October, 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



247 



wards. There seemed no definite beginning lo the 

 ecHpse. The crescent never wholly disappeared, or, 

 rather, it merged into a magnificent group oi promi- 

 nences spread over an arc of almost 30 degrees, near 

 the spot where the last of the sun's true disc was seen. 

 They must have been of immense height, and it seemed 

 at least 30 seconds before they were hidden by the ad- 

 vancing moon. At the same time, gradually too, 

 emerged the corona. Observers who have seen many 

 eclipses say it was but a poor corona. To others it 

 did not seem so. In place of the sun's crescent, an 

 inky black disc hung in the sky, with a great span of 

 rcsy prominences east of its vertex, and at all other 

 parts of the circumference streaks and streamers of 

 pale but defined substances set v\ith the strangest irr gu- 

 larity, brilliant round the edge of the disc, and lost to 

 the eye some two diameters distant. Many observers 

 saw a rosy tint in it. Otfiers called it a pure silver or 

 aluminium grey. It was most unmistakably of thi 

 type associated with sun spot maximum. Many stars 

 were visible, though the sky was never very dark. 

 Too soon its 200 seconds were gone, and with amazing 

 brilliance the sun's disc began to reappear. Nothing 

 remained but tO' collect results, and tO' ascertain how 

 much the indefinite beginning had spoilt the plan. It 

 is hoped that it interfered but little. Most observers 

 took successfully as many as seven photographs out of 

 eight. How far the haze and diffused light of the 

 sky may affect these can be answered only when the 

 plates are developed at Greenwich." 



In Tripoli the eclipse was observed under very 

 favourable circumstances, as described by Prof. Todd 

 in Nature. The .American expedition from .Amherst 

 College set up their instruments at the British Con- 

 sulate. Observation on the shadow bands were here 

 successfully made. They were " seen as early as ten 

 minutes before totality, and had many remarkable 

 and pronounced peculiarities. They were wavering 

 and narrow, moving swifter than one could walk, at 

 right angles tO' the wind, their length with it, and wax- 

 ing and waning five times during the eight minutes 

 preceding totality." -A disc eight inches diameter was 

 put up at a distance of 35 feet, in order to observe 

 the outlying streamers of the corona, but nothing was 

 seen protruding beyond the disc. Totality, predicted 

 to last 3m. 9s., was only 3m. 6sec. in duration. "Baily's 

 beads'' were well shown in photographs by means of an 

 orthochromatic screen, and other photographs were suc- 

 cessfully taken. The corona was ''not impressive," 

 being evenly developed, with no' long streamers. There 

 were also parties in Tripoli under Prof. Millesovici, of 

 Rome, and M. Liberd, of Paris. 



•At .AssuAN, up the Nile, were stationed three national 

 expeditions — British, American, and Russian. Prof. 

 Turner, of Oxford, assisted by Mr. Bellamy, made 

 special observations on the light of the corona. The 

 Times reports: — "The British party, with invaluable 

 assistance from Captain Lyons and the officers of the 

 Survey Department, obtained five ordinary exposures 

 with an astrographic telescope, besides one with a 

 green colour screen and one enlargement, six photo- 

 graphs polarised by reflection in a horizontal plane, and 

 two in a vertical plane. Mr. Giinther, of Magdalen 

 College, Oxford, obtained six plates with a Goerz lens 

 for comparison with similar plates taken in Labrador. 

 Mr. Reynolds's 120-ft. reflector was mounted under un- 

 foreseen difficullies, at short notice, with the able assist- 

 ance of Mr. Keeling." The party from the Lick Observa- 

 tory, under Mr.Hussv, was equipped with good photo- 

 graphic instruments, some being exactly similar tc 



those used by the other party from the Lick Observa 

 tory, who were to^ observe the e<"lipse in Labrador. 

 These two' stations being situated so far apart that the 

 times of totality differ by two a.nd a half hours, it was 

 hoped that any change in the corona during this period 

 might be detected. Egyptian skies are proverbially 

 clear, but there was a certain amount of haze over the 

 sky, which detracted somewhat from a clear view of the 

 corona. The change of temperature was very slight. 

 The corona appeared small, with its longest streamer 

 to the south-east, about two diameters or less in length, 

 and three shorter ones. 



THE SUPPLEMENT. 



The coloured plate should convey to those unfamiliar 

 with total eclipses a g-ood idea of the general effect. 

 It can well be supposed that it is impossible to make a 

 really careful drawing during the three brief minutes of 

 totality, and all that is possible is for the artist to 

 make some rough and hurried notes, and after the 

 event is over, tO' try to depict the same from memory. 

 L'uder these circumstances, the details portrayed must 

 not be taken as being exact. Photographs alone can 

 give us the true position and dimensions of the promi- 

 nences. In this case, too, the shape of the corona is 

 not to be taken intO' account, for two reasons. First, 

 in order to give some idea of the intense brilliancy of 

 the prominences, and of the innermost part of the 

 corona just around the moon's disc, it has been con- 

 sidered necessary to darken the rest of the picture. 

 Secondly, the observations at Palma were marred by 

 thin clouds passing in front of the eclipse, so that the 

 fainter streamers of the corona were not visible, and 

 only an evenly marked band of white light seen around 

 the moon. The prominences, nevertheless, were very 

 clearlv seen through a small telescope with an 80-power 

 eyepiece, although it is quite impossible to adequately 

 represent in a drawing the extraordinary luminosity 

 and splendour of these gorgeous flames. 



[Just on going to press we have received an interesting account, which must 

 he deferred till next month, from Professor Marcel Moye, of Montpellier 

 University, who saw the eclipse very well from Alcala de Chisvert on the East 

 Coast of Spain ] 



TO THE EDITORS OF " KNOWLEDGE." 



Sirs, — ki Burgos last week several people, shortly after the 

 eclipse, told me that they had seen the fourth of the five 

 splendid prominences visible on the east limb of the sun, 

 together with the Cromosphere between the third and fifth 

 prominences (all counting from the top downwards) of a dis- 

 tinctly green colour, and it would be very interesting to know 

 if others of your readers could confirm this observation of 

 what would seem to have been a coronium prominence ; to 

 me they all appeared of the usual cherry-red colour, this 

 fourth one being, perhaps, a little paler than the others. 



The Corona was only faint compared to the glorious one we 

 saw at Ovar in igoo. 



Yours truly, 



C. Nielsen, F.K.A.S. 



Hartlepool, Sept. g, 1905. 



The HoLrberv Lectures. 



This series of lectures will be delivered at the Royal 

 Institute of Public Health, Russell Square, by ProL 

 Thomas Oliver, M.A., M.D., LL.D., etc.on October 10, 

 12. and 17, at 5 p.m. The subject will be " Some of the 

 maladies caused by the air we breathe in the Home, 

 the Factory, and the Mine." 



