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_ X 



Astronomy. ' ' 135 



in Oregon, at the entrance of the Straits of Fuca, where Ihe Sun at 

 4^56^", A.M., or twenty-four minutes after it rises, will be about five- 

 sixths (10° 3') obscured on the north side. At San Francisco the 

 greatest obscuration will take place before ihe Sun rises, but as the end 

 of the eclipse may be seen, it is hoped it will be carefully observed 

 not only there, but at every place in California and Oregon, where are 

 suiiable instruments, as a long time will elapse before anoiher as favor- 

 able an opportunity offers, for the determination of the longitude. 



Indeed, a total eclipse of the Sun at any particular place so seldom 



occurs, that but a small part of those inhabitants of the earth who 



\ remain stationary, ever have an opportunity of beholding this, the most 



sublime of all phenomena. In April, 1715, the Sun was entirely hid- 

 den by the Moon at London, and again in May, 1724, at Paris, but in 

 the course of the long interval between those years and 1901, and 

 perhaps much longer, the shadow of the Moon has not again passed, 

 and will not, over either of those cities. The only total eclipse that 

 has happened in Boston, since its settlement in 1630, as is believed, 

 ^vas that which took place under such very favorable circumstances, on 

 June 16ih, 1806, and by the list of eclipses from 1824 to 1901, origin- 

 ally published in the Columbian Sentinel, and afterwards In an abridged 

 form in the American Almanac for 1831, it appears that there will not 

 be any other, certainly within the present century; moreover, it is 

 very probable, that there are many places in this country, at which 

 ^ there has not been, since their settlement by Europeans, even one. 



It also appears, by the list above referred to, that in the course of 

 tbe seventy-five years between 1826 and 1901, the shadow of the 

 Moon passes but three times over any part of our widely extended 

 Atlantic coast, viz. on November 30ih, 1834, over a small part of 

 Georgia and South Carolina; on August 7th, 1869, of North Carolina 

 and Virginia, and on May 28th, 1900, over part of Virginia, Annular 

 ^clipses, It is true, occur more frequently, as those of April, 1791, and 

 February, 1831, were, and those of May 26ih, 1854, and September 

 29ih, 1875, will be, visible in Massachusetts, or four in about a century 



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ana a quarter; but these eclipses, although beautiful, have little of the 

 sublimity that attends a total obscuration. 



fiare therefore, as is, in general, the occurrence of a central eclipse 

 at any particular place, it occasionally happens, that some places are, 

 in this respect, especially favored. Thus, the eclipse of July 8th, 1842 

 XT' ^"^ '*'^' ^^ ^^^ present year will be, central in Poland in lat. 50' 

 J 3o'-7 N. long. 27° 5'-5 East, so that the inhabitants of that spot will 



have an opportunity of beholding two total eclipses of the Sun in the 

 course of nine years. In this country the central path of February 

 12th, 1831, was crossed in Alabama by that of November 30th, 1834, 

 and in Virginia by that of September 18lh, 1838, and in 1853 the two 

 eclipses of June 6th and November 30ih, will both be -»"»-' - *^-' 



Pacific Ocean in long, about 125° West, lat. 2° South r 



^^er, but exceptions to the general rule, and the places thus favored 



^'■^"^^'■'y points on the surface of the Earth. 



^he width of the shadow of the Moon on the 28th of July ne.xt, will 

 ^ary as usual whilst passing over the Earth, but in Greenland, Norway, 



central in the 

 these are, how- 



