APPENDIX. 



THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1870. 



THE total Solar Eclipse, which is to render famous the month 

 of December in the present year famous, that is, in astrono- 

 mical annals deserves, we think, some special notice in our 

 pages. In 1860, the Himalaya was fitted out by Government 

 for the use' of the savants desirous of observing the Solar 

 Eclipse visible that year in Spain, and the results of the expe- 

 dition were so important as fully to warrant the liberality of 

 the Government. The eclipse of the present year will also be 

 visible in Spain, but the path of the sun's shadow will pass as 

 far north as Cape Spartel, and, crossing Algeria, will go north- 

 wards, via Sicily, and in the direction of Constantinople. The 

 totality of the eclipse will not last so long as that of the 

 Indian eclipse in 1868. The sun will be hidden from sight 

 for no longer period than about two minutes twelve seconds, 

 and whatever observations our astronomers are anxious to 

 make must be made in that brief interval. It may not un- 



