ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PKOGKESS. 



rushed out of the tent with the plate in my hand, and 

 came back with a small oil lamp, which, in case of 

 accidents, I had placed on a table outside. Eagerly 

 I gazed on the plate ; the dark border of the sun was 

 surrounded on one side by peculiar protuberances, 

 and on the other was a remarkable horn. The phe- 

 nomena were the same on both pictures. My joy was 

 great, but I had no time to indulge in it. The second 

 plate, and, a moment afterward, the third plate, were 

 brought into the tent. Dr. Zenker shouted to us that 

 the sun was reappearing. The total eclipse was over. 

 The last two plates only showed slight impressions 

 of pictures, as they had been spoilt by the clouds, 

 which, while they were exposed in the machine, had 

 closed in. The threeplates showed protuberance on 

 the lower border. We washed ; fixed, and lackered 

 our plates, and took several copies of them on glass, 

 which will be sent separately to Europe, in order to 

 insure their' safe arrival. 



Commander Perrin, of the Peninsular and 

 Oriental steamship Oarnatic, reported to the 

 directors of his company from Suez : 



The position of the ship at the time of the first con- 

 tact was lat. 16 N., Ion. 54.15 E., being thus twenty 

 miles north of the northernmost limit of totality in that 

 meridian. The eclipse was with us only partial, that 

 portion of the sun's disk remaining unobscured being, 

 however, only about one-sixteenth part of its diam- 

 eter. Unfortunately, at the time of the first contact, 

 the sun was obscured by clouds, which threatened to 

 deprive us entirely of seeing any part of the eclipse. 

 At intervals^ however, we got very hasty glimpses of 

 its progression, though so short as to prevent reliable 

 observations being taken ; at length the bank of 

 clouds dispersed and left a perfectly clear view of the 

 eclipse at that stage ? the sun having about two-thirds 

 of its diameter eclipsed. At 7 A. M., the nearest 

 point of totality had been reached, the altitude being 

 twenty-two degrees ten minutes. It was at this time 

 our best efforts were directed for observing the phe- 

 nomena presented. That portion of the sun remain- 

 ing uneclipsed consisted ot a narrow streak in shape 

 like a crescent of its upper left limb, in size about one- 

 sixteenth part of its diameter. The light emitted 

 from this was of a peculiar character and difficult to 

 describe, being at the same time extremely brilliant 

 and yet mqst remarkably pale. The high sea running 

 appeared like huge waves of liquid lead, and the 

 ghastly paleness of the light thrown upon it and all 

 around revealed a scene which, for its weird-like effect, 

 it would be as impossible to depict as it is to describe. 

 The eclipse not being total with us, the corona was 

 not visible. The first appearance noted by the spec- 

 troscope was that of several dark lines in the spectrum 

 of that portion of the sun visible at its greatest ob- 

 scurationj which was examined through a narrow 

 chink with the instrument, as recommended by 

 Lieutenant Herschel. The next appearance was a 

 roughness on the concave edge of the crescent of sun- 

 light left visible. This was well marked, and seen 

 very plainly with the unarmed spectroscope ; the rap- 

 idly increasing brightness of the sun prevented the 

 prisms being of much use except during the dark- 

 est part of the eclipse. Throughout, the rays between 

 red and green predominated over those between 

 green and violet. A small black spot was observed 

 on the sun's disk, situated in its upper right limb, 

 distant about one-eighth part of its diameter from its 

 extreme edge. Contact ceased at 16h. 43m. 29s. 

 Greenwich mean time. The only meteorological pe- 

 culiarities discovered were that the temperature the 

 day before the eclipse was unusually low, being 74 

 degrees at noon, while, on the preceding day and that 

 of the eclipse, it was 80 degrees and 79 degrees re- 

 spectively. The direction or force of the usual mon- 

 soon wind was not apparently affected ; the two only 

 noticeable features being the extreme haziness of the 

 horizon, with a clear sky, and the highly luminous 

 appearance of the sea at night. The daily tidal range 



of the barometer was considerably greater in scope 

 than I have ever remarked before upon the day pre- 

 ceding the eclipse. The temperature of the sea dur- 

 ing the eclipse was 75 degrees, that of the air 77 de- 

 grees, and barometer steady, at 29.70 degrees. 



The commander of the Peninsular and Ori- 

 ental steamship Eangoon had a good view of 

 the eclipse. He writes : 



The ship was at that time on the central line, viz. : 

 in lat. 15.42 N., Ion. 59.15 E. The total eclipse 

 lasted four minutes eight seconds. The sketch shows 

 what was seen by a large number of persons. In 

 observing with the spectroscope, I saw what none of 

 the others could see with their glasses, viz.: two 

 prominences on the righflimb of the moon (showing 

 in the spectroscope to the left), of a yellow flame- 

 color immediately opposite to the red ones, the 

 whole forming a square, with the moon in the centre 

 showing out like a mass of rock. The color of the 

 corona as seen through the prism was red, a yellow- 

 ish green, blue, and violet ; the violet the brightest 

 till the middle of the eclipse, when the red became 

 lumpy and showed brighter. The spectrum from the 

 moon cut through the centre of this but very faint, 

 the red thrown out with a curve. The motion of the 

 ship was so great, it was impossible to get minute 

 observations. There was so much haze and flying 

 cloud, only Venus and one other star could be seen. 



1. A small red flame or protuberance on the right- 

 hand lower corner of the moon, visible a few seconds 

 before the sun was totally eclipsed, disappeared a few 

 seconds after. 



2. A minute and a half after commencement of 

 total eclipse, a long, red flame of about five minutes 

 of arc on lower left-hand corner ; and a red flame or 

 blotch on upper hand, both visible from commence- 

 ment of totality and very bright. 



3. Three minutes after commencement, the long red 

 flame rather shorter, and the upper one increased hi 

 size. 



4. At reappearance of the sun's upper limb, the 

 upper protuberance disappeared, the lower one was 

 visible for about ten seconds after, about half its for- 

 mer size. 



A native Bombay journal publishes the fol- 

 lowing descriptive paragraph: "The scene in 

 the native town was curious at the time of 

 this solar phenomenon. Men and women in 

 their half-barbaric shabby dress were to be 

 seen going from one temple to another to pray 

 the deity to go to the help of the luminary of 

 the day in his duel with the headless giant, 

 'Rahu.' The hallalcores, who are the dregs 

 of the native community, received charities of 

 gold and silver, copper, and clothes of various 

 kinds. The ignorant thought that these sweep- 

 ers have the efficacy of freeing the sun from 

 this torment." 



The Lunar Crater Linne.l&r. W. E. Birt, 

 Secretary of the British Association Moon 

 Committee, furnishes a paper to the Student for 

 August, on later observations of the supposed 

 new lunar crater Linn6 (see ANNUAL CYCLO- 

 PAEDIA for 1867, article ASTEONOMICAL PHE- 

 NOMENA AND PEOGBESS). He says that on 

 June 26, 1868, at 9.45, G-. M. T., he had a 

 very favorable view of Linne with a Cross- 

 ley equatorial of 7.3 inch aperture, and pow- 

 ers 122, 182, and 384. Nothing was visible 

 but a small cone casting a shadow to the 

 east, not quite so distinct and persistent as 

 the shadow of the highest part of the ridge to 



