Report on the Solar Eclipse Expedition to Glwglee. 25 



Mr. Meehan came in good time on the morning of the 22nd in 

 order to have a final opportunity of practising the management of 

 the 4-inch. Everything being prepared to the best of our ability, I 

 anxiously watched with the finder of the prismatic camera for the 

 first contact. The first indentation in the sun's limb was not per- 

 ceived until 11 sees, after the computed time, but as the telescope only 

 magnified thirteen times, and there was a chance that the prediction 

 might be slightly wrong, this agreement was considered satisfactory. 

 Ten minutes before the beginning of totality .the observers took 

 their assigned stations, and a little later the metronome was set going 

 2 mins. 14'6 sees, before the computed total phase, McPherson saw 

 the following edge of the diminishing sun's image exactly on the line 

 which had been previously marked on the sliding frame. 20 sees. 

 later he started the clock in accordance with a signal given by me, 

 and after about a quarter of a minute had elapsed each observer 

 made a mark on the chronograph slip in response to the measured 

 " one, two, three," called out by me in time with the beats of the 

 chronometer. From this moment, which was 40'8 sees, before the 

 computed disappearance of the sun, I watched the shortening line of 

 light with the finder. It seemed a long time in disappearing, but 

 the sunshade was so dark that I felt sure that nothing but the photo- 

 sphere could be seen through it. I therefore refrained from giving 

 any signal until the last trace of light had disappeared. I then 

 called out " totality," as previously arranged, and had the satisfaction 

 of hearing the shutter of the 38-foot (which made a rather loud 

 noise) closing at the end of McPherson's first exposure. 



The whole of the eight plates were successfully exposed in the 

 horizontal telescope. 



Exposure. Object. 



No. 1 1*4 sees. Corona. 



2 6-7 Corona. 



3 3-8 Spectrum. 



4 .... 6'7 Spectrum. 



5 9'5 Corona. 



6 13-2 Corona. 



7 , . 5*4 ,, Corona. 



8 I'O sec. Spectrum. 



The five photographs of the corona are much disfigured by an 

 exhalation thrown off by the bass wood of which the plate-holders 

 are made, which has caused the grain of the wood to print itselt 1 

 in broad streaks on the pictures. By combining the various nega- 

 tives in one drawing, however, there is reason to believe that the 

 details of the brighter parts of the corona can be satisfactorily 

 worked out. Plates 3 and 4 show very distinct spectral images 



