SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



i7 



The Total Eclipse 0/ May, 1900. Edited by E. 

 Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S. xii + 230 pp., 9f in. 

 6f in., 17 plates and numerous photographs and 

 diagrams. (London: " Knowledge " Office. 1901.) 

 7s. 6d. 



The splendid weather at all the stations occupied 

 by observers of the solar eclipse of May, 1900, 

 notwithstanding the short time of totality, tended 

 to make the records of this among the most in- 

 teresting yet issued. In the volume before us, 

 forming the report of the expeditions organised by 

 the British Astronomical Association, are to be 

 found contributions from Wadesborough, North 

 Carolina; Colonel E. E. Markwick at sea; Ovar, 



1883, May 6th ; and 1893, April 16th. After the 

 maximum is past the corona assumes the form 

 illustrated 1871, December 12th; 1886, August 

 29th ; and 1896, August 9th. The long equatorial 

 extensions at the time of the minimum are aptly 

 displayed 1867, August 20th; 1878, July 29th; 

 1889, January 1st; "and 1900, May 28th; whilst 

 the period following the minimum is shown by the 

 corona of 1869, August 7th, and January Uth, 

 1880. Several of the observers at the different 

 stations drew the whole or portions of the corona. 

 At Cape Matifou no fewer than eight ladies and four 

 gentlemen were engaged in each drawing a quad- 

 rant. The Moon's image in every case was the size of 



At Maximum. 



After Maximum. At Minimum. 



FORJIS OF COROXAE AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS. 



From " Report on Total Eclipse of 1900." 



After Minimum. 



Portugal ; Talavera and Plasencia, Mid-Spain ; 

 Manzanares ; Elche ; and Algiers. Everywhere 

 the time of totality was found to be rather less 

 than was expected. The corona observed was 

 found to agree almost exactly with the form pre- 

 dicted by M. Hansky after his successful expedi- 

 tion to Novaya Zemlaia in 1896, an account 

 of which appeared in Science-Gossip, vol. III. 

 pp. 319-322. M. Hansky's diagram is reproduced 

 by the favour of the publishers, and shows the 

 predicted appearance of the corona at the bottom 

 of the third column, in which appears four types 

 of corona at the time of a minimum of sun-spots. 

 The corona as seen at the maximum period is 

 shown: 1860, July 18th; 1870, December 22nd; 



a half-crown. After the drawings were handed in, a 

 resultant tracing was prepared from the whole, and 

 that agrees very fairly with the best photographic 

 results. The position of Mercury a little to the west 

 of the Sun's northern point, 73 lunar radii distant 

 from the Moon's centre, was a splendid help in 

 comparing the drawings. Dark markings appear 

 in some of the corona photographs, which are 

 somewhat puzzling in the present state of our 

 knowledge. Some observers set themselves to 

 study the corona by the aid of good telescopes. 

 Mr. W. H. Wesley being allowed to employ the 8-in. 

 equatorial coucle, or elbow telescope, of the Algiers 

 Observatory — undoubtedly the most powerful in- 

 strument ever employed for the purpose. The net 



