ASTRO-PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
In this manner, about forty terrestrial elements have been shown to exist in the sun. Carbon, oxygen, iron, silicon, nickel, etc., exist in the sun just as they do on our earth. On the other hand, many elements, such as mercury, nitrogen, sulphur, and boron do not appear, although they are found in abundance on the earth. Yet several elements were shown to exist in the sun which up to that time had not been discovered here. Helium is an example. (From the Greek,Helios, the Sun). And yet, when attention was directed to this element, it was soon found in our earth, and is today so common that helium gas is employed to inflate balloons, in preference to hydrogen, on account of its non-combustibility.