Star anfr Meatbcr 



planet appeared as a " perfectly round dot of inky 

 blackness, while the nuclei of the group of spots were, 

 as at the solar eclipse, dark grey in comparison." 



The eclipse to which Mr. Parr alluded was that of 

 August 21st, 1914. It was observed from London 

 under ideal conditions. I saw the phenomenon at 

 various stages of its progress. My first view was from 

 Charing Cross, my next from near the Law Courts, 

 then from Ludgate Circus, and finally from opposite 

 the Mansion House. Mr. H. B. Adames, of Ilford, 

 Essex, noted that the effects of this eclipse upon the 

 general landscape were slight. The light at the time 

 of greatest phase resembled that of a mid-winter noon. 

 The reduction from this phase, at 12.14 p.m., was 

 announced by the crowing of a cock. Mr. Adames 

 took the temperature readings, which showed that the 

 diurnal upward rise in the thermometric curve was 

 arrested about half an hour after the first contact. 



In regard to Mercury, I may say that Mrs. Fiam- 

 metta Wilson, of Bexley Heath, observing the planet 

 with a 3J-in. refractor during the summer of 1914, had 

 occasion to note the obscuring effect of the prismatic 

 colours visible when the planet was near the horizon. 



