848 Marvels of the Universe 
the Moon also totally disappears from sight (though sometimes there are exceptions to this rule). 
Here the resemblance ends, all the other features being altogether dissimilar. The Sun undergoes 
total eclipse because the Moon passes in front of it, and absolutely blocks it from our view. On 
the other hand, when the Moon undergoes total eclipse nothing comes in front of it, but it dis- 
appears (when it does disappear wholly) because it passes into the dark shadow cast by the Earth 
into space. The philosophy of a lunar eclipse may be realized on any evening when a man 
walking down a street sees another man turning a corner not reached by a lamp erected at a short 
distance round the corner but short of the corner. In such a case, though the man who has 
turned the corner could be struck by a bullet fired by the first man, yet the first man might not 
be visible to the second man, because the lamp did not shine on him. Moreover, the total phase 
of a solar eclipse seldom lasts more than three or four minutes, and can never last more than 
seven minutes, whilst the Moon may be absent from view for more than an hour. 
Total eclipses of the Sun as astronomical events used to stand in a certain sense on the same 
footing as Comets: that is to say, to the ancients and during many centuries they were not known 
to be subject to any definite laws, but were deemed celestial portents of terrestrial misfortunes of 
[by Lucien Rudaux. 
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, APRIL 17th, 1912. 
What a spectator in the Sun would see of our Solar Eclipse between the hours of 10 a.m. and | p.m. The Moon as a 
brilliant disc would be brought into relief against the Earth as it passed along a course determined by its own rotation and that 
of the Earth. 
various kinds. An eclipse which happened on May 28, B.c. 585, though not the oldest on record, 
is one of the most interesting in ancient history, for it occurred in the middle of a battle between the 
Lydians and the Medes, and resulted in the stoppage of the fighting, followed by a treaty of peace. 
It should, however, be stated that there was one man to whom this eclipse did not come altogether 
as a surprise. Thales, of Miletus, a distinguished Greek astronomer, predicted the eclipse, though 
the exact date was long disputed by moderns, who suggested other dates than 585. 
A solar eclipse commences by a black notch becoming visible in the Sun’s disc. This notch 
increases until it becomes a large and growing slice, Showing much black and little bright in the 
Sun’s surface. If this condition subsists until the eclipse comes to an end and the Sun reappears 
in all his glory the phenomenon goes by the name of a “ partial eclipse of the Sun.” But the grand 
climax is reached ‘where the Sun totally disappears ; the effects at that stage are very grand and 
awe-inspiring. Day suddenly becomes night, and to see what o’clock it is by your watch you must 
strike a match or have a lamp at hand. If the darkness is qualified, that is to say, not absolutely 
intense, people and things, and especially the distant horizon, acquire a very lurid, or, as some would 
say, a very “ creepy’ appearance. 
The special sights to be looked for in connection with a total eclipse of the Sun by an ordinary 
observer using his eyes or a small telescope may now be mentioned. | When the Moon passing across 
