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NATURE 
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Mr. Hammond, of Trinity College, Dublin, observed at | 
San Antonio, and were kindly assisted by Lieutenant 
P. H. Worganand Mr. T. H. Atkinson, of H.M.S. Zee. 
Another correspondent, from Cadiz, writes to say that 
Lord Lindsay succeeded in taking several excellent photo- 
graphs from a vineyard belonging to Mr. Campbell, half 
way between Port St. Mary’s and San Lucar. 
The American party at Xeres saw the totality for about 
a minute. : 
From Gibraltar, Mr. R. M. Parsons sends the following 
report :— 
is The party that left England for the purpose of 
observing the Total Eclipse of the sun at Gibraltar— 
namely, Messrs. Carpmael, Gordon, Lewis, Buckingham, 
Beasley, Harrison, Anson, Abbatt, Talmage, and myself 
—disembarked from Her Majesty’s ship Urgent on the 
14th Dec., and all but the three last-mentioned proceeded 
to Estepona, a village in Spain, about thirty miles north- 
east from Gibraltar, and situated in the central line of 
totality. By this division of the party an additional chance 
was afforded of observing the phenomenon in case of bad 
weather, and Estepona offered the advantage of some 13° 
longer time of total obscuration than Gibraltar, a condition 
very desirable for the particular class of observations re- 
quired by some of the party. The weather at Gibraltar 
was wet and cloudy almost from the time we landed until 
the day before the Eclipse, when a strong breeze W. by N. | 
gave a beautifully clear sky, which lasted till about mid- 
night. Mr. Talmage, the director of the Leyton Obser- 
vatory, and I, determined to observe from the Moorish 
Castle if the atmospheric conditions of the 21st should 
hold good on the 22nd ; but I arranged to receive con- 
stant telegrams of the weather from Europa Point on the 
morning of the 22nd, and conveyance was provided to 
move the instruments at the latest practicable period, in 
case any other position afforded better chances of success. 
Mr. Talmage was to take angular measurements of | 
Saturn, if seen through the corona, Mr. Abbatt to sketch 
the corona, and I was to examine it with a polariscope. 
The westerly wind increased in force on the 22nd, but 
brought with it scud and dense clouds across the Bay from 
the Spanish mountains; everywhere these clouds were 
massed in the sky, separated by small intervals of hazy 
blue. The last telegram was received from Europa at a 
_ quarter-past eleven, forty minutes before commencement 
of totality, stating ‘sky quite overcast, heavy clouds 
moving south-east, sun harcily visible.’ This, together 
with the circumstance that the Rock did not appear to 
affect the clouds which were moving under the influence 
of a westerly wind, led me to conclude that the chances 
of good vision were equal at any position on the Rock, 
After waiting on the Line Wall for these telegrams, at 
which place I failed to observe the first contact, while Mr. 
Talmage failed in the same endeavour at the Moorish 
castle, I joined him there, leaving Mr. Abbatt with his 
telescope erected on the flat roof of a house about a 
quarter of a mile west of the castle. The cloud which 
caps the Rock of Gibraltar, the summit of which is 1,396ft. 
above the sea, during east winds, or Leyanters, leaves this 
comparatively low level clear. About 30° before the com- 
mencement of totality, a hazy blue break in the clouds 
enabled us to see the thin bright crescent of the sun, but 
unfortunately this patch of hazy blue sky, which favoured 
others for a few seconds, came a little too early in front 
of our position, and it was followed by a dense cloud, 
behind which the entire phenomenon of totality was 
hidden from us. The darkness was considerable, but not 
so great as when I observed the Total Eclipse of 1860, at 
Nisqually,in an unclouded sky. Then a lamp was neces- 
sary to enable a white-faced pocket chronometer to be 
read ; yesterday I could see the divisions distinctly at the 
distance of eight inches without such aid. Mr. Abbatt had 
the good fortuneto see the coronaand somered prominences, 
but only for about two seconds before they were lost in 

the same dense cloud ; he estimated the breadth of the 
corona at about a sixth part of the moon’s radius. Pro- 
fessor Newcomb, of the United States’ Expedition, was 
able to see all four contacts, and to take several measure- 
ments that were necessary for the work he has in hand ; 
he also caught a glimpse of the corona, but says he could 
make no use of it. 
