360 PEOCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



(1) The path of totality is almost exclusively on land. Central 

 eclipse begins in West Africa ; the line of totality passes to the north- 

 east, crossing Uijper Egypt, and the Nile at El-Akhmym ; thence over 

 the Red Sea, crossing the Tigris a few miles to the south of Bagdad ; 

 then passing a little to the south of Teheran, it traverses Central 

 Asia, and leaves the Asiatic continent somewhat to the north of 

 Shanghai. 



(2) Though not generally through the inhabited regions of the 

 globe, the path of totality lies through several inhabited regions which 

 are widely separate ; viz., Egypt near the Nile, Central Persia, and 

 Eastern China. 



(3) These regions are inter-connected by telegraphic cables and land- 

 lines. From El-Akhmym a land-line runs to the north along the 

 banks of the Nile, and thence to Diarbekir and Constantinople, — from 

 either of which Teheran, the capital of Persia, is readily accessible by 

 telegraph. From Teheran, a land-line runs southeast through Persia, 

 Beluchistan, and Hindostan to Madras ; and from thence cable-lines 

 extend through Singapore and Hong-Kong to Shanghai. An addi- 

 tional advantage attaches to this eclipse-line from there being a du- 

 plicate line of connection by telegraph between El-Akhmym and 

 Shanghai : it would be advisable that any message of discovery at the 

 former station should be repeated over this duplicate line, — from 

 Constantinople, to Vienna, to Warsaw, to Moscow, and thence through 

 the Russian overland line extending across Siberia to Wladiwostok, 

 to Nagasaki, and Shanghai. The through-transmission of the message 

 might then be secured beyond doubt. 



Now, we will suppose that an important observation of discovery is 

 made at El-Akhmym, — an observation of an intramercurial planet, 

 for example. Between forty and forty-five minutes of absolute time 

 elapse before totality comes on at Teheran. During this interval, the 

 observer at El-Akhmym will have an abundance of time for transcrib- 

 ing the apparent magnitude and the precise position of the new body, 

 and transmitting the same to his fellow-observer at Teheran several 

 minutes before the lunar shadow reaches him. The latter observer will 

 then have leisure to proceed with the setting of his circles, the verifica- 

 tion of their readings, and tlie pointing of his instrument to the pre- 

 cise part of the heavens indicated. He may then be able to see 

 the suspected object before the eclipse becomes total. He may 

 also decide upon a neighboring star for comparison with the planet, 

 and thus obtain a very accurate determination of its position. The 

 observer at Teheran should also be prepared for an independent 



