806 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 360. 



cloudy throughout the eclipse, but was a 

 trifle clearer than at the beginning of to- 

 tality, so that the ' coronium ' line was 

 very well seen. The second 'flash' appeared 

 stronger than we would have thought pos- 

 sible through the clouds. The reappearance 

 of the sun was welcomed by a shout from 

 the Malays assembled in the valley. 



On the spectrographs taken during to- 

 tality nothing of the coronal spectrum was 

 visible. The hydrogen lines H and K ap- 

 peared, but these were due to the upper 

 chromosphere. Although an exposure was 

 made about the time of the first flash, noth- 

 ing was found of this on the photographic 

 plate. The second flash, however, showed 

 more than was expected, and gave results 

 fairly well developed. The photographs of 

 the corona showed an extent of about a 

 diameter, but with very few details of 

 streamers. 



At Solok the weather was even worse 

 than at Sawah Loento ; so dense were the 

 clouds, in fact, that the position of the 

 sun could hardly be seen. Mercury and 

 Venus, which were visible at Sawah Loento 

 throughout totality, were seen only for a 

 few seconds at Solok. So cloudy was it 

 that Professor Abbot did not even attempt 

 anything with his bolometer. With the 

 exception of this, all other programs were 

 carried out as if it had been clear. The 

 results, however, were almost nil. Where 

 Professor Barnard had hoped for marvel- 

 ous results of detail on his large 40x40 

 plate, hardly a trace -of even a prominence 

 was seen. 



One hour after the eclipse was all over, 

 the clouds cleared away, and a beautiful 

 blue sky remained for the rest of the day. 

 Alas ! that the eclipse did not occur at one 

 o'clock instead of at twelve. 



A few hours after the work was over at 

 Solok, word came to the despondent people 

 there, that at JFort de Koch the weather 

 had been perfect and that the program had 



been carried out without a hitch. This 

 was good news indeed. Several excellent 

 spectrographs were obtained with the con- 

 cave grating ; the photographs taken with 

 the 40-ft. showed splendid detail in the 

 polar and equatorial streamers. Thus it 

 happened that one party of the American 

 expedition met with perfect success, one 

 with partial success, but the third with no 

 results at all to show for the hard work and 

 time spent. 



The other observers in Sumatra fared 

 about as well as did the Naval Observatory 

 party, the clouds being general over the 

 region covered by the scientists. ISTo where 

 else were they as dense as at Solok, but at 

 no place where an astronomical expedition 

 was located were perfect weather condi- 

 tions experienced except at Fort de Koch. 



To meet such a perplexing state of afiairs 

 is rather disappointing after traveling half 

 way around the world in search of scientific 

 knowledge, but it is to be expected when 

 the object of investigation is the sun. The 

 conditions were not so bad as at the eclipse 

 of 1896, when no sun at all was seen, but, 

 coming so soon after the 1900 eclipse which 

 was so generall}^ observed in this country, 

 and with such perfectly blue and tranquil 

 skies, the contrast was anything but pleas- 

 ant. 



At Sawah Loento, totality lasted 5 min, 

 41 sec. The chromosphere and promi- 

 nences at mid-totality would, it would have 

 been thought, have been so thoroughly 

 covered up that the atmosphere would not 

 have been lit up to any great extent, and 

 consequently it would be very dark during 

 totality. This was expected, and to pre- 

 pare for it lanterns were got ready to aid 

 the time-keepers and observers to see. But 

 the expected did not happen, and at no 

 time during totality was it too dark to see 

 the hands of an ordinary watch. In fact, 

 it was hardly any darker than at the eclipse 

 of last year, which the writer saw from 



