September 1, 1896.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



203 



Description of a New System of Wires in the Focus of a 

 Telescope for observing the comparative Right Ascensions 

 and Declinations of Celestial Objects." Next year (1786) 

 he was elected a Fellow of the Society, and communicated 

 a paper containing observations of a comet which had been 

 discovered by Miss Herschel on the 1st of August in that 

 year, and which he observed during August and September. 

 We do not meet with any other papers of his until 1793, 

 when he communicated on May 9th a " Description of a 

 Transit Circle for determining the Places of Celestial 

 Objects as they Pass the Meridian ; " and after this the 

 results of his astronomical observations appear in separate 

 works. The l-'usciciilus Astronomii-us was published in 

 1800, and contains an extensive catalogue of northern 

 circumpolar stars, with some account of the transit circle 

 (described in the paper just mentioned) with which the 

 observations were made ; also of a portable altitude and 

 azimuth instrument made for the author by Templeton, 

 and various tables used in astronomical calculations. The 

 observations were made in the years 179i-7, and reduced 

 to the beginning of 1800. The author also took the 

 trouble of comparing them with places deduced from ob- 

 servations made by Flamsteed, Hevelius, and earlier 

 astronomers, and points out a mistake fallen into by 

 Flamsteed in giving the date HQ'S to the catalogue of 

 Ulugh Beigh. The date assigned is 8-11 of the Hegira, 

 which took place in a.d. 622 ; but as the mean Moham- 

 medan year (allowing for the intercalary years) consists 

 of 354-366 days only, eight hundred and forty-one of their 

 years amounts to only about eight hundred and sixteen of 

 our calendar years, so that 841 of the Hegira corresponds 

 most nearly to a.h. 1438. WoUaston had published some 

 years before a " Specimen of a General Catalogue of Stars, 

 arranged in Zones of North Polar Distance." In that he 

 had inserted some notes on double stars by Herschel, who, 

 it appears, objected to the abbreviation (from want of 

 space) of these ; therefore, in the Fasciculus all such par- 

 ticulars are omitted, references only being given, as before, 

 to Herschel. In closing this account of Wollaston's astro- 

 nomical work, we need only further mention his star- 

 maps, published in 1811 (when the author was eighty 

 years of age\ from observations extending over several 

 years, under the title, " A Portraiture of the Heavens." It is 

 remarked that some of them were found useful in observing 

 the comet of 1807. Wollaston died at Chislehurst on the 

 81st of October, 1815, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 

 The (icntlciiiiin's Ma/icninc for February, l''-il6, contains a 

 short appreciative obituary notice of him. 



THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF AUGUST 9, 1896. 



By E. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S. 



IT is difficult to write a satisfactory account of an 

 eclipse expedition to which a sight of the eclipse 

 has not been ^■ouchsafed, and, as all the world now 

 knows, that has been our fate at Vads<i. 



Nevertheless, there is a story to tell, though but 

 a meagre one compared with that for which we had hoped. 

 The various preparations for drawing and photographing 

 the corona and for photographing the spectrum were 

 necessarily of no avail, and it would appear useless to 

 recount again the details of programmes which the 

 weather defeated. Something, however, was done. The 

 general .spectacle of the eclipse was watched with sedulous 

 care by scores of observers, most of whom, under more 

 fortunate circumstances, would have had their whole 

 attention fixed upon their instruments ; so, though thick 

 clouds concealed the sun almost without a break for the 



whole period of the ecUpse, yet the weird effects of the 

 gradual darkening were watched with great minuteness. 

 The edge of the shadow was distinctly seen by several 

 observers as it swept upwards from the south, some 

 observing it on the clouds, others on the hills and fjord. 

 The shadow appeared to travel from the south, not from 

 the west — the direction in which the track of totaUty 

 really lay— this eilect being due to the oval shape of the 

 shadow itself, and the fact that the central hne was south 

 of ^'ads'i, where the observers were stationed. With the 

 sweep of the shadow across the country there came a 

 distinct increase in the darkness, an increase so distinct 

 that it was possible to assert with great confidence that 

 the predicted time of the commencement of totality, as 

 given by the Xmitical Almanack, is quite four seconds too 

 late ; the duration would appear to be practically correct, 

 as the return of light — more sudden and more easily 

 marked, in the opinion of nearly every observer, than the 

 accession of darkness — took place about three seconds 

 before the tabular time. 



Regarded from the point of view of actual amount of 

 illumination the darkness was not excessive : it was 

 probably less than in any recent eclipse — less even than it 

 would have been had the sky been clear. It was perfectly 

 easy to read the seconds hand of a watch even at mid- 

 eclipse, distant objects were still retained in sight, and 

 the surrounding features of the country did not entirely 

 lose their colour. The total light did not probably differ 

 very much from that of a bright night at the full of the 

 moon, but the impression produced was of a totally 

 different character. Instead of the cold but cheerful light 

 of the moon — a light felt to be beautiful and helpful — the 

 light of the eclipse could only be regarded as darkness, 

 a terrible darkness, darkness made visible, darkness that 

 might be felt. 



It is not possible to explain exactly the cause of this 

 feeling, one which the most stolid and the most cynical 

 were alike obliged to confess to. Possibly the speed with 

 which it came on, continually and inexorably increasing 

 without any obvious cause, had something to do with it. 

 Possibly it may have been rather due to the strange 

 colouring of earth and sky, for, above, the heavy clouds 

 which almost entirely covered the heavens were dyed a 

 deep purplish black ; below, the dark rocks took a hue as 

 sombre and deep, though perhaps of a more bluish tone ; 

 whilst in the few narrow rifts, especially immediately 

 below the sun, in the east and away between dips in the 

 hiUs to the north-west and south a bright amber light 

 appeared. It was as if a funeral paU with a golden fringe 

 had been laid upon the face of nature. 



The effect of the darkness upon men and animals was 

 the same, as has been so frequently noticed in other 

 eclipses wherein the sky has actually been clear. The 

 birds flew home straight and low and with shrill cries of 

 terror as the gloom deepened. The goats on the island 

 of \'adsi>, where the liritish .\stronomical Association were 

 encamped, whose restless curiosity had made them a sad 

 plague to the party during the previous week, hid them- 

 selves in the hollows of the rocks and lay down to rest, 

 and all conversation amongst the large crowd of onlookers 

 entirely ceased. Even a little baud of obstreperous 

 (iermans from the F.iUng .lail, who had made them- 

 selves offensive by their disorderly conduct before the 

 eclipse began, were awed into silence, and the most pro- 

 found stillness prevailed until the return of light. 



No stars were seen in any of the small breaks which 

 the clouds afforded. Indeed, these looked far too bright 

 for any such to have been seen. 



Nothing is more ditVicult than to give such a description 



