376 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



was ratter conflicting, but there seemed a pretty general agreement 

 that even if the sun should be shining at the time of the eclipse the 

 sky was likely to be hazy. This would much interfere with good 

 observations, especially as regards the corona ; and as the expense of 

 the expedition to Benguela would be considerable, and the success 

 very doubtful, we thought it better to give up that part of the project 

 and confine ourselves to Grenada. Being anxious to trench as little 

 as possible on the national expenditure, and finding that a little more 

 could be taken from the Government Grant than we had expected, we 

 wrote to the Treasury reducing our application to 500 L, which with 

 assistance from the Admiralty in the shape of the use of a ship-of- 

 war on the West Indian station, and supplemented by some money 

 from the Government Grant and from our own Donation Fund, misrht 

 enable us to meet the expenditure. 



The result was that a sum not exceeding 500Z., to supplement what 

 could be spared from the Government Grant, was granted, and the 

 expedition, as the Fellows are aware, has sailed and returned. It was 

 fairly successful, the observations having been prevented by clouds at 

 only one of the stations occupied. 



There has not yet been time to discuss the observations in full, but 

 two points already appear to have come out pretty clearly. One is 

 that the brightness of the corona, which on this occasion was actually 

 measured, was much less than had been expected., and less apparently 

 than it had been on former occasions. This seems to show that the 

 brightness is liable to great changes when we compare different years, 

 as we know is the case with the form. The other point touches on 

 the question of the possibility of photographing the corona inde- 

 pendently of an eclipse. If the photographic brightness of the corona 

 be not overpowered by that of the atmospheric glare immediately 

 around the sun when there is no eclipse, then when the sun is 

 partially eclipsed we might expect to be able to trace the outline of 

 the limb of the moon for some way outside the sun, since the moon 

 would be projected on the background of the corona. The experi- 

 ment was tried both by Captain Darwin at Grenada, and by Dr. Gill 

 at the Cape, but in neither case was the limb traceable outside the 

 sun. This throws doubt on, but does not disprove, the validity of the 

 method proposed by Dr. Huggins ; for he himself has never obtained 

 photographic appearances apparently referable to the corona since 

 the Krakatoa eruption. It may be that the finely suspended par- 

 ticles, whether connected with the Krakatoa eruption or not, which 

 produced those gorgeous sunsets that were so remarkable, have not 

 yet wholly subsided, and cause a considerably increased atmospheric 

 glare. It may be that the corona has actually been much less bright 

 than usual for the last few years. 



The present year has been signalised by that remarkable volcanic 



