THE COMING TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN 3 



to Farragut's flagship, the Hartford, with Captain Yates. In ear- 

 lier days Admiral Dewey commanded this ship, and the expedition 

 was fitted out while he was in charge of the Bureau of Equipment 

 at Washington. The same fine courtesy that has become so well 

 known to his countrymen was at that time extended to all the 

 members of the expedition. 



The cloudiness along the track of the eclipse in the Southern 

 States on the 28th of May, 1900, is evidently a matter of much im- 

 portance not only for all astronomers, but for non-professional 

 spectators. If it could be foretold, with the same precision as the 

 astronomical data give the time and the place of the occurrence 

 of the eclipse, that the day itself will be fair or cloudy, or that 

 certain portions of the track will be clear while others will be ob- 

 scured, it would be of great benefit. The cost of these scientific 

 expeditions is very great, since it is necessary to transport many 

 heavy and delicate pieces of apparatus into the field, including tele- 

 scopes, spectroscopes, polariscopes, and photographic cameras, and 

 set them up in exact position for the day of observation. The expe- 

 dition to Cape Ledo, West Africa, in 1889, carried out a large 

 amount of material, prepared it for work during the totality, and 

 then entirely lost the sun during the critical moments by a tem- 

 porary obscuring of the sky through local cloud formations. There 

 had been some clouds at the station during the forenoons for sev- 

 eral days preceding the eclipse, but the sky was usually clear and 

 very favorable during the middle of the afternoons. The totality 

 came on at three o'clock, and photographs of the sun were taken 

 at first contact about 1.30 p.m.; clouds thickened, however, and 

 totality was entirely lost, while the sun came out again for the last 

 contact at 4.30 p. m. This was a very trying experience, and of 

 course could not have been avoided by any possible precautions. 

 Some astronomers have thought that the advance of the moon's 

 shadow is accompanied by a fall in temperature, and that cloudiness 

 is more likely to be produced from this cause. 



Soon after the West African eclipse Professor Todd, of Am- 

 herst College, proposed that more systematic observations be made 

 for the probable state of the sky along eclipse tracks, with the 

 view of at least selecting stations having the most favorable local 

 conditions. The method was tried in Chili, April, 15, 1893, and 

 in Japan, August 8, 1896, with some success. Heretofore the 

 available meteorological records, which were originally taken for 

 other general purposes, had been consulted, and some idea formed 

 of the prevailing tendency to cloudy conditions. In accordance 

 with the improved method, the United States Weather Bureau has 

 been conducting special observations on the cloudiness occurring 



