June 22, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



977 



more than five seconds after this the sun's 

 crescent reappeared. The duration of to- 

 tality as observed by Mr. Putnam was ap- 

 proximately 88 seconds. 



To visual observers the sky was notably 

 not a dark one. No second magnitude 

 stars were observed with the naked eye, 

 and most of the on-lookers saw only Mer- 

 cury conspicuouslj', though Venus was dis- 

 tinguished at a low altitude, and Capella also 



tinctly noticeable. No change in direction 

 of the wind was noticed. Shadow bands 

 were seen, but those who attempted to 

 measure their velocity found them too rapid 

 and flickering for any great exactness in 

 this determination. There was tolerable 

 unanimity among independent observers 

 as to their size and distance apart (about 

 5 inches) though some thought this less, as 

 totality approached. 



Fig. 1. General view of the corona. Taken with 6-inch lens of 7J feet focus. 82 seconds exposure. 



was seen. So high a degree of sky illumina- 

 tion cannot but have operated unfavorably 

 in the study of the outer corona or in the 

 search for intra-mercurial planets, and this 

 is to be remembered in connection with what 

 follows. 



BEFORE TOTALITY. 



A deepened color in the sky, a fall of 

 temperature and a rising breeze were dis- 



It was noticed that the birds grew silent 

 just before and during totality, but true to 

 their nature, the English sparrows were 

 last to be still and first to begin their dis- 

 cussion of the eclipse, after the return of 

 light. 



DURING TOTALITY. 



The attention of all visual observers was 

 at once caught by the equatorial streamers. 



