OF THE SUN OBSERVED AT CAROLINE ISLAND, 1883. 
133 
By Thursday evening, the 3rd of May, we were nearly ready for trial plates, which 
we hoped to take the following day; bat it turned wet, and before noon on Friday 
over five inches of rain had fallen, and our dark room was destroyed, all the dye being 
washed out of our ruby curtain and window. 
The early part of the week was taken up in arranging the various spectroscopes, 
which took up a good deal of time, and in rating the clockwork slide and equatorial 
and photoheliograph clocks. 
At last the latter went fairly well, but that of the equatorial could not be made to 
go fast enough, so that recourse had to be made to the fine motions. 
On the day previous to the eclipse the weather was very unsettled, and the 
rehearsals and final adjustments occupied so much time that we were unable to take 
trial plates. 
The photoheliograph stand vibrated so badly that to steady it two cords were 
attached to the end of the polar axis and fastened to stakes driven in the ground. 
The weather on the 6th was very unsettled till about 9 o’clock, when the sky 
commenced to clear and the instruments were uncovered ; by 10 o’clock the sky was 
moderately clear. After first contact the lenses were dusted, slits cleaned, and the 
adjustments inspected. Forty minutes before totality the plateholders which had 
been filled during the night were served out. 
The following are the reports of each observer of the work done during totality;—■ 
Mr. H. A. Lawrance’s Rejrort of work done during the Eclipse. 
About 40 minutes before totality Mr. Woods gave me the plateholders, which 
I put into the cameras, and examined the screens to see that the three instruments 
were in good adjustment, then I moved the slides ready for exposure and wound the 
clock. The slits of the spectroscopes were parallel and nearly tangential to the point 
Oi disappearance. 
I commenced to expose 10 minutes before totality, and followed the time table, 
with the exception that 100 seconds after totality I shifted to the other side of the 
sun and made a new exposure on each plate; after totality, by mistake, I shifted the 
grating plates at 3 instead of 5 minutes. I took reference spectra 25 minutes after 
totality. 
The corona, examined through the finder, was full of delicate detail near the limb, 
especially upon the preceding one. 
With a pocket spectroscope, with lens in front of the slit, I only saw the green line 
1474; and, taking off the slit and examining with the prism at mid-totality, I saw 
the 1474 ring very brilliant, while C and Dg were faint, with a lot of continuous 
spectrum. F I could not see, although I looked for it. 
H. A. La-Wrance. 
