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IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Figure 6. Equipment for reviewing the total solar eclipse of May 28, 1900. 



Fortunately for American astronomers the eclipse of 

 May 28, 1900, was visible in easily accessible places in our 

 southern states, and the meteorological conditions were all 

 that could be desired, hence the array of telescopes, cameras 

 and other instruments directed upward in an endeavor to 

 unravel old Sol's secrets was probably the finest and most 

 expensive ever erected along the shadow track of a solar 

 eclipse. The total phase of this eclipse began at sunrise in 

 the Pacific ocean west of Mexico and extended in a narrow 

 track, averaging about fifty miles in width, across portions 

 of the southern and southeastern states, leaving our shores 

 near Norfolk, Va., and crossing the Atlantic ocean to Por- 

 tugal and Spain and ending in southeast Egypt. The only 

 drawback amid all the favoring conditions was the brevity 

 of totality, which within the United States did not exceed 

 100 seconds, and at Wadesboro was about 90 seconds. 



About a year previously I had fully determined to wit- 

 ness this, my first total eclipse, if possible. My original in- 

 tention was to occupy a location in the state of Georgia, as 



