182 



THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1854. 



[1855. 



be intermediate to these, and muoli the greater portion of the 

 heavens would be tinted with green, as we often see, in a fine 

 sunset, the green commencing within 15° of the horizon. Weare 

 thus furnished with the clue to the various and even discordant 

 appearances cited above — the lurid red on the horizon, the 

 sombre purple of the zenith, the leaden skj, the green tint of 

 ■ the landscape, and the ghastly appearance of persons by means 

 of this green tint (rendered more striking by contrast when 

 pi'ojected against the " burning" horizon), and also the reddish 

 tinge of objects when seen by this same light from the horizon 

 reflected on them. 



In the suggestions published by the Institute, it was remarked 

 that we could not expect that "the effects described as produced 

 on the animal and vegetable creation by the entire deprivation 

 of the sun's light in a total eclipse will be at all noticeable in 

 the present case." This expectation has been to some degree 

 falsitied by the event. Dr. Smallwood records that at the time 

 of greatest obscuration "a melancholy stillness prevailed; 

 sounds seemed more perceptible ; frogs commenced their croak- 

 ing, and my own fowls retired to roost, and did not re-appear 

 that evening." At Prescott, some tame pigeons, which were 

 flying about the fort, retired to their cote some time before the 

 annularity commenced, and did not re-appear; a great number 

 of martins had been also flying about during the earlier part 

 of the eclipse, but during the annularity not one was visible ; 

 the various sounds of animated life we're all hushed during this 

 period, except the croaking of frogs, which went on with in- 

 creased vigor. 



In opposition to this, we find at Toronto that, at the greatest 

 obscuration and throughout the eclipse, " birds are singing 

 cheerfully on the trees and cows lowing," and yet the darkness 

 could hardly have been perceptibly less at Toronto than at 

 Montreal or Prescott.* 



It was suggested in the Instructions, that it should be no- 

 ticed whether a well-defined shadow of a cross or staff thrown 

 on a wall, be subject to any flickering motion, especially about 

 the edges, and whether any moving bands or patches of light 

 are seen to traverse the wall or ground. 



Neither of these phenomena was observed, "and probably for 

 the same reason, viz., that the diminution of light was not suf- 

 ficient to admit of their becoming so marked as not to escape 

 observation. These variations of light had been observed by 

 M. Arago when the sun was shining on a screen under ordinary 

 circumstances. He at once attributed the phenomena to the 

 changes going on in the different strata of the atmo- 

 sphere, by means of currents, variation of temperature, &c., 



* When this paper was read at the meeting of the Institute, Prof. 

 Croft made some remarks on this subject, which he has obligingly 

 communicated to us, as follows : — 



"Previous to the eclipse, I had carefully noticed the time .at which 

 the poultry in my yard went to roost ; and having observed it for ten 

 or twelve days, found that they all retired a few minutes before six, 

 or about that time, excepting some Shanghaes, which were always 

 active till seven, or even later. On the day of the eclipse, being busily 

 engaged making such observations on the obscuration as I could", 

 I forgot to look after the fowls, until about five or ten minutes after 

 four, when, on looking round for them, I discovered they had all gone 

 to roost. At this time, scarcely any difference was perceptible in the 

 light of the sky, and yet the fowls were all sensible of it, excepting 

 the Sbanghacs, who, however, also vanished about half-past four. 

 At half-past five, almost all of them were again running about the 

 yard. I fancied, but I will not state positively, that I noticed a great 

 diminution in the number of flies, which at that time of the day aregene- 

 ner.ally very plentiful. I beg also to confirm your statement with re- 

 gard to the ' ghastly appearance' produced ; this was particularly re- 

 marked by a number of ladies who were using my telescope." 



and also perceived that the appearance ought to be more 

 marked in proportion as a less amount of the sun's disc should 

 remain visible. He accordingly desired several observers to 

 direct their attention to a wall on which the sun was shining 

 during the progress of the eclipse, but without telling them 

 the result which ho expected. The testimony borne by these 

 persons was decisive ; they all describe the sun's light as be- 

 coming flickerinr/ just before the commencement of the total- 

 ity, and state that alternate bands of light and shade, in some 

 cases of various colours, seemed to run over the surface of the 

 wall ; these were in some instances so marked as to attract the 

 attention of children, who tried to run after and lay their 

 hands upon them. The same phenomena recurred at the end 

 of the totality, lasting, however, only a few seconds. It is, 

 therefore, quite possible that though the phenomenon in ques- 

 tion did exist during the eclipse of 1854, and in a greater degree 

 than during ordinary sunlight, yet the diminution of the visible 

 surface of the sun may not have been .sufficient to exaggerate 

 the appearance to such an extent as to make it remarkable to 

 an unpractised eye. The only peculiarity remarked by any of 

 the observers, with regard to shadows, was that it was noticed 

 at Kingston that when the annulus was formed, the double 

 shadows cast by the sun were very perceptible. 



It was, perhaps, scarcely to be expected that any trace of the 

 moon's shadow should be seen in the present instance. Its 

 appearance at the end of the totality of the eclipse of 1851 is 

 thus noticed by Mr. Airy. He says, after describing the re- 

 appearance of the sun, ''I withdrew from the telescope and 

 looked around ; the country seemed, though rapidly, yet half 

 unwillingly to be recovering its usual cheerfulness. My eye, 

 however, was caught by a duskiness in the S.E., and I imme- 

 diately perceived that it was the eclipse-shadow in the air, tra- 

 velling away in the direction of the shadow's path. For at 

 least six seconds this shadow remained in sight, far more con- 

 spicuous to the eye than I had anticipated." In the case of 

 the annular eclipse, it is to be presumed that the atmospheric 

 illumination was generally too great to admit of the shadow 

 being thus visible. 



Among the astronomical observations suggested in the In- 

 structions are the following : — 



I. The moon's limb appeared serrated at Toronto and at 

 Kingston. The observer at Toronto remarks that at All. Zbm., 

 when six digits were eclipsed, " the edge of the moon in pass- 

 ing over the sun's surface, appears jagged or serrated ;" and 

 again, at 5A. 38 m., "the edge of the moon on the sun's sur- 

 face very jagged, the sun's disc and cusps well defined." In 

 the report from Kingston we have the following, " The moon's 

 limb was remarked as slightly serrated in passing over the sun's 

 disc, the greatest amount of inequality being towards the ex- 

 tremity of the eastern limb. At Prescott, however, the limb, 

 as viewed through telescopes of considerably higher power, ap- 

 peared remarkably free from all irregularities. This appear- 

 ance of a serrated edge is caused by the existence of large 

 mountains on that part of the moon's surface, which forms the 

 boundary of the hemisphere visible from the earth. We have 

 other indications sufficiently decisive of the existence of such 

 mountains on the lunar surface. For instance, were the moon's 

 surface perfectly smooth, the line which divides the bright and 

 dark portions of the disc, when partially illuminated by the 

 sun, would be even and sharp ; whereas it is perceptibly jagged, 

 even to the naked eye ; the mountains in the neighbourhood 

 of the dividing line having the sun nearly in their horizon, and 

 therefore throwing very large shadows ; and, on the other 

 hand, bright spots are often to be seen on the dark side of the 



