SUN, ECLIPSE OF. 



099 



unexpected. Tho bunds wore distinctly scon on tbo 

 ., iiiul wcro brightest wlit-ru normal to the limb 

 nii.l v. iii-r.- i.MiL'i-iiii:il t<> it. A- thu polariscope was 

 i.i\\l\ ntutrd,nc> marked diminution of tbtlr bright- 

 ness was seen, and, when it had boon turned through 

 40*, they wore as bright as before; di>tinrtly visible 

 even in color, and they BO remained, the rotation 

 being continued for greater security through a whole 

 revolution, during the whole time they presented the 

 appearance described, and characteristic of radial 

 polarisation. They were not noticed on the dUk of 

 the moon, hut this may well have been from the ob- 

 "s attention being so exclusively directed to 

 verifying their persistency on the corona. 



The most fortunate of all the American ob- 

 siT\.-rs was Prof. Watson, of Michigan Univer- 

 sity, who was stationed at Carlentini, Sicily, 

 and who obtained an nnobscured view of the 

 eclipse throughout its whole duration. As 

 seen through his telescope, the rayed portion 

 was most developed over the prominences. 

 The corona appeared to him like a shell around 

 the sun, about 5' high, and outside this shell 

 the rays were'loss definite. He was strongly 

 impressed with the idea that the shell repre- 

 sented a true solar atmosphere, and that the 

 rayed structure was due to the atmosphere of 

 the earth. 



General Abbott, of the American expedition, 

 with some members of the English party, as- 

 cended the western slope of Mount Etna to a 

 height about 8,000 feet above the sea, hoping 

 to secure a fine view of the eclipse, but did not 

 succeed, on account of a heavy snow-storm at 

 the time of totality. 



Dr. Peters, of Hamilton College, made a 

 similar attempt on the top of Mount Rossa, near 

 Mount Etna, 3,120 feet above the sea, but was 

 only partly successful, owing to the bad 

 weather, witnessing only the commencement, 

 the end of the totality, and the end of the 

 eclipse in general. 



Mr. Lockyer, reviewing the results of the 

 American polariscopic observations in Sicily, 

 by Profs. Harkness and Eastman, Mr. Peirce, 

 Jr., and others, regards them as settling the 

 point that the solar corona not only radiates 

 but reflects light to the earth. 



At Gibraltar, where the Americans had a 

 station, a cloudy sky interfered with the ob- 

 servations. Prof. Ncwcomb was able to see 

 all four contacts, and took several measure- 

 ments that were necessary for the work he has 

 in hand, but barely caught a glimpse of the 

 corona. 



The English party at San Antonio, near 

 Xeres, had to contend with the uncertain 

 weather which proved so obstructive to the 

 Americans, but succeeded in observing some 

 of the points of the phenomena to their satis- 

 faction. Mr. S. J. Perry says : 



The red prominences were numerous, but none ap- 

 parently very remarkable; but Mr. W. II. Browne, 

 "f W udham "College, Oxford, considers their color to 

 have been of a bright yellowish-rod tint. The same 

 observer notices that the corona was perfectly free 

 from striation. outline distinct, and approximately 

 quadrilateral, but extending furthest in the direction 

 of first contact. The brightest part of tho corona 



appeared to tho unassisted eye to be scarcely more 

 than one-tenth of the sun's diameter, fading mi. idly 

 when one-fifth, but bvinu still cU-iirly risible at 

 seven-eighths. Some observed two curved rays, but 

 the general appearance was that of a diffuse light in- 

 terrupted in four places distinctly, and in a fifth 

 faintly, by dark intervals. The corona was white, 

 and rendered faint by the clouds. The darkness wa 

 never sufficient to prevent sketching with comfort 

 without the aid of a lamp. Venus alone was visible. 

 Totality ended by the formation of Baily's beads, and 

 tho corona was visible to the naked eye fifteen or 

 sixteen seconds after totality. The corona was seen 

 for 2' 60", totality lasting less than 2' 10". The clouds 

 obscuring the sun appear to have almost destroyed 

 all chance of detecting any except atmospheric po- 

 larization. Mr. Ladd remarked that the polarization 

 was stronger on the corona than on cither the moon's 

 surface or the cloudy sky. No report has as yet been 

 received of the polarization observations at San Lucar. 

 Tho intensity of the light from the corona as seen 

 through the clouds could not, I think, have been 

 more than one-eighth of that of tho bright moon, if 

 so much, and consequently I was unable to detect 

 the faintest trace or light through tho three com- 

 pound prisms I was using. 



The English party that sailed for Sicily were 

 very unlucky. Their steamer was wrecked on 

 a sunken rock about nine miles north of Cata- 

 nia. A portion of the party went up Monnt 

 Etna, where a snow-storm shut ont tho prin- 

 cipal part of the eclipse. The rest took posi- 

 tion at Augusta, where the clouds, to some 

 extent, marred the view. Mr. W. G. Adams, 

 connected with tho latter section of the expe- 

 dition, reports : 



I did not see the corona at the beginning of totality 

 with my telescope. As the band of sunlight became 

 exceedingly thin, and at the instant of its disappear- 

 ance broke up into sections, I could not decide 

 whether the lunar mountains had pierced the rim of 

 light, or whether the dense cloud coming over tho 

 moon had cut out certain portions of the rim before 

 obscuring the whole. After this, I could detect noth- 

 ing of the disk of the moon for a full minute, then 

 the cloud became thinner, and I found that by slowly 

 moving the telescope I had kept the moon in the cen- 

 tre of the field. At the top and bottom, the limb 

 was visible, but no light was seen outside it at these 

 points. I saw the light of the corona near the point 

 of beginning of totality covering some 20 of the limb, 

 and also a trace of light near the point of emergence. 

 I could not perceive any color on these portions of 

 the corona, nor could I detect any difference of color 

 on the two plates of my bi-quartz, the line of division 

 of which was at right angles to the sun's path, i. e., 

 inclined at 15 to tnc vertical The moon was again 

 observed, and again I detected light near the point 

 of emergence, and placed the line of division of my 

 bi-quartz radial to the moon, having the light in tho 

 centre of the field, but I could detect no trace of color 

 on the two parts of the crystal, showing that the bi- 

 quurtz was not sufficiently delicate to detect the po- 

 larization under such unfavorable circumstances. The 

 rim then became continuous, and tho totality was 

 over. 



At Syracuse, Sicily, the English observers 

 were in better fortune. Mr. Griffiths was able 

 to determine the plane and amount of polari- 

 zation at different points of the corona ; and 

 Messrs. Brothers and Freyer succeeded in 

 taking some good photographs of the corona, 

 one of which is very remarkable for its clear 

 definition of that object, and of the rays ex- 

 tending out to a distance of two diameters from 



