528 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXVI, 1919 



1st contact 4" 13"" 4r.6 Mountain Summer Time. 



2d contact 5 23 50 .7 



3d contact 5 25 19 .6 



4th contact 6 28 03 .7 



We were a little surprised that we should have been nearly seven 

 seconds slow in our observed time, for the contact was very sharp 

 and easily detected. The second and third contacts were not ob- 

 served directly, every observer being busy with his program. The 

 fourth contact was observed in the same manner as the first, but the 

 low sun together with the clouds, made the observations very uncer- 

 tain, as the results show. Observed 4th contact 6" 27'" 16% Mountain 

 Summer Time. 



BAILY'S BEADS 

 Baily's Beads were observed by Prof. C. C. Plitt, of Baltimore 

 City College, Baltimore, Maryland, by projection on a white screen 

 through my three-inch finder. He reports that they appeared at 

 5" 23"" 5r, Mountain Summer Time, which was just six seconds be- 

 fore time was called for the beginning of totality by the timekeeper. 

 This agrees beautifully with the time for second contact, as com- 

 puted by Professor Pettit. Professor Plitt said there were at least 

 twenty-five beads and they were yellowish in color and very sharp. 

 I have been unable to find much of a discussion of this phenomenon 

 at previous eclipses. The earliest note I have found is by Lockyer, 

 in 1836, who says, "Sometimes when the advancing moon has re- 

 duced the sun's disc to a thin crescent, or in the case of an annular 

 eclipse, to a narrow ring, a peculiar notched appearance is pre- 

 sented in a part of the narrow strip, which makes it look like a 

 string of beads. It is supposed to be the effect of irradiation." I 

 know of no other station at which this phenomenon was observed 

 at this eclipse. 



THE FLASH SPECTRUM 



This was observed visually with a small direct-vision, slitless ocu- 

 lar spectroscope (such as is placed over the eyepiece of the teles- 

 cope for observing the spectrum of the stars) by my assistant, Mr. 

 Donald Smith, who makes the following report : "The reversal of 

 the Fraunhofer lines was observed at the instant preceding and at 

 the instant following totality. The bright lines flashed out suddenly 

 and lasted for approximately one second at each of the observations. 

 Lines in the red and blue-green (probably due to hydrogen) and in 

 the yellow (probably the helium line) were most conspicuous. 



