374 John Adie, Esq., on the 



scription ; and the impression of it was such that its remem- 

 brance will never be effaced from my mind. This I believe 

 will be found to have been the feeling of every one who had 

 the good fortune to witness the sublime sight, under the fa- 

 vourable circumstances here noticed. I expected, and looked 

 for, some faintly coloured prominences, to be discovered only 

 by the aid of the telescope, when to my surprise and astonish- 

 ment they proved to be of a bright rose-coloured hue, possess- 

 ing definite forms, and so bright that the largest could be 

 seen by the unassisted eye, without the aid of the telescope. 

 To these rose-coloured prominences, which formed, in my 

 estimation, the most striking feature in the phenomena, my 

 attention was most particularly directed ; in studying their 

 forms, dimensions, and watching if any change could be ob- 

 served in them during the progress of the eclipse. The most 

 remarkable was that to the right, or western limb of the sun, 

 at about 100 degrees from the sun's apex, as shown in Fig. 

 3, which Fig. represents the general appearance at the be- 

 ginning of total eclipse. When first seen it had the form of 

 a half crescent moon, with a fine rich rose colour at the 

 edges, and fading into a more yellow hue towards its centre. 

 On first observing it I estimated its altitude to be equal to 

 an arc of one minute and a half. A little below this, and 

 opposite the point of the crescent, there appeared an irre- 

 gular mass of light, of the same colours and shade, perfectly 

 detached from the rose-coloured crescent, and also from the 

 body of the sun ; it appeared to be suspended in space. At 

 about 135 degrees, measuring from the sun*s apex to the 

 west, there was a large irregular mass of the same rose- 

 coloured light, somewhat of the form of a parallelogram, and 

 having a considerable lateral extent. On the eastern side, 

 and about 95 degrees from the sun's apex, I observed another 

 of these prominences of a pyramidal form, having the same 

 colour and shading as those before described. When first 

 seen its altitude may be stated at two minutes of an arc. 

 - As the moon advanced the crescent increased in altitude, 

 and before the return of the first rays of sunshine I calcu- 

 lated its altitude to be three minutes of an arc ; the form of 

 it was well developed, being that of a perfect crescent moon. 



