2S2 Royal Agronomical Society* 



beids (as at the commencement), till they ultimately vanished, and 

 the annulus consequently became wholly dissolved. This remark- 

 able and singular phaenoraenon was also observed by Mr. Veitch, 

 and by Sir Thomas Brisbane, as well as by Mr. Henderson at 

 Edinburgh; with some slight differences, however, in the detail. 

 The appearance of the dark lines, or threads, was likewise noticed 

 by Mr. Bell, at Alnwick, who sent an account of the same to the 

 Philosophical and Literary Society at Newcastle. Mr. Baily de- 

 scribes them to have been as plain, as distinct, and as well defined, 

 as the open fingers of the human hand held up to the light ; and 

 that there could not have been any doubt as to their form and ex- 

 istence, since they were seen by different observers, at different 

 places, and with different telescopes. Several drawings accom- 

 panied the paper, showing the appearances at various stages of the 

 annulus. 



The number of these dark lines, or threads, Mr. Baily considers 

 to have been about eight : in which opinion he was confirmed by 

 Mr. Veitch. Sir Thomas Brisbane, however, thinks there were not 

 more than six ; whilst Mr. Bell, who noticed four at the dissolution 

 of the annulus, says that there were only two at its formation. On 

 these and other points Mr. Baily thinks there is ample room for a 

 diversity of opinion, since the observer is taken, as it were, by sur- 

 prise, and the phaenomenon itself, during the short period of its ex- 

 istence, is constantly varying in some minute particulars. 



Mr. Baily remarks, that the diminution of light was not so great 

 during the existence of the annulus as was generally expected, 

 being little more than might be caused by a temporary cloud pass- 

 ing over the sun : the light, however, was of a peculiar kind, some- 

 what resembling that produced by the sun shining through a morn- 

 ing mist. The thermometer in the shade fell only about three or 

 four degrees. The birds in the hedges were in full song during the 

 whole time of the eclipse. About twenty minutes before the forma- 

 tion of the annulus, Venus was seen with the naked eye ; and a few 

 minutes afterwards it was impossible to fire gunpowder, with the 

 concentrated rays of the sun, through a lens of three inches in dia- 

 meter. The same lens, likewise, had no effect on the ball of a ther- 

 mometer during the existence of the annulus. 



For the cause of the remarkable optical deception above described, 

 Mr. Baily does not attempt to account ; but he confesses his sur- 

 prise that the phaenomenon has not (with one single exception, 

 which will be presently alluded to) been noticed or recorded, on 

 former occasions, since it must have been seen by every person who 

 watched for the formation and dissolution of the annulus; and al- 

 though detached portions of the phaenomenon have been recorded 

 by different observers, as seen at different places (various extracts 

 from whose accounts are quoted by Mr. Baily), yet it is impossible 

 from those descriptions to form an accurate idea of the whole, or to 

 trace the origin, progress, and termination of this phaenomenon, 

 which is certainly one of the most remarkable in astronomy. M. 

 Van Swinden is the only person who has placed on record the ob- 



