653 



SOLAR ECLIPSE. 



SOLAR ECLIPSE. 



654 



account also for a total eclipse of the sun which Diodorus Siculus has taken up the subject of this eclipse. His researches are based 

 mentions as having occurred while Agathocles, king of Syracuse, was upon a new determination of the elements of the lunar orbit derived 

 proceeding with his fleet to Africa, In a paper published in the from the Greenwich observations, and the values of the secular accele- 

 ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ' for 1852, Mr. Airy ration of the mean motion and node assigned by Professor Hansen. 



170 130 170 100 150 MO 





50 



. 



Writ of 10 Grrenmch JSatt of 10 Greenwich 20 

 Path of the Moon's Shadow and Penumbra over the Surface of the Earth during the total Solar Eclipse of July 7, 1842. 



The conclusion at which he arrives is, that the eclipse referred to by 

 ll'-rodotus mult have occurred on the 7th of September, 585 B.C. He 

 shorn that this date accords satisfactorily with the eclipse of Aga- 

 thocles, and also with an eclipse briefly alluded to by Xenophon as 

 having occurred at Lariafa, in Asia, during the retreat of the ten , 

 thousand Greeks. 



Plutarch, in hia ' Dissertation on the Lunar Spot*,' makes a brief 

 Init interesting allusion to a total eclipse of the sun which happened in 

 hia time. He mentions that it occurred about midday, that the dark- 

 nan was so great as to cause the day to resemble night, and that stars 

 were everywhere visible. Kepler, who investigated the probable time 

 of the occurrence of thin eclipse, is of opinion that it is identical with 

 nn eclipse which happened in the year 118 A.D. 



The records of modern history contain a variety of interesting 

 allusions to the occurrence of total eclipses of the sun. 



H.illey, in a paper on the total eclipse of the sun which happened at 

 i in the year 1715, mentions, as an illustration of the rarity of 

 liononxoa, that no previous eclipse of the same nature had been 

 visible in the metropolis since the year 1140. This eclipse is recorded 

 in the 8uon Chronicle ; a brief mention of it is also made by William j 

 of Kftlmcsbury. In the Saxon Chronicle it is stated that, " in the i 



Lent, the sun and the day darkened about the noontide of the day, 

 when men were eating, and they did light their caudles to eat by. 

 That was the thirteenth day before the Calends of April. Men were 

 very much struck with wonder." William of Maltnesbury states, " that 

 while persons were sitting at their meals, the darkness became so great 

 that they feared the ancient chaos was about to return ; and upon going 

 out immediately, they perceived several stars about the sun." 



Total eclipses of the sun are mentioned in history as having occurred 

 iu the years 1187, 1241, 1415, 1483, 1485, 1506, 1530, 1644, 1560, 

 1567% 159S, 1605, 1652, and 1S99. The eclipses of 1433, 1598, and 

 1652 were visible in the British Isles. The eclipse of 1433 occurred in 

 Scotland. According to Maclaurin, there is a manuscript account of 

 it preserved in the library of the Edinburgh University. The moon's 

 shadow on the occasion of the eclipse of 1598 appears to have passed 

 over the border counties of England and Scotland. The day of its 

 occurrence, which was Saturday, was long remembered in both countries 

 as Black Saturday. The eclipse of 15IS2 was visible in the north of 

 Ireland and iu Scotland. 



In 1706 there occurred a total eclipse of the sun, which was visible 

 in the southern countries of Europe. At Montpellier, where it was 

 observed by PJantadc and Capias, the total obscuration lasted 4'" 10'. 



