Nov., 1890.J ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 247 



of Charleston, with a telescope presented to the College, many years ago, by 

 William Lucas, Esq. This telescope is a refractor by Troughton and Simms, 

 5 feet focal length, 3| inches aperture, eye-pieces used magnifying 70 and 120 

 diameters. I so placed my telescope, that the apex of the north gable, of the 

 Library building, 23 yards distant, screened its object glass from the rays of 

 the Sun, and the planet was easily found, and distinctly seen, above the roof 

 of the Library, least distance of nearest Umbs about 22'. To my surprise, even 

 astonishment, I saw not merely two cusps prolonged, but the whole circumfer- 

 ence completely enlightened, the disc of the planet, surrounded by a ring of 

 light, broadest on side nearest to the Sun, narrower but quite bright, on the 

 opposite side. To have additional testimony to this fact, 1 immediately called 

 to witness it Messrs. E. T. Frost and "VV. St. J. Jervey, two students in my as- 

 tronomical class ; they at once recognized the illuminated circumference, and 

 said that it resembled in form, the annular eclipse of the Sun in Oct., 1865, 

 which they had seen in this City, in the preceding year. As said above, T was at 

 this time unacquainted with Madler's observations and formulae, and not hav- 

 ing seen any intimation of the possibilitj' of such a phenomenon, it took me 

 wholly by sui'prise. 1 continued to watch the planet, from 9 to 11 a. m. when 

 the Library building ceased to be available as a screen. This interval includes 

 the instant of nearest approach of centres, which occurred about 9 hrs. 30 min. 

 A. M. Charleston mean time. 



As far as I can learn, the only other persons who saw the phenomenon at 

 that time, were Prof. C. S. Lyman, of New Haven, Conn. , and a few of his 

 friends. In his equatorial of 9 inch aperture, he saw the annulus or ring, on 

 the 10th, completely formed, but the line of light on the side farthest from 

 the Sun, was slender, faint, and only seen by glimpses. He saw it again on 

 the 12th, but did not attempt to observe it on the 11th, the day of conjunc- 

 tion, when I saw it as a brilliant ring of light. He doubtless would have suc- 

 ceeded perfectly, if he had abandoned the equatorial, which could not be 

 screened, and used a more portable telescope, with some building as a screen. 



In 1874 I watched the planet at intervals, from the 30th of Nov. to 12th of 

 Dec, the transit taldng place on the night of the 8th and 9th, Charleston civil 

 time. On the 2nd of Dec. I saw, for the first time during this interval, the 

 distinct prolongation of the cusps ; and watched their increase from day to day 

 until the 8th, making eye-estimates of the number of degrees in the enlight- 

 ened portion of the circumference, as I had not ef&cient means for making 

 micrometer observations. On the 8th and the 9th, I fully expected again to 

 see the annular phase, but failed entirely to find the planet on both days ; 

 there were no clouds, at least not sufficient to entirely prevent observations, 

 but there was a dense haze, and the region near the Sun was strongly illumi- 

 nated. 



At this transit, Mr. Lyman was more successful than myself, making good 

 micrometer observations of the enlightened portion of the circumference, and 

 seeing distinctly the illuminated ring on the 8th, the day before the transit. 



