264 TEAR- BOOK OF FACTS. 



really requisite to produce an image. Indeed, had it been possible 

 for me to have known beforehand how intense the light of the pro- 

 minences really was, there would have been no difficulty in obtaining 

 the photographs in much less time ; and I do not doubt that four 

 might have been procured with an exposure of from twenty to thirty 

 seconds each. 



" When the sun was reduced to a small crescent, the shadows of all 

 objects were depicted with great sharpness and blackness, reminding 

 one of the effects of illumination by the electric light ; the sky at 

 this period assumed an indigo tint, and the landscape was tinged 

 with a bronze hue. At the moment of totality the darkness was not 

 so intense but that I could proceed with my drawings without the 

 aid of a lamp I had at hand in case of necessity. The light of the 

 corona was silvery white, very bright close to the sun, and to my 

 eye extending about y^ths of the moon's diameter beyond her limb. 

 The sky near the moon was of a deep indigo colour ; it passed through 

 a sepia tint into red, and a brilliant orange near the horizon. These 

 hues have been registered with great precision by M. Bonomi, who 

 had prepared himself by delineating the panorama several days pre- 

 vious to the eclipse. Mr. Joseph Beck, who had undertaken the 

 examination of the corona, has ascertained that its light gave strong 

 evidence of polarization. It is fair to assume from this observation 

 that the corona is due, to a great extent, to the illumination of an 

 atmosphere surrounding the sun. I did not attempt any exact 

 observation of the corona, but M. Oom, Professor Grant, and other 

 astronomers, have obtained good measurements of it. 



"M.Oom, who was stationed on the Alto d'Urbaneja, near Pobes, 

 found by accurate measurements made by a comet-seeker, in which 

 a glass micrometer plate was fixed, that the corona consisted of a 

 bright ring 2' wide, then a fainter ring 3' wide ; beyond this there 

 was a great number of small rays, whose mean distance from the 

 faint ring was 2' ; the whole three rings extending, therefore, 7' 

 beyond the moon's edge. Besides the three rings there were five 

 rays, remarkable for their great length. The first was situate at the 

 position angle (reckoned from north towards east) 30°, its length 

 being 9', the second, at 00", was 14' long. It consisted of a 

 beams, and had the appearance at the point of a star, as usually 

 drawn. The third beam was a very remarkable one ; it had some- 

 what the form of a sabre, the point bending over towards the east. 

 It extended 13' in a straight line from the position angle 15. r > . and 

 then, in a curved direct ion, 15' further J the point bending over to 

 position angle 13.T. The fourth ray reached 2s' from the moon'a 

 limb ; it being situate at position angle 227 • The iifth ray, situate 

 at 290" was JO' long. M. Oom saw the moon distinctly between 

 five and six minutes after the totality. I'.ailv's beadl w. re not seen." 



The Britiah Gover nm ent deapatohed the Himalaya iteam-ahip to 

 Santander, with aereral able aBtronomeca, men ofeeienoe, arte, &c, 

 who made their obeervatJona at Etlvabelloaa, a village near .Miranda 

 .hi Bbro, 



The station selected was a threshing-floor, situated in latitude 



