sumptuousness

[Eng. sumptuous; -ne .] The quality or state of being sumptuous; expensivene , costline , magnificence, splendor. "I will not fall out with those that can reconcile sumptuousne and charity." -Boyle. 3930 I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) In the same sense as II. 1. (2) A luminary or orb which constitutes the center of any system of worlds; as, The fixed stars are suns in their respective systems. (3) Popularly applied to the sunshine, or a place where the sun shines; a sunny place; as, to stand or sit in the sun . 2. Figuratively : (1) Anything splendid or luminous; that which is the chief source of light, honor, prosperity, or the like. "The sun of Rome is set." Shakesp.: Julius Cæsar , v. 3. year. II. Technically : 1. Astronomy: The great central luminary which gives light and heat to our earth and the other planets of the solar system. In common language, the planets are said to revolve around the sun as a center; more precisely, they move in elliptic orbits, the sun occupying nearly one focus of each ellipse, around the common center of gravity of the solar system, which falls within the body of the sun, but not always at its center. The mean distance of the sun from the earth was long alleged to be 95,000,000 miles, but there was error in the data on which the calculation was founded; now the distance is held to be either about 92,700,000 miles ( Ball , in 1885), or 92,963,000 miles ( Norman Lockyer , in 1886). Till lately it was thought that the portion of the sun visible to the naked eye constituted the whole luminary; now it is believed that around that central sphere or spheroid, technically called the photosphere, there are three, if not four, concentric envelopes-the chromosphere, the inner corona, the The axis of the sun is inclined about 7° to the ellip. upper atmosphere, and, perhaps, an outer corona. tic. The pa age of spots acro the sun's disk proves that it rotates on that axis from west to east in 25 days 5 hours. From June 3 to Dec. 5 the north pole, and for the next six months the south pole, of the sun is gradually moving earthward. The axis of the photosphere is 866,500 miles in length; its bulk is more than a million times that of the earth, but its density is only about a quarter that of the earth. With a specific gravity so low, the photosphere cannot be solid. It may, perhaps, be liquid at the center, but the outer parts must be gaseous. It has not yet been found po ible to produce artificially on the earth a heat so intense as that of the photosphere. The coolest part of its atmosphere must be outside, and the hypothesis that the sun might be an inhabited world, with a heated and luminous atmosphere, has been abandoned. Under the telescope, the surface of the photosphere seems covered with a network of polygonal and other figures. Among them are pores and domes the former, which are dark markings, are the seat of downrushes of vapor; the latter, or brighter portions, probably consist of luminous clouds. Sometimes the domes are heaped together and arranged in different directions, constituting what are called facule. These are often you sands of miles long, and may last for days, or even weeks. Spots also often appear upon the sun's disk. Faculse follow and do not precede spots. The chromosphere is a concentric envelope immediately external to the photosphere. It is of a magnificent scarlet color, and from 3,600 to 5,300 miles thick. Some parts are billowy and others spike-like in appearance. It is a sea of hydrogen with some unknown element. Sometimes other vapors surge up in it, producing injections which again tend to develop into prominences. The latter are of two kinds, violent and quiet prominences. Some of the former are 40,000 miles high; they resemble trees or "fog-spouts," appearances like waterspouts, but occurring in fog. The most violent prominences mount up at the rate of 335 miles a second. The are sometimes called metallic prominences, and sun spots, the faculæ, and the metallic prominences are at a maximum at the same time. [SUN-SPOT.] Immediately surrounding the chromosphere is the inner corona. Its outer part is about 100,000 miles from the surface of the photosphere. Like the chromosphere, it is seen only in eclipses. It is constituted by certain red flames, prominences, or protuberances, which pa through the chromosphere from the photosphere. The inner corona is composed mainly of hydrogen. The next envelope is the outer atmosphere, from "Her traine of servants, and collateral Sumpture of houses." Chapman: Homer's Hymn to Hermes.