POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



from May 15th to June 15th in each of the three years 1897, 1898, 

 and 1899, for the morning hours of the eclipse — between 8 a. m. 

 and 9 a. m. A tabular form was sent through the local offices to 

 such observers as were willing to act as volunteers in making these 

 records, and their reports have been studied to discover how the 

 cloudiness behaves along the eclipse track at that season of the 

 year. Each of the three years gives substantially the same con- 

 clusion — namely, that there is a maximum of cloudiness near the 

 Atlantic coast in Virginia, extending back into North Carolina, 

 and also near the Gulf coast in Louisiana and in southern Missis- 

 sippi, while there is a minimum of cloudiness in eastern Alabama 

 and central Georgia. The following table will serve to make 

 this plain: 



The Prevailing Cloudiness of the Sky along the Eclipse Track. 



Virginia 



North Carolina 

 South Carolina 



Georgia 



Alabama 



Mississippi . . . 

 Louisiana 



General sky. 



Sky near the sun. 



The significance of these figures is shown by transferring them 

 to a diagram, given on Chart II, which indicates the average cloudi- 

 ness prevailing over the several States where they are crossed by 

 the track. The marked depression in the middle portions, espe- 

 cially over Alabama and Georgia, indicates that the stations in 

 these districts make a much better showing than those nearer the 

 coast line. The reasons for this difference are probably many in 

 number, but the chief feature is that the interior of this region, 

 especially over the higher lands of the southern reaches of the 

 Appalachian Mountains, which are from six hundred to one thou- 

 sand feet above the sea level, is somewhat freer from the moisture 

 flowing inland from the ocean at that season of the year. The 

 table shows also two divisions, one for the " general sky," wherein 

 the relative cloudiness was noted in every portion of the visible 

 sky, and for the " sky near the sun," where the observation was 

 confined to the immediate vicinity of the sun. The two records 

 agree almost exactly, except that the sky near the sun averages a 

 little lower than the general sky. This indicates that although the 

 sun will be seen in the morning hour of May 28th, when it is only 

 from thirty to forty degrees above the horizon, yet this is not an 

 unfavorable circumstance. The low altitude, on the other hand, 