“Mr. Lewis states that the party at Estepona only saw 
the total phase through a break in the clouds for about 10° 
or 158, when it was covered by light cloud. Mr, Bucking- 
ham, at Estepona, states that they had there heavy rain ; 
he could take no photographic pictures, but Mr. Carpmael 
had observed three bright lines in doubtful positions, and 
Mr. Lewis found the corona polarised; the rest of the 
party had negative results. Mr. Harrison, who was distant 
a mile from the others, did not see the total phase. Mr, 
Anson had not time at the moment to sketch what he saw, 
but probably may be able to do so from memory, and Mr. 
Fison, who had then joined the party, had no opportunity 
of obtaining satisfactory observations.” 
Mr. Abbatt reports :—‘‘In no part did the corona or 
the prominence extend beyond 1-8th or at most 1-6th of 
the moon’s radius beyond the limb. I thought the moon 
darker than the sky. I noticed four high red promi- 
nences—there were more, but when, for an instant, I took 
my eye off the telescope adense black cloud had obscured 
everything till the narrowest streak of the sun appeared 
on the western side, and nothing but the ordinary phe- 
nomenon of a partial eclipse was to be seen. The dark- 
ness during totality was not so great as I expected it would 
be. Two stars were seen, one near the sun and the other 
overhead, but I can get no further information as to their 
exact position.” 
Another observer writes as follows :—“ The eclipsed 
orb presented itself through a rent in the clouds not 
greater in area than ten times that of the disc of the 
moon’s shadow. That part of the opening which was 
above the eclipsed orb was clear like the sun at twilight, 
and in it were visible to the naked eye the planets Venus, 
Mercury, and half a dozen stars. The remaining part 
was covered with a thin haze. The moon’s shadow ap- 
peared to the eye, assisted by a somewhat weak binocular 
glass, to be a dark circular disc with an even boundary 
and of uniform shade. Within the corona, and touching 
the circumference of this shadow, appeared five or six spots 
of brilliant carmine, varying in form and size and at 
irregular distances apart. Two of these spots, or ‘red 
flames,’ as they are called, on the eastern side of the disc, 
and at about 55° and 80° respectively from the vertex, 
seemed decidedly the largest and most prominent ; they 
were tongue-shaped, and protruded about 1-6th the width 
of the corona. In their neighbourhood the corona was 
brightest and widest. There, too, the rays of the corona 
appeared to be gathered more distinctly into groups than 
elsewhere, faint shadows being visible between the groups, 
The corona consisted of brilliant rays of extremely faint 
prismatic hues ; these rays at first sight appeared pretty 
evenly distributed all round, but closer examination seemed 
to detect the fact of there being bundles of rays in nearly 
regular groups. The width of the corona was about 1-8th 
the apparent diameter of the moon’s shadow. It was very 
nearly concentric with the disc of the shadow ; its boundary 
was well defined, but ‘jagged ;’ the perimeter, except 
Opposite the two most prominent red flames above- 
mentioned, where the boundary slightly protruded, was 
circular.” 
From Seville, we have a report from M. E. A. De 
Cosson :— 
“The Eclipse began at 10.30 A.M. (Seville time). At 
10.45 one-sixth of the sun’s diameter was obscured ; at 
11.15 one-half; and at 12 the Eclipse was total. At 
12.10 it began to rain, and the sun was lost to sight until 
the conclusion of the eclipse, which occurred at 1.30 P.M. 
The eclipse was total for 70’ and the effect was 
ine cieinent ORE si — 
aps. | 
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