710 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



as soon as the greatest obscuration was past, it was universally re- 

 marked that the increase of the light was much more rapid than that 

 of the darkness had been. 



" As the darkness increased a chill and dampness were very sensibly 

 felt. To ascertain the quantity of dew that fell on a square foot dur- 

 ing the eclipse, we cut two pieces of very fine soft paper exactly twelve 

 inches square. Having weighed them in a nice balance, we placed 

 them on an horizontal board in the open air. Just after the greatest 

 obscuration we weighed one of them again, and found its weight was 

 increased by the dew that had fallen upon it, four and one-half grains 

 Troy. At the end of the eclipse we took up the other, and found its 

 weight increased by the dew that lay upon it, but 3 grains; 1-1/2 

 grains being evaporated as the light and heat of the sun increased. 

 By a similar experiment, the quantity of dew that fell upon a square 

 foot the night before was found to be 6-1/2 grains ; the night after the 

 eclipse, 7 grains. Thus, in 1 hour and 19 minutes, when the light and 

 heat of the sun were rapidly decreasing, there fell two-thirds as much 

 dew as fell the night before, or the night after the eclipse." 



Observations of the Fahrenheit thermometer showed a fall from 58" 

 at the beginning of the eclipse to 48° at the greatest obscuration. 



" To this we may add, so unusual a darkness, dampness and chill, in 

 the midst of the day, seemed to spread a general amazement among all 

 sorts of animals. Nor could we ourselves observe such unusual phe- 

 nomena without some disagreeable feelings." 



The account closes thus ; " The longitude of the place of our obser- 

 vation agrees very well with what we had supposed in our calculations. 

 But the latitude is near half a degree less than what the map of that 

 part of the country had let us to expect. On this account our situa- 

 tion, instead of falling within the limits of total darkness proved to be 

 very near the southern extremity." 



I hope it will not tire you if I read from the account of James Win- 

 throp, preserved in the archives of the Academy, but, so far as I know, 

 never printed: 



An Account of the Proceedings of the Company sent by the General 

 Court of Massachusetts to observe the Solar Eclipse at Penobscot 

 on 27 Oct. 1780 ; By James Winthrop. 

 On Monday 9"* Oct. 1780, We sailed from Boston in the sloop 

 Lincoln-Galley, a vessel belonging to the Government. The Com- 

 pany consisted of ten persons besides passengers & marines. Stormy 

 weather prevented our arrival at Camden till the fourteenth. Having 

 obtained leave from Gen' Wadsworth, commander of the Massachusetts 



