The solar Eclipse of April 17, 1912 405 



in a group, and they no doubt looked, for they were quite 

 silent. 



When the central phase was over and I had taken my 

 glass away from my eyes, they rushed up in a body and 

 surrounded me, and I asked them if the sun had become 

 quite dark or if there had been some light all the time. 

 Their opinion was divided. From this I concluded that the 

 sun had been at no time completely obscured, for this would 

 certainly have impressed them. 



As I was working alone it was useless to try to take the 

 times of contact. Moreover, the second and third contacts, 

 which are the most important, would happen so close to each 

 other that, if I attempted to time them, it would interfere 

 with my seeing what happened. I therefore devoted myself 

 entirely to following the eclipse and observing as well as 

 I could everything that took place. It was certain that 

 " Baily's beads " would be a feature of the eclipse, and I had 

 great curiosity to study them. 



The sky was cloudless and the sun very powerful. I had 

 with me an ordinary binocular of low power, which I hoped 

 to find useful when the short-lived central phase, whether 

 total or annular, arrived. In order to be able comfortably 

 to follow the eclipse from the beginning to the end, I had 

 the hand glass which pleased the school children. It was 

 a combination of three coloured glasses measuring 1 10 x 35 

 millimetres, so that the sun could be observed through it, 

 using both eyes, whether it was used alone or in con- 

 junction with the binocular. The effect produced by this 

 combination of colours was that the sun, viewed through 

 it, appeared of its natural hue. The density of the coloured 

 medium was such that nothing but the sun's direct rays 

 penetrated it, and the sky, in which the sun appeared to 

 be set, was quite black. 



I bought this glass of a hawker in the streets of 

 Barcelona on the eve of the total eclipse of August 30, 

 1905, and I found it very useful, although the interest of 

 that eclipse centred almost entirely in the total phase, which 

 lasted nearly four minutes, and during it reducing glasses 



