382 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the eclipse came on. I entirely gave up all hope,, and determined to 

 stay in the village, and watch the effect of the darkness. on the inhab- 

 itants. Mr. C. went to a station we had selected on the opposite side 

 of the river, to set up his telescope at all events, as he required some 

 hours of previous preparation before he would be ready, in case of an 

 unexpected change in the weather. This was about eleven o'clock, 

 and though the rain had stopped, the clouds were still as heavy as 

 ever. On the first day of our stay at Lilla Edet, we had chosen a spot 

 near the village, very well fitted for our purposes. This I was to occupy 

 if there was the least chance of seeing the sun. It was now two 

 o'clock, an hour only before the eclipse ; patches of blue sky here and 

 there* were increasing in area and number ; our hopes revived, and 

 everything was made ready for whatever chances should offer. The 

 elevation \vhich I occupied is a bold, precipitous, rocky hill to the east- 

 ward of the town. It stands about one hundred and fifty feet above 

 the river. My telescope I placed on the very summit, but afterwards 

 removed it under the shelter of a large rock, to avoid the annoyance 

 of a brisk breeze from the south-west, which was at one time trouble- 

 some ; but the coming on of the darkness seemed to produce the sin- 

 gular effect of hushing the winds into silence ; for the moment of 

 totality was preceded by a calm, like that which often marks the 

 approach of a thunder-storm. For the first contact, which presented 

 little interest, I watched a long time in an uneasy position : after 

 losing the sun once or twice in the clouds, I observed it tolerably well. 

 Meanwhile the sky was clearing delightfully ; a heavy bank of cirro- 

 stratus in the west was rising so slowly that it was now nearly certain 

 that we should have a fulfilment of all that we could wish. The tele- 

 scope was placed close to the ground, and made perfectly firm with 

 stones piled on its tripod. As the time drew near when the moon was 

 to completely cover the sun, the clouds dispersed entirely from its 

 neighborhood, leaving a thin veil of cirrus, which, without question, 

 often accompanies the most perfect vision. A few cumuli were gath- 

 ered round the horizon. The awful, unearthly aspect which these 

 assumed before the darkness, was a fitting precursor of what was to 

 follow. Until about five minutes before the time of total obscuration, 

 I had leisure to watch the general effect, on the landscape, of the 

 increasing darkness. It is a common error, though a great mistake, 

 to suppose that the darkness of a total eclipse is of the same kind 

 with that of night of equal intensity. An ordinary starlight night, 

 when the moon and twilight are absent, is much darker. But the 

 thickest darkness that ever shrouded the earth is joy and gladness com- 

 pared with the peculiar light emanating from the corona which encir- 

 cles the moon when the eclipse is total. The outline of the lunar 

 mountains was finely projected in profile upon the sun ; and these, as 

 the crescent of light narrowed', produced a singular appearance on the 

 southern cusp. Presently, as I watched intently, the edge of light was 

 broken up into beads, moving towards the point. The complete cover- 

 ing of the sun's disc by the moon succeeded instantaneously. Up to 

 this point I may say that I was in a great measure prepared for all 

 that I saw. I had seen other eclipses, and this was like one of them 



