ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 389 



observations. Time, however, tries facts as well as speculations. The phe- 

 nomena observed by the French astronomer may never be again seen, and 

 the disturbance of Mercury, which rendered it probable, may be otherwise 

 explained. Should this be the case, we must refer the round spot on the sun 

 to some of those illusions of the eye or of the brain which have sometimes 

 disturbed the tranquillity of science. North British Review. 



SOLAR ECLIPSE OF JULY 18TH, 1860. 



The total eclipse of the sun, which occurred July 18th, 1860, was probably 

 more fully and carefully observed than any former similar phenomenon, and 

 the results, as might have been expected, are correspondingly valuable and 

 interesting. We propose, in the present article, to give a popular resume of 

 the most important of these results, so far as they have been laid before the 

 public. 



In this country, an expedition, under the auspices of the Coast Survey, 

 and under the general charge of Professor Stephen Alexander, of Princeton, 

 N. J., aided by President Barnard, of the University of Mississippi, Professor 

 Smith, of the Naval School of Annapolis, and other scientific men, proceeded 

 in a government vessel to Cape Chidley, Labrador, the most favorable point 

 on tiie Atlantic coast for observing the totality of obscuration of the solar disk. 

 This expedition selected an observing station a few seconds short of 59 48' 

 latitude; longitude, by chronometer, 4h. 16m. 53s. W. ; while the track of the 

 central eclipse left the eastern coast of Labrador in lat. 59 51 y. The 

 weather on the day of the eclipse was not entirely favorable; and just pre- 

 vious to the time of the sun's total immersion, a thin veil of clouds inter- 

 vened between it and the observers, not dense enough to intercept the direct 

 rays of the luminary, but too dense to allow the corona surrounding the 

 dark moon during total obscuration to be visible. One observer was, how- 

 ever, fortunate enough to catch one point of brightness and to fix its posi- 

 tion in this corona. The color of this bright point was white, and not 

 ruddy. 



The whole astronomical corps observed the breaking up of the last line of 

 solar light lingering before total obscuration into the fragments commonly 

 called " Baily's Beads," from Francis Baily, President of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society, by whom they were-described in the Mem. Astr. Soc. for 1837, 

 as observed by him in the annular eclipse of 1836. These fragments were 

 very evanescent, and were not preceded by those longer dark filaments or 

 ligaments noticed by Mr. Baily on the same occasion, and, more or less per- 

 fectly, by others since. At the emergence of the sun the beads were not 

 noticed, owing probably to the veil of clouds. The darkness which prevailed 

 during total obscuration was not as remarkable as had been anticipated by 

 most of the observers. Mr. Barnard, in a communication to SiUiman's Jour- 

 nal (from whose statement the above facts are gathered), states that he 

 " found no difficulty in making pencil notes at this time, or in reading lines 

 written in pencil in other parts of his note-book. It was not necessary to 

 bring the book nearer to the eye than usual." 



Observations on the eclipse were also made, under the direction of the 

 United States Coast Survey on the Pacific coast, at Steilacoom, Washington 

 Territory, by Lieutenant Gillis, U. S. A. From the report made by Lieut. 

 Gillis to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey we derive the following 

 particulars : The sun at this locality rose eclipsed. At the moment of total- 



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