246 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
the reef, ran in narrowing to a mere crack near the shore. Watching a favorable 
chance, the boats were guided through the surf into a cleft as far as shoal-water, 
when the men jumped on to the reef and carried baggage and instruments ashore 
as quickly as possible. The boats, which were new when they entered the surf,_ 
came out much the worse for wear, and the boat in which Dr. Hastings landed 
was stove in. Once on shore, life became a succession of wonders, rivaling the 
tales of GuUiver, and needing the conscientious descriptions of exact scientists to 
make them credible. 
The members of the observing party took up their abode in the larger of the 
three houses, sleeping in swinging cots slung from the verandas, which afforded 
shade on three sides of the building. The second house was occupied by the 
sailors, while the third was left to the natives. These latter were sufficiently con- 
versant with English to serve as excellent guides. Each day the party bathed in 
a lagoon in the centre of the island. This lagoon was bordered by a beach of 
dazzling white coral sand, and all through its water extended reefs of living coral 
of the more delicate and elaborate kinds. These corals gave the lake a wonder- 
ful variety of colors, forming a picture impossible to paint or describe, and with 
the least ripple from a passing breeze the whole scene changed to new groups of 
color. The water was very clear, and in some places deep; in others so filled 
with coral that a boat could barely skim over the surface without scraping the 
keel. After crossing a long reef, one day, they entered on a sheet of water so 
deep that their longest line would not reach the bottom, plainly visible beneath. 
Fish swarmed here, and it was characteristic of them that every species, if not 
brilliantly colored, was marked in the most peculiar manner. One variety which 
frequented the shallow water, where it was heated to the degree uncomfortable to 
the touch, was a pure milky white, with black eyes, fins and tail. 
The French party arrived two days after the Americans. They had steamed 
directly from Panama with the hope of anticipating the Americans. 
It rained on the morning of the eclipse, but cleared off in good time and the 
definition was particularly good. Photographs occupied the time of the English 
and French observers. Professor Holden and Dr. Dickson searched for inter- 
mercurial planets; Mr. Preston took the times of contact ; Dr. Hastings and Mr. 
Rockwell devoted their attention to spectroscopic observations of the corona. 
Dr. Hastings' observations have led to the production of a new theory of the 
corona. Briefly stated, the theory is that the light seen around the Sun during 
a total eclipse is not due to a material substance enveloping the Sun, but is a 
phenomenon of diffraction. 
From his observations during the eclipse of 1878, made at Central City, Dr. 
Hastings conceived the first idea of this explanation of the solar corona. Further 
study served to convince him of the truth of this theory, but he had no means of 
proving it. Before the present eclipse, however, he devised a crucial test of his 
theory. This test is based on the following already known phenomena. When: 
the moon covers the face of the Sun an envelope of light is seen all round it, the 
envelope is not visible when the Sun is shining on account of the Sun's greater. 
