June 7, 1900] 



NATURE 



^2>l 



some cases this will not be until the observers return 

 home. 



Rough prints from several of the negatives obtained 

 with the prismatic cameras used by Sir Norman Lockyer's 

 party show as great amount of detail as those taken in 



1898. From a cursory examination of the negatives few 

 differences appear in the chromospheric spectrum ; the 

 "1474" corona ring seems, however, slightly more 

 feeble than before. 



Fig. 2. — The 20-foot prismatic camera and siderostat. 



In a letter received from Mr. Fowler he states that 

 the negatives obtained by Mr. Payn with the 16-foot 

 Cooke coronagraph are excellent, especially one showing 

 the inner corona. 



The accompanying illustrations, received too late 

 for reproduction with Sir Norman 

 Lockyer's letter last week, show some 

 of the arrangements made for ob- 

 serving the eclipse at Santa Pola. 

 Particulars concerning the various in- 

 struments will be found in Nature 

 of May 17. 



Prof H. H. Turner, at Bonsarea, 

 near Algiers, successfully carried out 

 his programme of photographing the 

 corona, obtaining seven ordinary pic- 

 tures and seven with interposed polar- 

 sing apparatus. The polarisation 

 indicated was decidedly radial. 



Mr. H. F. Newall obtained the 

 "first flash" and "corona" spectra 

 with both slit spectroscope and ob- 

 jective grating, those taken with the 

 latter, however, being weak. With 

 Mrs. Newall he also made polariscopic 

 observations. 



Mr. VV. H. Wesley made an excellent drawing from 

 his observations with the eight-inch Coude equatorial 

 placed at his disposal by M. Tr^pied, director of the 

 French observatory at Algiers. He reports that very 

 little structural detail was discernible in the inner corona. 

 NO. 1597, VOL. 62] 



The need for correction of the lunar tables is 

 indicated by the universal experience that totality was 

 some seconds less than that previously computed. The 

 .•\merican observers estimate the difference as three 

 seconds, while at Ovar, in Portugal, Mr. W. H. M. 

 Christie, the Astronomer Royal, gives 

 the time of totality as 85 seconds, 

 whereas the calculated value was 93 

 seconds. Several observations in- 

 dicate that the discrepancy is to 

 be looked for in the moon's dia- 

 meter being taken too large. 



The most unfortunate victim of 

 this error appears to have been 

 Mr. Evershed, who journeyed to an 

 outlying station, near Mazafran, so 

 close to the limiting line of totality 

 as was considered safe. He did 

 this with the object of photograph- 

 ing the "flash" spectrum with as 

 long duration as possible ; this will 

 be understood when it is considered 

 that exactly on the central line the 

 duration of the flash will be merely momentary, but as 

 the observer recedes from the central line the line of 

 sight to the moon's limb becomes more oblique, until on 

 the limiting line of totality the so-called "flash" is 

 visible for the whole time of totality at that point. 

 Owing to this ambiguity of the data, the station chosen 

 was evidently somewhat further from the central line 

 than was anticipated, and consequently Mr. Evershed 

 had the unpleasant experience of less than one second 

 totality. His preparations must have been exceedingly 

 perfect, however, for he reports having obtained a good 

 photograph at the proper instant, though it will fall 

 short of expectation for the reason stated. 



Prof. Howe, of Denver, has already determined the 

 position of the planet Eros, which he was fortunate 

 enough to discover on his photographic plates during 

 the eclipse, and has circulated his result. The co- 

 ordinates of the planet will be found in the "Astronomical 

 Column." C. P. B. 



NOTES. 



Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., has been elected a Foreign 



Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and 



Sciences in the section of Geology, Mineralogy and Physics of 



the Globe, in succession to the late Carl Friedrich Rammelsberg. 



Fig. 3. — Discs on spars, for naked eye observations of the corona. 



Prof. Fouque has been elected vice-president of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences for the year 1900, in succession to the late 

 Prof. Milne- Edwards. Prof. Boltzmann has been elected to 

 succeed the late Prof. Beltrami, in the mechanics section of the 

 Academy. 



