September 2, 1920] 



NATURE 



husband, but who explained to the magistrate that 

 she "didn't look upon him as a 'usband so much 

 as a friend." 



Here 1 must stop. Otherwise I might touch 

 on Lockyer's kind-heartedness, his capacity for 

 making friends, his courage in family sorrow, his 

 literary labours, and other aspects of a full and 

 many-sided life. I conclude by once more draw- 

 ing on the jubilee record for the testimony of the 

 Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham, that the 

 Editor of Nature "never failed to enforce the great 

 lesson that the search for knowledge, pursued for 

 its own ends and with no immediate thoughts of 

 material gain, should be one of the most potent 

 driving forces in the life of a nation." 



W. T. Thiselton-Dyer. 



My acquaintance — and I may add my friendship 

 — with the late Sir Norman Lockyer dates back 

 from almost exactly half a century ago. It began 

 in the autumn of 1870, when the details of the 

 arrangements in connection with the projected 

 Government expedition to observe the total solar 

 eclipse of December 22 of that year were under 

 consideration. Lockyer was then in the full tide 

 of his intellectual vigour. Two years previously 

 he had leaped into fame, and established a 

 commanding position as one of the pioneers of the 

 newly developed domain of solar physics, by his 

 memorable discovery, made simultaneously with, 

 but independently of, janssen, of a spectroscopic 

 method of observing, delineating, and analysing 

 the chromosphere at any time the sun is unob- 

 scured. In conjunction with Frankland he had 

 detected the existence of a new element in the 

 solar atmosphere named by the discoverers 

 "helium," which Ramsay and others, twenty- 

 seven years later, proved to be present in many 

 terrestrial rocks and minerals, and to occur among 

 the gases evolved from springs. Helium, in fact, 

 has been shown to be a widely distributed element, 

 and to be capable of useful application. But with 

 its singular properties, its origin and mode of 

 genesis, and its relations to other "elements," we 

 are not now concerned. The immediate point is 

 that these two cardinal discoveries, with which 

 I "ckyer's name will be associated for all time, 

 dered it a matter of national honour and obliga- 

 \i'iv\ that every effort should be made, and no 

 opportunity lost, to follow up the line of inquiry 

 he had initiated. 



Even although half a century has elapsed, much 

 of the physical history of the sun can be traced 

 only by the observation and study of the pheno- 

 mena of a total solar eclipse. In 1870 the present 

 methods of attack were, comparatively speaking, 

 in their infancy. Warren de la Rue first used his 

 "lioto-hcliograph during the eclipse of July 18, 



■0. In the same year Bunsen constructed the 

 ..ist spectroscope, which was quickly applied to 

 the examination of celestial objects. Tennant had 

 directed it to the corona of the Indian eclipse of 

 1868, and Young to that of the eclipse of 1869. 

 But the reitults were contradictory. Tennant found 

 that the spectrum was the ordinary solar spcc- 

 NO. 2(i<kX. VOL. I06I 



trum; Young detected the existence of bright 

 lines, but was uncertain as to whether they might 

 not be due to the outlying and nebulous portion 

 of the chromosphere. To the world of science the 

 question was of the greatest interest. Hence the 

 importance of the eclipse of 1870, which, it was 

 hoped, would settle the matter. Mr. Robert Lowe 

 at that period was Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 but, even if he vt-ere so minded, the Government 

 was unable to resist the appeal of the Royal and 

 Royal Astronomical Societies that properly 

 equipped expeditions should be sent to suitable 

 places along the central line of totality. Lockyer 

 was by common consent designated as a leader of 

 one of the parties. With characteristic zeal and 

 ardour he threw himself heartily into the work of 

 organisation. Arrangements were made to ob- 

 serve at various stations along the eastern coast of 

 Sicily. He elaborated a comprehensive plan of ob- 

 servation, mainly directed to the elucidation of the 

 structure and physical nature of the corona, and 

 secured the co-operation of competent physicists 

 and trained observers. Unfortunately, all his 

 forethought, labour, and anxiety came to nothing. 

 The Admiralty dispatch-boat Psyche, conveying 

 the party from Naples to Catania, struck a sub- 

 merged rock near Aci Reale. All on board were 

 safely put on shore, and so, ultimately, were the 

 instruments, but the poor dispatch-boat became a 

 total loss. It was characteristic of Lockyer, whose 

 whole thought was concentrated on the work he 

 had undertaken, that he should have telegraphed 

 home as soon as he reached Catania : — " Psyche 

 totally wrecked. Instruments saved." Anxious 

 relatives might infer the rest as they pleased. 



Misfortune, however, still followed us. We 

 managed to get everything in readiness for the 

 eventful day, but as the total phase approached, 

 the rapid fall of temperature occasioned the forma- 

 tion of cloud ; the corona was wholly obscured, 

 and no spectroscopic or other observations during 

 totality were possible, and photographic exposures 

 were useless. The work entrusted to me consisted 

 in determining the photometric intensity of the 

 solar light during the progress of the eclipse, and 

 was independent of the total phase. Fortunately, 

 I was able to obtain a complete set of measure- 

 ments, which afterwards found their way into 

 one of the publications of the Royal Society. But 

 our philosophy was sorely exercised on learning 

 that a perfect view of the unclouded corona was 

 obtained from the deck of the wrecked Psyche 

 some few miles away. The greatest sympathy 

 was felt by everybody for Lockyer, and his dis- 

 appointment was naturally very keen. But he 

 bore it stoically ; if he had not secured success, he 

 had at least deserved it. Of the band of observers 

 associated with him — among them Sir Henry 

 Roscoe, Sir George Darwin, W. K. Clifford, 

 W. G. Adams. Ranyard, John Brett, the artist. 

 Sir Alexander Pedler, Brothers, Bowen, and Sea- 

 broke — I believe I am now the sole survivor. 



I was a member of another expedition of which 

 Lockyer was the leader — viz. that sent to the 

 island of Granada, in the West Indies, to observe 



