GREAT SOLAR ECLIPSES. 13 



upon the horizon only a very feeble light, a sort of 

 uneasiness seized upon all ; every person felt a desire 

 to communicate his impressions to those around him. 

 Hence arose a deep murmur, resembling that sent 

 forth by the distant ocean after a tempest. The hum 

 of voices increased in intensity as the solar crescent 

 grew more slender ; at length the crescent disappeared, 

 darkness suddenly succeeded light, and an absolute 

 silence marked this phase of the eclipse, with as great 

 precision as did the pendulum of our astronomical 

 cfock. The phenomenon in its magnificence had 

 triumphed over the petulance of youth, over the levity 

 which certain persons assume as a sign of superiority, 

 over the noisy indifference of which soldiers usually 

 make profession. A profound stillness also reigned in 

 the air ; the birds had ceased to sing. After an interval 

 of solemn expectation, which lasted about two minutes, 

 transports of joy, shouts of enthusiastic applause, 

 saluted with the same accord, the same spontaneous 

 feeling, the first reappearance of the rays of the sun. 

 To a condition of melancholy, produced by sentiments 

 of an indefinable nature, there succeeded a lively and 

 intelligible feeling of satisfaction, which no one sought 

 to escape from or moderate the impulses of; to the 

 majority of the public the phenomenon had arrived at 

 its term. The other phases of the eclipse had few 

 attentive spectators, beyond the persons specially 

 devoted to astronomical pursuits.' 



M. Arago quotes also a beautiful anecdote in illus- 

 tration of the peculiar influence produced by the total 



