57» 



^SCIENQ 



[Vol. IV., No. 99. 



ECLIPSES, 1885. 



In the year 1885 there will be four eclipses, — two 

 of the sun, and two of the moon. 



I. An annular eclipse of the sun, March 16; 

 visible in North America generally as a partial 

 eclipse, — being annular within a belt 35 miles 

 wide, drawn through Weaverville and Fort Bidwell, 

 Cal. ; Idaho and Boise Cities, Idaho ; Bannack City 

 and Gallatin, Montana ; Hudson Bay and Green- 

 land, — occurring as follows : — 



Standard time: 



Bangor, Me. . . . 



Boston, Mass. . . . 



New York, N.Y. . . 



Philadelphia, Penn. . 



Buffalo, N.Y. . . . 



Pittsburg, Penn. . . 



Cincinnati, O. . , . 



Chicago, 111. . . . 

 Nashville, Tenn. . 



St. Louis, Mo*. . . 



Omaha, Neb. . . . 



Baltimore, Md. . . 

 Washington, D.C. 



Charleston, S.C. . . 



Savannah, Ga. . . . 



Jacksonville, Fla. . . 



Raleigh, N.C. . . . 



Mobile, Ala. . . . 



New Orleans, La. . 



Memphis, Tenn. . . 



Galveston, Tex. . . 



St. Paul, Minn. . . 



Denver, Col. . . . 

 Salt Lake City, Utah 



Santa Fe, N. Mex. . 



San Francisco, Cal. . 



Portland, Ore. . . . 



Boise City, Idaho . . 



Bannack, Montana . 



Weaverville, Cal. . . 



Fort Bidwell, Cal. . 



Begins. 



M. 



23 A. 

 20 A. 

 13 A. 

 10 A. 



2 A. 

 M. 

 M. 

 M. 

 M. 

 M. 

 M. 

 A. 

 A. 

 M. 

 M. 

 M. 

 A. 



33 M. 

 28 M. 

 33 M. 

 15 M. 

 38 M. 

 10 M. 



3 M. 

 3 M. 



48 M. 



2 M. 



3 M. 

 8 M. 



52 M. 

 57 M. 



Ends. 



30 A. 

 A. 



A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 

 A. 



52 M. 



53 M. 

 30 M. 

 41 M. 

 49 M. 

 57 M. 

 33 M. 

 39 M. 



25 



Annular. 



10 23 M. 



to 30 M. 



9 8 M. 



9 14 M. 



Duration of annulus, from \ to \ of a minute. 



II. A partial eclipse of the moon, March 30; 

 invisible in America; visible in Asia, Australia, 

 eastern portions of Europe and Africa, and the 

 western Pacific Ocean. 



III. A total eclipse of the sun, Sept. 8; invisi- 

 ble in North America; visible chiefly in the South 

 Pacific Ocean. 



IV. A partial eclipse of the moon, Sept. 23, 24; 

 visible in North and South America and the At- 

 lantic and Pacific Oceans, happening as follows : — 



* Standard time: 



Moon enters penum- 

 bra 



Moon enters shadow 

 Middle of the eclipse 

 Moon leaves shadow 

 Moon leaves penum- 

 bra 



Eastern. 



Central. 



Mountain. 



d. n. m. 



D. H. M. 



D. H. M. 



24 M. 



23 11 A. 



23 10 A. 



24 1 14 M. 

 24 2 48 M. 

 24 4 22 M. 



24 14 M. 

 24 1 48 M. 

 24 3 22 M. 



23 11 14 A. 



24 48 M. 

 24 2 22 M. 



24 5 36 M. 



24 4 36 M. 



24 3 36 M. 



Pacific. 



23 9 o A. 

 23 10 14 A. 



23 11 48 A. 



24 1 22 M. 



24 



;6M. 





SYMBOLS 





• 



. The Sun. 



d 



. . Mars. 



a . 



. The Moon. 



% 



. . Jupiter. 



$ . 



. Mercury. 



h 



. . Saturn. 



9 • 



. Venus. 



3 



. . Uranus. 



e . 



. The Earth. 



tp 



. . Neptune. 



<=* . 



. Moon runs high. 





<=7 . 



. Moon runs low. 





6 • 



. Conjunction, or having 

 or right ascension. 



the same longitude 



n . 



. Quadrature, or differing 

 right ascension. 



90 in longitude or 



8 ■ 



. Opposition, or differing 

 or right ascension. 



180 in longitude 



Q . 



. Ascending node. 





13 • 



. Descending node. 





S . 



. Appended to the stars, 

 the meridian. 



' souths,' or crosses 



T • 



. Aries. 



-= 



. . Libra. 



8 • 



. Taurus. 



»n 



. . Scorpio. 



□ . 



. . Gemini. 



t 



. . Sagittarius. 



23 . 



. . Cancer. 



Vp 



. . Capricornus. 



a • 



. . Leo. 



^ 



. . Aquarius. 



irp • 



. . Virgo. 



X 



. . Pisces. 



Magnitude of eclipse — 0.79 (moon's diameter = 1). 



SUN-TIME AND CLOCK-TIME. 



One very often hears some friend say, when ex- 

 tolling the merits of his watch, that he sets the 

 sun by it. It is doubtless supposed by many that 

 the sun is most regular in its habits, and crosses 

 the meridian exactly at noon ; and it was with a 

 feeling of regret at parting company with a so- 

 supposed faithful time-keeper, that many set their 

 watches to standard time on the 19th of Novem- 

 ber, 1883. If the orbit of the earth were perfectly 

 circular, and the sun revolved around an axis per- 

 pendicular to the plane of the orbit, then the sun 

 would have the reliable character with which it is 

 now credited; but, unfortunately, the orbit is not 

 circular, and the earth revolves about an axis in- 

 clined to the plane of the orbit, so that the appar- 

 ent motion of the sun varies in rate from time to 

 time through the year. And as it is convenient for 

 us to have our days of equal length, the mean time 

 to which we set our clocks differs from solar time 

 by as much as fifteen minutes on the 10th of Feb- 

 ruary, and fully sixteen minutes on the 27th of 

 October. The relation between mean time (the 

 time we use on our clocks and watches) and solar 

 or apparent time (that of the sun-dial) is readily 



