ON THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF AUGUST 29, 188G. 
293 
divided into four groups, and, with the aid of the above-mentioned ruen-of-war, they 
soon found themselves distributed amongst their various stations. Mr. Maunder, 
who accompanied the Rev. S. J. Perry, was conveyed in the “ Bullfrog” to Carriacou 
Island, where a station was selected near the southern extremity of the island, close 
to a small house called “ the Hermitage,” belonging to Mr. Peter Drummond, a 
gentleman of Jersey, who happened most fortunately to be visiting Carriacou at the 
time, and who, in the most generous manner, gave up the use of his premises to the 
observers. Mr. Schuster and Captain Darwin were dropped at Prickly Point by 
the “Fantome,” and there they found excellent quarters in a house which Mr. F. M. 
Chadwick, the Colonial Treasurer, kindly placed at their disposal. 
II. Preparations for the Eclipse at Prickly Point. By Captain Darwin 
and Arthur Schuster. 
The instruments used during totality at Prickly Point were mounted on two 
equatorial stands, which were placed in separate huts at a distance of about 20 yards 
from each other. On the evening of Thursday, August 19, tlie polar axes of both 
stands were adjusted in the usual way. Finders had been attached for this purpose 
to the photographic cameras, but more attention -should be given in future to have 
these finders in convenient positions for observation, and of not too small an aperture. 
One instrument, which was under Captain Darwin’s charge, was placed on a solid 
rock foundation, and the first adjustment was therefore considered sufficient, especially 
as extreme accuracy was not required for the purpose for which it was chiefly 
employed. 
The foundation for the equatorial stand which carried Dr. Schuster’s instrument 
did not, unfortunately, prove sufficiently firm. As there was reason to fear that the 
heavy rains during the week preceding the eclipse might have altered the position of 
the polar axis sufficiently to Interfere with the sharpness of the image, and as the 
camera could not be reversed for adjustment as long as the spectroscopes were 
attached to it, these were once more removed' on Friday, August 27, two days before 
the eclipse, and the routine of adjustment once more gone through. From observa¬ 
tions taken the day after the eclipse it appeared that the altitude of the polar axis 
was about 3' too low; the error was therefore sufficiently small not to produce a 
detrimental effect during the time of exposure. 
The clocks of the instruments were frequently adjusted, by comparing the rotation 
of the hour circle when the instrument was going with the time marked on a 
chronometer. In neither case were the instruments and their stands designed for 
each other, and it was found mipossible to balance the instruments properly without 
a too great increase of weight. Thus the work which the clocks had to perform was 
very different in different positions of the instrument. To remedy this evil as much 
