THE ECLirSE EXPEDITIONS. 
49 
In the carefully observed eclipse of 1733, M. Edstrom, 
mathematical lecturer in the Academy of Charlestadt, noted 
“ that the ring appeared everywhere of equal breadth, save 
where it emitted rays from above as well as from below ; that 
these rays were equal in brilliancy, but unequal in length ; and 
that they 'plainly maintained the same position , until they 
vanished along with the ring upon the appearance of the sun's 
limb .” I take this account from Professor Grant’s admirable 
“ Physical History of Astronomy and the italics are his. The 
same eclipse afforded abundant evidence of the extreme deli- 
cacy of the light of these radiations, for “ at Lincopia,” says 
Grant, “ the ring appeared of a bright white colour, but it did 
not exhibit a radial aspect .” 
Bruhns, of Leipsic, -speaks thus of the appearance of a long 
radial beam seen during the eclipse of 1860 : “ On the eastern 
side a long ray shot out to a distance of about a degree ; at the 
base its breadth was three minutes, but it tapered down to 
about a minute and a half in breadth near its extremity. 
During the ten seconds that my attention was directed to it , 
neither the direction nor the length of the ray altered . Its 
light was fainter than that of the corona, which was brilliantly 
white and seemed to twinkle.” 
I have already remarked that all the observers of the 
American eclipse of last year, save Dr. G-ould alone, speak of 
the fixity of the beams. The following instances may be spe- 
cially cited. Professor Simon Newcombe says : 66 Looking 
directly at the corona, there was no actual appearance of stria- 
tion, but it seemed to be of a jagged outline, extending out 
into four sharp points nearly in the horizontal and vertical 
direction, while between these points the serrated edge hardly 
seemed to extend beyond the body of the moon. The greatest 
distance to which the extreme points seemed to extend did 
not exceed a semi-diameter of the moon, and there was nothing 
like long rays of light extending out in any direction whatever. 
When I turned my head the points did not seem to turn with 
it . Still I experienced a singular difficulty in judging accu- 
rately either of the number or direction of the jagged points, 
or of the extent to which they might be optical illusions pro- 
duced by the differences in the height and brilliancy of different 
parts of the corona. . . . Seen through a green glass, the 
corona consisted simply of four or five prominences, extending 
around the moon, smooth in their outline, shading off by im- 
perceptible gradations, and rising to different heights.” 
G-eneral Myer, by observing the eclipse from the summit 
of White Top Mountain, obtained a far better view of the 
radial beams than any of the observers at lower levels. “ As 
a centre,” he says, “ there stood the full and intensely black 
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