1870.] The approaching Total Solar Eclipse. ^11 



This tabular summary shows : — 



1st. That the quarters arrange themselves in an entirely dif- 

 ferent order under the different heads, with the single exception of 

 the second being the quarter of greatest average rainfall and also 

 of greatest average wet-day rate of rain. 



2nd. That the least average rainfall was in the quarter imme- 

 diately preceding the new moon, instead of being, as Sir J. Herschel 

 supposes, about the full moon. 



3rd. That the maximum number of wet days was in the third 

 quarter, and the minimum in the first; thus differing in every 

 particular from the results stated by M. Arago to have been 

 obtained in Germany and Paris, on the one hand, and in the south 

 of France on the other, which, as we have seen, differed from one 

 another. 



This discussion may be appropriately closed, perhaps, by echoing 

 Arago's remark, that "the question requires to be examined 

 afresh." 



V. THE APPEOACHING TOTAL SOLAE ECLIPSE. 



By E. A Peoctor, F.E.A.S., &c. 



The eclipse of next December is less remarkable in many important 

 respects than the two total solar eclipses now commonly known as 

 the Indian and American eclipses of 1868 and 1869. The former 

 of these was distinguished among all the eclipses of recent times by 

 the exceptional extent to which the lunar disc overlapped, during 

 central totality, the concealed disc of the sun. For more than six 

 minutes at some stations no direct solar light was visible. The 

 eclipse of last year was not distinguished in this particular way, 

 though the duration of totality — at some stations exceeding four 

 minutes — was far from inconsiderable. What rendered the Ameri- 

 can eclipse so extremely important, even more important than the 

 Indian one, was the fact that a large proportion of the track of 

 the moon's shadow lay across a region dotted over with well-armed 

 observatories. It is probable that on no previous occasion has so 

 large an array of practised observers been employed in scrutinizing 

 the phenomena of a total eclipse ; and it is absolutely certain that 

 so many appliances had never before been employed to render the 

 researches of the observers effective. 



In both respects the approaching eclipse is less important. The 

 greatest duration of total obscuration will be but 2 m. lis.; and 

 the track of the moon's shadow only skirts the region within which 

 the principal European observatories are situated. In fact, the only 

 parts of Europe traversed by the shadow are the southern provinces 

 of Spain and Portugal, Sicily, the southern extremity of Italy, and 



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