NA TURE 



353 



THURSDAY, AUGUST i, 1878 



THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN 

 '"I'^HE following telegram -was received from Mr. Lockyer 

 -»■ at the m.oment of going to press. It contains the 

 fullest account of the results of the Eclipse, and of the 

 conclusions arrived at by some of the most eminent of 

 the observers engaged on it, which has yet been pub- 

 lished : — 



Corona smaller and less brilliant than in 1869 and 1871. 

 Hydrogen faint in corona. Generally invisible, as was 

 also the case in 1874. Ran yard's polarisation confirmed 

 Young's law, both (?) and lines brilliant. Corona probably pho- 

 tographed in Siam(?). Fluorescent eyepiece worked well. 

 Bright line near B ; heat line in ultra red by thermopile. 

 Watson's Vulcan, Right ascension 8° 26', declination 18° 

 N. Result — lower temperature of corona gas, as confined 

 to chromosphere ; almost entirely continuous spectrum, 

 isolated from gaseous spectrum. Corona changes with 

 sun-spots, and prominences increased. Continuation of 

 absorption with deficit in ejected hot matter induces 

 solar radiation. Young, Watson, Draper, Lockyer cable 

 above. 



The following telegram appears in the Daily News 

 of yesterday from its special correspondent at Rawlings, 

 Wyoming, U.S., under date July 29 : — 



The eclipse has been most satisfactorily observed at all 

 the northern stations, and at all the southern ones from 

 which news has been received up to the present time. 



The corona was markedly different from those observed 

 in 1869, -[870, and 1871, and this year the observations 

 have demonstrated the great variation in the structure 

 and condition of the sun's outer atmosphere when there 

 are most and fewest spots on his disc. The corona was 

 small, of a pearly lustre, and the indications of definite 

 structure were limited to two portions. Several long rays 

 were seen, and Prof. Newcomb, who had erected a screen 

 on a high pole, thinks he detected the zodiacal light extend- 

 ing six degrees from the sun. Prof. Draper, who used a 

 Rutherfurd grating two inches square and a camera of 

 large aperture, and Mr. Lockyer, who placed a small 

 grating in front of an ordinary portrait camera, both 

 obtained photographs of the spectrum of the corona. A 

 continuous spectrum only was recorded, and in ordinary 

 spectroscopes the bright lines usually seen were alto- 

 gether absent. Mr. Lockyer, who observed with a simple 

 grating, saw no rings. 



All these are so many indications of a wonderful 

 change since 1871, and there is great probability that the 

 substance which gives rise to the continuous spectrum is 

 not that which produces any of the lines. 



Prof. Newcomb' s party and Prof. Barker made a care- 

 ful search for the dark lines in the corona, but none were 

 observed. Prof. Young has telegraphed that there were 

 no lines observed in the ultra violet at Denver. It would 

 appear, therefore, that he also has obtained photographic 

 evidence of a continuous spectrum. The radial polarisa- 

 tion observed in 1871 has been confirmed by Prof. 

 Holden. 



A new use of the eclipse has been introduced on this 

 occasion. Professors Newcomb, Watson, Holden, and 

 others have included a search for intramercurial planets 

 Vol. xviii. — No. 457 



in their programme, and Prof Watson has been fortunate 

 enough to detect a body of four and a half magnitude 

 near the sun, Avhich certainly is neither a known star nor 

 a planet. 



Every facility has been afforded to the astronomers, and 

 a fourth station along the northern line crossing the belt 

 i of totality was at the last moment organised by the 

 Union Pacific travelling photographic car being run to a 

 point between the Eclipse camps at Separation and 

 Preston. 



The tasimeter, the new instrument on which Mr. 

 Edison has been working unceasingly here, has proved 

 its delicacy. During the eclipse he attached Thomson's 

 galvanometer, the index being set to zero, when the 

 telescope carrying the tasimeter was pointed several 

 degrees from the sun. The point of light rapidly left the 

 scale, when the corona w'as brought upon the fine slit by 

 which the tasimeter itself was protected. There was no 

 chromosphere to speak of, and only one prominence, like 

 the horn observed in 1868, but very dim. 



OUR NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS 



ON referring to the " Bill to enable the Trustees of 

 the British Museum to remove Portions of their 

 Collection," our readers will see that our correspondent 

 "Naturalist," in our last issue (p. 328), is correct in 

 supposing that this measure contemplates no change 

 whatever in the administration of the natural history 

 collections when placed on their new site in South Ken- 

 sington. The fourth clause of the Bill expressly reserves 

 all the "rights, powers, duties, and obligations" of the 

 fifty trustees, except as regards the mere removal of the 

 portions of the collections specified in the schedule. And. 

 we must agree with our correspondent that this measure 

 will be directly contrary to the opinion of many of our 

 leading naturalists, and to the recommendations of the 

 Royal Science Commission. 



As regards the first point, it is only necessary to refer 

 to the memorial presented to the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer in 1866, when the subject of the removal 

 of the natural history collection was under discussion. 

 The memorial, which was drawn up primarily in support 

 of the removal of the natural history collections from 

 the rest of the British Museum, and is signed by Mr. 

 Bentham, Mr. Darwin, Sir J. Hooker, Prof. Huxley 

 and other well-known names, states that in the opinion 

 of the memorialists "it is oi fundaineiital importance to 

 the progress of the natural sciences in this country that 

 the administration of the natural history collections should 

 be placed under one officer, who should be immediately 

 responsible to one of the Queen's ministers." The Bill 

 as drawn proposes to leave the natural history collections 

 exactly as they are, under the rule of fifty trustees re- 

 sponsible to no one but to themselves. - 



Let us now turn to the Fourth Report of the " Royal 

 Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advance- 

 ment of Science,' ' issued in 1 874, in which the affairs of the 

 British Museum, and more especially of the natural 

 history collections belonging to it, are discussed. After 

 an exhaustive account of the circumstances of the case 

 and an analysis of the evidence given before them by the 



