Jan. 1 8, 1872] 



NA TURE 



219 



heard mentally, though not with my ears, as " on/y yi 

 seconds more "—the structure of the corona was simply 

 exquisite and strongly developed. I at once exclaimed, 

 "like Orion ! " Thousands of interlacing filaments vary- 

 ing in intensity were visible, in fact I saw an extension 

 of the prominence-structure in cooler material. This 

 died out somewhat suddenly some 5' or 6' from the sun, 

 I could not determine the height precisely, and then 

 there was nothing ; the rays so definite to the eye had, 

 I supposed, been drawn into nothingness by the power 

 of the telescope ; but the great fact was this, that close 

 to the sun, and even for 5' or 6' away from the sun, there 

 was nothing like a ray, or any trace of any radial structure 

 whatever to be seen. While these observations were 

 going on, the eclipse terminated for the others, but not for 

 me. For nearly three miimtes did the coronal structure 

 impress itself on my retina, until at last it faded away in 

 the rapidly increasing sunlight. I then returned to the 

 Savart, and saw exactly what I had seen during the eclipse, 

 the vertical lines were still visible ! 



Captain Maclear has promised to forward to you him- 

 self an account of his observations. I need only here 

 therefore refer to their extreme value, adding what I should 

 have stated before, that I saw the bright lines at the cusps, 

 as he was so good as to draw my attention to them. 1 

 am however not prepared to say that they were visible 

 through a large arc of retreating cusp. 



Dr. Thomson confined his observations to the polari- 

 scope, using the Savart. He states that his observations 

 were identical with my own. 



Mr. Davis's photographic tent was below the cavalier in 

 which our telescopes had been erected ; and immediately 

 after the observations I have recorded were over, I went 

 down to see what success had attended his efforts. I was 

 hailed when half-way there with the cheering intelligence 

 " five fine photographs," and so they are, those taken at the 

 beginning and end of the eclipse being wonderfully similar, 

 with, I fancy, slight changes here and there ; but on this 

 point I speak with all reserve until they have been ex- 

 amined more carefully than the time at our disposal has 

 permitted, and until they have been compared with those 

 taken at Ootacamund, Avenashi, and, I hope, at Jaffna and 

 Cape Sidmouth. 



This exhausts the principal work done by the Bekul 

 party, with the exception of the sketchers with General 

 Selby at their head, who have recorded most marked 

 changes in the form of the outer corona, and Mr. Webster, 

 who was so good as to photograph the eclipse from a fort 

 some eight miles away, with an ordinary camera, and 

 obtained capital results. 



Next a word about the Poodocottah, the other fortunate 

 Indian party. Prof. Respighi has promised to send his 

 results to you with this. About Mr. Holiday's labours 1 

 know nothing, except that he has obtained three sketches. 



Concerning the Ceylon parties I give you a verbatim 

 extract from the telegrams. From Jaffna : " Exceedingly 

 strong radial polarisation, 35' above the prominences ; 

 corona undoubtedly solar to that height, and very 

 probably to height of 50'." From Trincomalee Mr. 

 Moseley informs me that he carefully watched for 

 Young's bright line stratum, and did not see it, and that 

 1474 was observed higher than the other line. 



This is the sum total of the information which has at 



present reached me. It is clear there are discordances 

 as well as agreements, the former being undoubtedly as 

 valuable as the latter. It remains now to obtain par- 

 ticulars of all the observations of all the parties, before a 

 final account can be rendered of the eclipsed sun of 1871. 

 This, of course, will be a work of months ; but if all goes 

 well, I trust to obtain information shortly of the outlines 

 of the work done by the Indian observers and M. Janssen, 

 as I am now remaining in India for that purpose, and this 

 I will communicate to Nature by the earliest opportunity. 

 In the meantime I hope the good people at home will 

 think we have done our duty, and that all the members of 

 the Government Eclipse Expedition of 1S71 will soon be 

 safely with them to give an account of their work. 



J. Norman Lockyer 

 Ootacamund, Dec. 19, 187 1 



CAPTAIN MACLEAR'S OBSERVATIO2YS 



LONG before this, no doubt, you have heard of the 

 success of the expedition, but you must be anxious 

 to hear more of the details, and what the observations 

 really were. When I last wrote to you from Point de 

 Galle," the expedition had arrived there on November 

 27th in the Mir::aparc, and was about to proceed to the 

 different stations selected. The Ceylon sections left on 

 the 28th in the Colonial steamer Sercndib, placed at our 

 disposal by the Government. She was to leave Messrs. 

 Moseley and Ferguson at Trincomalee, and then proceed 

 to Jaffna, with Captain Fyers, R.E., Captain Tupman, 

 R.M.A. and Mr. Moseley. We have since heard of the 

 safe arrival of these gentlemen at their stations, and, by 

 telegraph, of their successful observations on December 

 I2th. 



The Indian parties left Galle on the 28th in H.M.S. 

 Glasi^oii.', flag-ship of Admiral Cockburn, who kindly 

 gave us his cabin accommodation. With a fair wind we 

 made sail, and arrived at Beypore on the night of the 

 1st December. The next morning we landed Signor 

 Respighi and Mr. Holiday to go by train to Poodocottah, 

 and then we left for Cannanore where Messrs. Abbay 

 and Friswell were disembarked to make their way across 

 country to their station at Manantoddy. They had a 

 troublesome and fatiguing journey to perform, with heavy 

 instruments, which however they safely accomplished in 

 three days, and we can only heartily regret that their 

 labours were not recompensed by fine weather on the 

 morning of the eclipse. At Cannanore we were fortunate 

 enough to enlist the services of General Selby, com- 

 manding the troops ; he came across to Bekul, and 

 rendered good aid in making some valuable sketches of 

 the corona during the eclipse. 



We left Cannanore on the 3rd, and with the strong tide 

 that sometimes runs up that coast, were only six hours in 

 reaching Bekul. We found that Mr. Mclvor, assistant 

 collector, and Mr. Pringle, engineer, had arrived that 

 morning from Mangalore, on the part of the Indian 

 Government, had prepared the travellers' bungalow for 

 our reception, and had clear^d the keep of an old 

 fort erected by Tippoo which would make a capital 

 obser\atory. The bay is open and shelving, but there 

 * See Nature, vol. v. p. 163, 



