Total Eclipse of the Sun, July 28, 1851. 373 



the moon appeared to have a narrow, sharp band, intensely 

 black, round the whole portion of her disc, seen projected on 

 the body of the sun, while within this black band a portion 

 of the body of the moon appeared faintly illuminated, of a 

 greyish-white colour. At 3^ 40™ I saw distinctly a portion 

 of the moon's edge beyond the part projected on the surface 

 of the sun, and I estimated this to extend to an angle of 

 about eight degrees of an arc, measured round the moon's 

 diameter from each point of the cusps. 



As the moon was advancing, and when three-fourths of the 

 surface of the sun were hidden, the sharp points of the cusps 

 appeared to be broken off at intervals, as if some high pro- 

 minence, with a valley at its side, gave a broader and rounded 

 appearance to the point of the cusp, while at other times 

 strong beams of light shot forth from the point of the cusp, 

 as if some deep valley on the moon's edge allowed a strong 

 beam of sunshine to pass through it. I watched these changes 

 attentively, and v\as enabled to mark their occurrence several 

 times till within a small portion of a second of total eclipse, 

 when the phenomena, termed Baily's beads, were seen most 

 perfectly, and beautifully formed. The mountains and valleys 

 on the moon's surface, believed to be the cause of these pheno- 

 mena, appeared to be of nearly equal extent, and differed very 

 markedly from those formed with the first emersion of the 

 sun's rays at the conclusion of total eclipse ; for in this last 

 case the mountains had a table-like form much longer and 

 flatter on their tops than the intervening valleys, and re- 

 mained visible for a longer period, nearly a second. They are 

 generally represented in Figs. 1 and 2 ; Fig. 1 denoting the 

 appearance before immersion. Fig. 2 as they appeared on 

 emersion. With the last rays of sunshine, and at the 

 moment of the disappearance of the beads, I turned away 

 the light coloured shade from the eye end of the telescope, 

 when instantly the corona was formed, and simultaneously 

 the rose-coloured prominences burst into view. No words 

 of mine can convey any just idea of the effect produced on- 

 the feelings at this moment of sudden and unlooked for 

 change, spreading itself over the face of nature. It may be 

 termed something awfully grand — beyond the power of de- 



VOL. LI. NO. CII. — OCTOBER 1851. 2 B 



