8 Life and Lettern of Francis Galton 



corona as a mock halo. His job at the eclipse was to have been the taking 

 of observations with an actinonieter", but on the day before the eclipse, 

 when the instrument was unpacked, it was found to Ix; broken. 



" I cttiididly confess that a rising fiH»ling of exultAtion Hcconipivnicxl this discovery; I was not 

 now necessarily obliged to spend the precious three minutes of the eclipse in poring on an 

 ascending column of blue fluid in a graduated stem, and noting down the results by feeble 

 lamplight, but I was free to enjoy to the full the whole glory <>f the eclipse." {V.T. 1860, 

 p. 437.) 



Galton decided to sketch the corona and to determine from its ett'ect on 

 coloure th«' e.xact colour of the eclipse light about which there had been 

 controversy. His account' of the eclipse is worth reproduction in part, if 

 only for the originality of his views on the corona. 



"2 hrs. 50 m. Indian yellow, col)alt and emerald green are lower in tone. I can distinguish 

 all twelve colours perfectly. Light nmch fainter. 55 m. Light far fainter. I made a liole in a 

 paper screen, and watched the crescentic image of the speck of sunlight that shone through it on 

 the floor. The shadows were very dark and sharp. Air cold. .")S iii. The numerous pigi-ons of 

 the place began to fly home, fluttering about hurriedly, taking shelter wherever they could. 

 There was something of a hu.sh in the crowd. 



At alx)ut 3 h. — I forgot to note the e.xact watch time, I am sorry to say — toUility came on 

 in great Ijeauty. The Corona very rapidly formed it.self into all its perfectne.Ks. It did not appear 

 to me to grow, but to stand out ready forme<l, as the brilliant edge of the sun l)ecame masked. 

 I do not know to what I can justly compare it, on account of the peculiar whitenes,s of its 

 light, and of the deflnition of its shape as combined with a remarkable tenderness of outline. 

 There was flrmness but no hardne&s. In its general form, it was well biilaiued, but larger on 

 one side than the other. It reminded me of some brilliant decoration or order, made of diamonds 

 and exquisitely designed. There wa.s nothing to impress terror in the sight of the blotte<l-out 

 sun; on the contrary the general effect of the spectacle on uiymind was one of unmixed wonder 



and delight The Corona-light sufliw-d abundantly for writing rough notes and for se<>ing my 



c-olours. Oddly enough, theii/rH/ tnenna and the rfiriniUion alone cejise<l to l»e distinguishable from 

 each other. Indian yellow ha<l greatly hmt brilliancy. I made a rough sketch of the Corona — it 

 was too manifold in its details and too iMMutiful in its pixiportions for me, bad arti.st as I am, to 

 do justice to it in the short time the s[K«tacle last«<l^yet the drawing which I matle and which 

 is given here [see Fig. 1, p. 9], is to my mind a fair diagram of this splendid meteor'. I drew it 

 without taking any measurements to guiile me, but simply as I would sketch any ortlinary object. 

 The uppermost part is that which was upjiermost when I drew it. I used no lantern and required 

 none; there was a sufficiency of light The principal facts were, firstly, that the long arms of 

 the Corona [see Fig. 2, p. 9] do not ratliate strictly from the centre, neither are they always 

 bounded by .straight lines*. The up|)er edge of a was truly tangential, that of d and others 

 nearly so; c was remarkably curved, and so wa.s the lower inlge of /), though less abruptly; 

 it WAS like a finch's beak, and remarkably defined. Secondly the shaiHs of the Coi-ona was not 

 absolutely constant; sjKsaking generally, it was so; but in small details it appeared to vary 

 continually, by a slow diorama-like change. There was no pulsjition or variation of intc^nsity, 

 visible in its light. I was particularly impressed by its solemn steadiness. 



' Qalton had previously to his departure l)een instructed by Sir John Herschel in the use 

 of this invention of his. 



« His sketches and other deUtils appear in the Royal Astronomical Society's Memoirt, Vol. 

 XLI, pp. 563-4, as well as in Vacatum Tonriiit*. 



• Elsewhere in this paper (p. 4_'3 "eAch phenomenon of that strange and magnificent meteor") 

 Oalton uses this word in the s«ni.s<' of an unusual atmospheric iij)jM>arance. 



* Even Sir Oeorge Airy doubttKl the curvature Galton gave to some of his rays, but photo- 

 graphs of sul»s<'<|uent eclipses ha\e confirmed the curve<l rays. There was no photograph of this 

 eclipse, the first probably at which phoU)grapliy was iwssible, although a j)hot<)grapher was 

 present. He inserted his slide and exjjosed, but hail forgotten to put a jAaU into hit slide I 



