtful. The litigation to establish such a claim, depending on historical inquiries, would be very costly ; and even
 * Observatory, 2, 235. t Ibid., 162.