366 J. W. Good, Esq., on the 



Limb of Beads, — Baily's beads (or rather the beads), ex- 

 tended in a narrow line of altitude 60° to 70°, reaching from a 

 little beyond the spot where the last solar ray disappeared, to 

 where the light was again expected to appear ; they bore 

 some resemblance to a necklace of pearls and precious stones, 

 being rather thicker towards the middle and tapering towards 

 both ends ; the standing colour was whitish and yellow, with 

 blue tints here and there, and a trace of violet ; their inner 

 diameter was all along of a rose-pearl tint. No very great 

 change was observable in their size, but a rolling, vibrating, 

 oscillatory motion was more or less perceptible ; this disap- 

 peared rather suddenly, together with the corona, when the 

 first ray of white sunlight appeared like a star on the lower 

 western limb, which took place at 4^ 4™ 25^, as read off by 

 lamp-light from the chronometer; it may however be remarked 

 that the light already burned with a sullen and whiter flame, 

 and the returning sunlight almost rendered its service super- 

 fluous in that short period of time. I then again looked up 

 at the eclipse, but both corona and beads had vanished, and, 

 as consequently nothing further of note was observable in 

 that quarter, I directed my gaze upon the surrounding sky 

 and landscape below. 



Effects of Be-appearance of Light. — Upon looking around, I 

 saw that the shadow had left our site of observations, and 

 was passing SE. The light appeared to increase very fast, 

 but its effect upon the eye and mind was not so sudden and 

 startling as I had been led to expect ; perhaps this may be 



have not explained this appearance exactly, and that they may be mistaken for 

 Baily^s beads, which appear a few seconds before and after totality, and are 

 evidently the ] unar mountains breaking in upon the sun's rim ; these are said 

 to have been seen by some observers in the shadow, though I did not notice 

 them. What I allude to exists during the totality, and perhaps the denomina- 

 tion of beads does not give an adequate idea of their appearance. To be more 

 explicit, it was a line of light, broader in the middle, lined as it were with a 

 bright rose-coloured tint, other tints appearing as described, and seemed to 

 resolve itself into bright spots, independent of each other, each of which ap- 

 peared the nucleus of a ray (and which led perhaps to the false or inappropriate 

 denomination of beads), over which the red prominences stood distinct. This 

 appearance, evidently the effect of the breaking or refraction of the solar rays 

 as the moon's lower limb only just covers the disc, is very difficult to describe 

 or draw, and requires to be seen. 



