138 THE INDIAN ECLIPSE, 1898. 



and to the shadows cast on the wall of a room from rippling 

 sunlit waters outside, and stated that the shadows were equal 

 to or narrower than the lighter parts between them. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE SHADOW-BANDS AT BUXAR. 



MR. Johnson, who was specially watching for shadow-bands, 

 first saw them two minutes before totality, their general 

 direction being W.S.W. and E.N.E. They appeared in batches 

 of four or five, about 1 inch wide and 3 inches apart. Speed, 

 say eight to twelve miles an hour. Mr. Cargill independently, 

 at some distance, recorded the same general direction and speed, 

 but estimated the bands as 10 inches apart. They were 

 observed again after totality, but thought not to last so long. 



It would seem probable that these faint evasive shadows are 

 simply due to the effect of air currents at a time when the 

 sun's light is reduced, immediately before or immediately after 

 totality, to the thinnest thread. A slight variation in refraction 

 will then give rise to these ripples of light and shade which will 

 travel with the wind. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



LITTLE serious attention was paid to taking meteorological 

 observations at the Talni station, but the following may be worth 

 putting on record. It will be seen from the Talni thermometer 

 readings that there was a drop in the shade temperature of 

 10 Fahr. during the eclipse, whilst a fully exposed thermometer 

 fell 40. The observations at Buxar were much more complete. 



THERMOMETER HEADINGS AT TALNI, JANUARY 22ND, 1898. 



Local Time. Thermometer Readings, 



h. ni. Full Sun. Shade. 



11 45 a.m. 122 92 



12 117-6 91 

 12 15 p.m. 113 91 i 

 12 SO 109-4 89 



10,, 87-8 88 



1 15 82-4 82 



1 20 ., 81-5 82 



J. P. G. SMITH. 



