SCIENTIFIC SUMMAEY. 
309 
tinuing its course over the Bay of Bengal, the shadow will cross the S.E. 
part of Sumatra, and will touch the south-western coast of Java, where 
Batavia, the capital, will he nearly 60 miles N.E. of the central line ; and 
two other smaller towns, Chidamar and Nagara, will also he very near the 
middle of the shadow-path. In the Admiralty Gulf on the N.W. coast of 
Australia, the eclipsed Sun will he only ten degrees past the meridian, and 
not far from the zenith 5 in consequence of which the totality will last 
4m. 18s., or only 4 seconds less than the time of greatest duration. 
Lastly, passing through the most barren and uninhabitated portion of Aus- 
tralia, crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria and the York Peninsula, the shadow 
will ultimately leave the Earth’s surface in the Pacific Ocean.” “The 
general circumstances under which the eclipse will occur,” (Mr. Ragoona- 
thachary here refers to India) <e are singularly and unusually favourable, 
the greater portion of the shadow-path being easily accessible, by means of 
the railway and good public roads ; while a well-managed line of telegraph 
will afford facilities for that most incomparable means of fixing the longi- 
tude of the place of observation with regard to Madras. The favourite 
sanatorium of the Presidency, Ootacamund, will doubtless be selected by 
many persons as a convenient and familiar station from which to observe 
the eclipse, as also the hilly region of Wynaad, in the Malabar district, 
where numerous European gentlemen reside for the purpose of superintend- 
ing their coffee-plantations. The lofty peak of Dodabetta, the highest 
point of theNeilgherries, 8,640 feet above the sea-level, would, agreeably to 
the oft-repeated and enlightened view of Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, the 
Astronomer Boyal for Scotland, offer a grand opportunity for spectroscopic 
observations in an atmosphere of small density, and free from all the im- 
purities which abound at lower levels, but unfortunately haze and mist are 
very prevalent on the hill-ranges in the month of December. The weather 
is in general fine elsewhere about that time along the shadow-path, but more 
-especially so eastward of the Neilgherry hills than towards the Malabar 
•coast.” 
The Greenwich Observations of the last Solar Eclipse . — Among the most 
important researches carried out during the eclipse of last December must 
be ranked the observations made at Greenwich, for the purpose of deter- 
mining the error of Hansen’s lunar tables at the period of conjunction. 
The plan of operations was similar to that arranged for the eclipse of 1860. 
Clouds interfered with a portion of the work, but the rest was very ef- 
ficiently carried out. The observations were discussed (at the cost of no 
inconsiderable amount of labour) under the able superintendence of Mr. 
Dunkin. The following are the most important results : — 
The Sun’s tabular error was found to be — 
In R.A. = +0"-ll 
In N.P.D. = + 2" -2. 
The Moon’s tabular error was found to be — 
In R.A. =+0 / '-54 
In N.P.D. = +2"-54. 
The error ot the Moon’s tabular geocentric semi-diameter = 3 //# 48. 
YOL. X.— NO. XL. Y 
