74 COSMOS. 



bers of solar spots (Hevelius observed a group of this kind on 

 the 20th of July, 1643, which covered the third part of the 



gis domeslico, conscripti, p. 58. These annals were originally ascribed 

 to a Benedictine mouk (p. 28), but subsequently, and correctly, to the 

 celebrated Egiuhard, Charlemagne's secretary. See Annales Einhardi, 

 in Pertz, Moniimenta Germanics Historica, Script., torn. i.. p. 194. The 

 following is the passage referred to: " DGCCCVII. Stella Mercurii xvi. 

 kal. April, visa est in Sole qualis parva macula nigra. paululum superius 

 medio centre ejusdem sideris, qntz a nobis octo dies coospicata est ; sed 

 quaudo primum intravit vel exivit, nubibus impedientibus, minime no- 

 tare potuimus." " On the 13th of .March, DCCCCVII., Mercury ap- 

 peared to be a small black spot on the Sun. a little above his center, 

 and was visible to us in that position for eight days ; but, owing to the 

 obstruction offered by the clouds, we were not able to see either when 

 it reached or left that place." The so-called transit of Venus recorded 

 by the Arabian astronomers, is noticed by Simon Assemanus in the In- 

 troduction to the Globus Ccelestis Cnjico-Arabicus Veliterni Musei Bor- 

 giani, 1790, p. xxxviii. : "Anno Hegyrae 225, reguaute Almootasemo 

 Chalifa, visa est in Sole prope medium nigra quiedam macula, idque 



feria tertia die decima nona meusis Regebi " This appearance 



was believed to be the planet Venus, and the same black spot (macula 

 nigra) was supposed to have been seen for 91 days (probably \vi.h in- 

 termissions of twelve or thirteen days ?). Soon after this, the reigning 

 Calif Motassem died. I have selected the following seventeen exam- 

 ples from a large number of facts collected from the historical records 

 derived from popular tradition, as to the occurrence of a sudden de 

 crease in the light of the Sun : 



45 B.C. At the death of Julius Ca?sar: after which event the Sun re- 

 mained pale for a whole year, and gave less than its usual warmth ; 

 on which account the air was thick, cold, and hazy, and fruit did not 

 ripen. Plutarch in Jul. Ca-5-.cap. 87; Dio <7ass..xliv.; Virg., Georg., 

 i., 466. 



33 A.D. The year of the Crucifixion. "Now from the sixth hour 

 there was darkness over all the land till the ninth hour." (St. Mat- 

 thew, xxvii.. 45.) According to St. Luke, xxiii.. 45, "the Sun was 

 darkened." In order to explain and corroborate these narrations, 

 Eusebius brings forward an eclipse of the Sun in the 202d Olympiad, 

 which had been noticed by the chronicler. Phlegon of Tralles. (Ide- 

 ler, Handbuch der Mathem. Chronologic, bd. ii.,p. 417.) Wurm has, 

 however, shown that the eclipse which occurred during this Olym- 

 piad, and was visible over the whole of Asia Minor, must have hap- 

 pened as early as the 24th of November, 29 A.D. The day of the 

 Crucifixion corresponded with the Jewish Passover (Idefer, bd. i.,p. 

 515-520). on the 14th of the month Nisan, and the Passover was al- 

 ways celebrated at thfc time of the full moon. The Sun can not, 

 therefore, have been darkened for three hours by the Moon. The 

 Jesuit Scheiner thinks the decrease in the light might be ascribed to 

 the occurrence of large Sun-spots. 



358 A.D. A darkening continuing two hours, on the 22d of August, 

 before the fearful earthquake of Nicomedia, which al<o destroyed 

 several other cities of Macedonia and Pontus. The darkness con- 

 tinued from two to three hours: "nee contigua vel adposita cerne- 

 bautur." " Without either contiguous objects or those in juxtaposi 

 tion being discernible." Ammian. Marcell., xvii., 7. 



