The late Solar Eclipse. 233 



ment; at two o'clock T saw Venus, but no other planet or star, 

 A small telescope was used.— Place of observation 21-2 in tuae 

 west of Greenwich. 



To JSlr.rdloch. Sept. 8. 



Sir, — For the greater advanUige of seeing the eclipse of the 

 sun on the 7th of Septeinl)er, I w dked into Hyde Park. Entering 

 bv Cumberland Gate at half after twelve o'clock, and proceed- 

 ing across the open area witliin the circular drive tovvaids the 

 Powder Magazine Guard-house, the following remarkable ap- 

 pearances occurred, and which may be worthy of record : I ob- 

 served several luminous yellow patches upon the grass, spreading 

 from a distance of twenty yards to the spot on which I stood; 

 thev were not like the partial illuminations of snn-beams from 

 between scattered clouds, but arose from a semi-opaque yellow 

 mist in defined patches of about a foot diameter each; they did 

 not glide along the ground like the shadows and gleams of 

 moving clouds, but were stationary for several seconds, and dis- 

 appeared without changing their places. The bare footpaths, 

 which were dry at thi'i time, exhibited a yellow hue, as if covered 

 bv a yellow dust of a turmeric tint. On the spot where this 

 vellow mist fell, the shadows under the blades of grass were of a 

 deep indigo hue, and beneath the foliage of white Dutch clover 

 the shadows had the effect of dark violet-coloured flowers inter- 

 spersed among the stems of the clover. 



These strange appearances were not owing to any individual 

 optical delusion in myself, because they were equally distinct to 

 two children, the one of them nine and the other eight years of 

 age, and also to a lady of about thirty. They continued during 

 more than half an hour, while we leisurely advanced to Kensing- 

 ton Gardens, by the gate next the Uxbridge road. 



A little after one o'clock, an extensive yellow mist appeared 

 in the horizon, occupyin.- many places, and in all directions of 

 the compass ; it invariably arose from the ground, and ascended 

 above the houses and trees, filling spaces equal to about l-30th 

 part of the field of view, with free intervals. This appearance did 

 not glide along, I)ut appeared and disappeared attiie same places. 

 It was of fine gallstone colour, and gave a beautiful cloud elfccC 

 to the sky, and sometimes it changed to orange. These phaano- 

 mcna lasted near an hour, the sky was interspersed with thin 

 clouds, and two strata of them wet e crossing, one from south- 

 west, another from east. A. C. 



Leighton, Sept. 21, 1820. 



Dear Sir, — Having made a few observations on the late eclipse, 



and wishing to call the attention of some of your scientific readers 



to a subject in some way connected with astronomy, I beg you 



Vol. 5G. No. 2G9. Sept. 1 820. G g will. 



