REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 105 



(lations were found in the town, only al)out a quarter of a mile from camp, and the 

 greatest courtesy was shown to the eclipse expedition at all times by the townsjieople. 

 A pleasant feature was the presence of large parties from Yerkes Observatory, Prince- 

 ton Observatory, and from the British Astronomical Association. The days and — 

 toward the last — a considerable portion of the nights were busily occupied in adjust- 

 ing and trying the apparatus. On ]\Iay 26 and 27 full rehearsals took place in prep- 

 aration fur the final event. 



Tlie day of the eclipse was cloudless and clearer than is usual in the Eastern States, 

 though the sky was not exceptionally blue. All the progrannne was carried out suc- 

 cessfully, except only thatProfessor Hale's bolometer suffered an accident which pre- 

 vented him from obtaining bolometric evidence of rifts and streamers, but not from 

 securing other interesting data. 



After the eclipse the members of the expedition returned home in nearly the same 

 order as they came, and the last members to leave reached ^Vashington June 1. 



THE RESULTS. 



1. With the 135-foot direct camera. — Mr. Smillie secured five negatives during the 

 eclipse, all good. Three others which he exposed after totality were of much less 

 value, as was to be expected. The enormous scale of these jihotographs (the moon's 

 disk measures 15f inches in diameter), together with the excellent detail in the promi- 

 nences and inner corona, make them most interesting. 



Plates XIV and XV' show, respectively, the south polar streamers and a group of 

 prominences on the southwest limb. As remarked at an earlier page, it has proved 

 impossible to adequately reproduce the delicate detail of the originals. In the two 

 illustrations given the subjects are so marked that a still interesting result is shown 

 even after the loss of the finer structure. But the eciuatorial coronal streamers, 

 though in the original clearly shown to be finely subdivided, curiously curved and 

 even recurved, interlocked and arched, are so delicate that it was hopeless to attemjit 

 their reproduction. Even contact i)rints fail to show their structure unless made on 

 glass plates, and thus viewed by transmitted light. 



Some, but I think not all the prominences, appear to be set each within its little 

 corcmal arch, and thus present the so-called "hooded" appearance which was 

 noted in photographs of the Indian eclipse of 1898. I am quite sure, however, that 

 this feature is much less marked than was then the case. 



It would hardly seem possiljle that the directions of the curved equatorial streamers 

 can be assigned to such a simple system of foci as has been sometimes supposed, 

 for their arrangement appears to be complicated to the last degree. Nothing final 

 can yet be said on this point i)ending a thorough examination, and this it is hoped 

 will yield many interesting results. 



2. WUJi lite 135-foot j^rismatic camera. — Nothing of value was secured Avitli this 

 instrument. The plate appears to have been exposed at successive intervals, but was 

 C(jmpletely fogged over, no spectrum appearing. 



3. With the 38-foot camera.— M.r. Fowle obtained seven negatives during totality, 

 all good. Others taken after third contact were of little value. What has been 

 f-aid as regards the results Avith the 135-foot camera applies very well here, except 

 that not quite equal detail was secured, owing to the lesser power of the apparatus. 

 Siimewhat greater coronal extension was, however, obtained in the longer exposures, 

 because of the greater focal ratio of the lens, and Plate XVI is given to illustrate this 

 part of the corona. 



4- WitJi, the 6-inch photographic telescope. — Mr. Gill obtained an excellent negative of 

 eighty-two seconds' exposure, showing the longest extension of the coronal streams 

 obtained with any of the instruments. It seems probable, however, that a some- 

 wiiat better result would have been reached with a less exposure or a less aperture. 



' These are not enlarged, but are portions of the original focal images of over 15 

 inches diameter already referred to as obtained in the 135-foot focus camera. 



