THE ISSUES OF THE LATE ECLIPSE. 
135 
it ; in other words, whether the coronal glow shines by its own 
or by reflected light. 
We will briefly review the results obtained by each of these 
methods. And, first, with regard to the eye-sketches. 
A fair number of these, all made, however, at the Spanish 
end of the shadow-path, have come under our notice, some by 
artists of pretension, others by draughtsmen of no pretension : 
and very different are the impressions which these various draw- 
ings convey. Clearly, the corona has made greatly varying images 
upon retinae of different eyes, or, what is perhaps more likely, 
the draughtsmen have considerably varied in their powers of 
conveying their impressions to paper.* Some drawings show 
a tolerably uniform circle of light, fading equably into the 
surrounding darkness. Such pictures admit of little inference 
being drawn from them. Others, on the contrary, exhibit 
definite points of structure, and where these are apparent in 
depictions of different observers, we can scarcely doubt the 
reality of their existence. The tendency of the corona to a 
roughly quadrangular contour is one feature thus certified ; 
the existence of a definite zone of bright light (which observers 
of previous eclipses have noted) is another ; and it has been 
suggested that this be named the leucosphere. But perhaps 
the most remarkable appearance is that of a V- s ^ a P e( i rift in 
the south-eastern part of the broad coronal haze ; and as this is 
exhibited in several of the drawings, there can be no doubt 
about its real existence in the corona itself. Another notable 
feature is presented in three drawings, made by an American 
observer in Spain, one at the beginning of totality, another in 
the middle, and a third near the end of totality. In the first 
of these we see the greatest width of coronal light on the ad- 
vancing side of the moon ; in the second an equal width all 
around the moon ; and in the third an excess on the following 
side of the moon ; the whole series suggesting that the moon 
acted like a moving shutter intercepting the back-light first 
* It is probable that much difference may arise from the mere materials 
of drawing and the fitness of these for the subject. To reproduce a hazy 
object like the corona, the worst thing to commence with is a sheet of white 
paper, even if it has a black disc printed upon it to represent the moon. 
Upon such a tablet great difficulty will arise in working the black sky with 
the requisite softness around the outer indefinite boundary of the hazy circle, 
especially if structural details have at the same time to be exhibited. It is 
in struggling against this difficulty with diverse materials — pencil, chalk, 
water-colour — that such strangely dissimilar effects are produced. The best 
basis for reproducing the corona rapidly and effectively would be a sheet of 
dark grey paper, with a black circle for the moon’s disc ; and the drawing 
material should be white chalk, which, upon the grey ground, will produce 
the desired effects at once with any degree of softness or decision. 
