Total Eclipse of the Sun, July 28, 1851. 367 



accounted for by my having had ray eyes constantly fixed upon 

 the shining corona, through the telescope, so that the retina 

 had not had time to expand. Altogether, it appears to me, 

 that the description of terrestrial appearances, and the ab- 

 normities mentioned by former observers, must have been 

 considerably exaggerated, or perhaps the undeniably won- 

 derful and exciting phenomena of an eclipse acting upon a 

 constitutionally nervous system, or one rendered so by the 

 circumstances of the moment, have led to rather false con- 

 clusions, and simple effects have, in the strictest sense of the 

 w^ord, appeared to them in a false light ; of course this re- 

 mark does not apply to the observations of such scientific 

 men as have enriched astronomy and science generally by 

 the result of their labours in this respect. 



I now come to the description of what must be considered 

 the most wonderful of all the phenomena witnessed on this 

 occasion. 



Bose-coloured Prominences. — After I had been observing 

 the corona and beads some seconds subsequent to the com- 

 mencement of totality, I became aware of the presence of 

 several red prominences mentioned by Schumacher and Petit 

 as having been seen by them in 1812. I noticed two or three 

 small ones amongst the beads, they were of a rose colour, 

 bright and steady, not very elevated, and did not seem to 

 alter either as to size or colour after once observed ; one 

 rather larger was seen on the lower part of the moon's west 

 limb, but the most remarkable of all was one very large 

 rose-pearl coloured eminence, situate on about the spot 

 where the first contact had taken place, or, more correctly 

 speaking, between the 105° and 110° from the moon's upper 

 point ; towards the west it appeared to be about ^^^th or ^Vth 

 of the moon's diameter; in height, say from If to 2Y, and 

 perhaps ^' broad at the base, the top was rather broader and 

 hung downwards a little in this form : — » the edges were 

 somewhat brighter, and it had something the appearance of 

 a very thick and dense column of smoke, through which the 

 red rays of light are passing ; it and the other red eminences 

 struck the eye and mind with the impression that they were 

 far on this side of the corona, and did not stand in connec- 

 tion with it or the beads ; the large eminence seemed to 



