Iloie on l|e Sotal (^tligse of tjo Poon, 
4 OCTOBER, 1884. 
By GEORGE F. BORDER, IVI.D. 
TOTAL eclipse of the moon, although less attractive to 
-lX astronomers than a total eclipse of the sun, is not 
without features of interest, and the recent eclipse was rendered 
especially remarkable by the occurrence of a circumstance, which, 
although noted by old observers, had perhaps not been previously 
witnessed by any one now living. I refer to the almost total 
extinction of our satellite as an object visible to the naked eye. 
As a rule, under favourable circumstances of weather and 
altitude, the moon remains a striking object in the sky even in 
the middle of total eclipse, appearing of a dull red or coppery 
hue. Ihus, to cite two examples only, I find recorded in my 
notes of the total eclipse of 27 February, 1877, that “ through- 
out the total phase the moon was quite a conspicuous object, 
shining with a dull red light ” ; and, again, of the total eclipse 
of 23 August in the same year, I wrote that “ the moon, 
even in the middle of the total phase, was a conspicuous object 
in the sky, and the ruddy colour was well marked.” 
In the late eclipse the weather and other circumstances were 
singularly favourable for observation ; yet for some time before 
and after the middle of totality nothing was visible of the moon 
beyond a faint dingy -brown nebulous spot, to which it was 
impossible to assign any definite form or dimensions. From the 
window of a room in which lights were burning it could not be 
