New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-07-17
THE SOLAR Eclipse.

least since Herod0tus wrote. Eclipses, finn oon9
objects Of CONSERVATION Indicating the WEN Of
the gods, are come to be regarded with tho greAss
interest among ell classes Of civilized nati0AS
Though, for the most part, they sxcite no longer
ANY supe,titious dread they have not lost oil thsif
religious character in the estimation Of meu 10
is fit that In the presence Of 20 impressive spec.
tacle, the mind should pause and bethink isself u
the wondrous Architect who framed this 90 msgni-
6cent mechanism, and caused al its parts to plsy
with such amazing Dicety How imposing How
captivating How inspiring II the di6lcultss
attendantupon tho original acquisition Of language
BY mans unsided powers have led some scholars
to col clade that its origin is divine, what shaL ws
soy of that Knowledge which now traces the
heavenly bodies through all their courses, watch
ing them with unerriDg vision, and defines their
proper motions and mutually co-acting influences
with such accuracy that their places may be pre-.
dicted for any epoch during ages and ages to come!
Add to this the thought Of Lapace. that "the prog
ress of astronomy has been the constant
triumph Of philosophy over the illusions of the
senses"-and does it not seem as If man wore
mself almost divine?
Soar eclipses are not rare occurrenoes-ons
happens every six months, and sometimes two-eas
they are nearly always partisl, that is to say, tho
dsc of tie sun 10 only partially covered BY tho inter
posed body Of the moon, There are but throe or
four known records of total eclpses OF the Gun in
ancient times, and one Of these was only recsotly
brought to light. The first OF these Ia that Of
Heroaotue. He remarks:
"Just az the battle between the Modes aud the Lyd-
ansl was growing warm day WAS on asudden changed
into night. This event had been foretod oy Thsies,
the Miesian who forewarned the Iouiaus OF H. liking
for Ii the very year in which 1t actually took place
The Medts and Lydians, when they observed toe
change ceased fighting, and alike anxious to have
terms Of peace sgreed on.
The next ia that of Xenophon, who mentions, in
the ADabasis an eclipse of the sun having led to
the capture by the PersisDs of Medean city
which he called Larissa, since identified as the
modern Nimrud.
"Wben the Persians obtained the Empire tof the
Eastl from the Medes the King of the Persisns be-
seged The city LaIisss but could not in any way
tabe it. till cloud coverei the sun, and caused 20 dis
sppesr comp leely so that the Inhabitants Withdrew,
and thus the city was taken"
The next is tpat of DiOdorus, in his history of Q
war between the Sicilians and Contingencies.
where he is describing the escape of Agathocles.
the King of Sicily, from the harbor of Syracuse,
in which his feet was blockaded by q superior
feet of the enemy:
"There was such an eclipse Of the sun that the day
wholly put on the appearance Of night stars being
seen everywhere" .
The following account is also furnished BY
Herodotus:
"Wih Spring the army (of the PeIsiansl, Icing
ready get out from Sardes on its march to Abyd,s;
and as setting out, the sun, leaving hs scat IN
heaven, was invisible, where there were no clouds,
but DC recty clear sky; and instead Of day became
night Xerxee who Saw this and heard about IL, felt
some anxiety, aud inquired of the Msgi what the ap-
pearabce por,ended. They replied that the deity
demonstrated the Greeks the desertion Of their
Cities saying that the sun was the progoosuestor for
the Greeks the moon for the Persans. When Xerxes
heard this he was very joyful, and proceeded On his
march,"
Professor Airy, in the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society Of London for 1853, examines
this whole account, and concludes that it cannot
be yplbined by solar eclipse; but that Herodo'
tue, who repeatedly expresses himself doubtfully
on matters of detail which occurred during the
movements Of Xerxes on the eastern aide OF tho
Egean Sea, had been misinformed, and that the
phenom. non in question was an eclipse ofthemoon.
and not of the sun. Sir John Malcolm, in his his.
tory of Persia, remarks:
eve are told by the Persian poet that in battle
which was fought the Prince aud his army
we've struck with sudden blindness, which hid been
foIetold by magician"
Much value is attached TO these ancient Observa-
tions and astronomers have been AT great pains to
determine accurately their epochs, and the paths
of the central eclipse, i. e. Of total observation.
Baily and Oltmanns agreed in assigning the total
solar eclipse of 6lO b. C. as best answering tho
quoted account of Herodotus, aod this eclipse.
known as the eclipse Of Thales, has been consid-
cred as establishing an epoch which Mr.. GrOte, in
his recent history of Greece, adopts. Bat the
Astronomer Royal has submitted the subjectto fur
Their and most careful Investigations, and concludes
that an eclipse which happened May 81, B. C. 5S4.
is the one referred to by Herodotus. Iu this cor
clusion Mr.. Hind, Superintendent Of the BritisA
Nautical Almanac, cOncurs.
The epoch of the eclipse of Larissa, which was
first brought to light by Mr.. Hind two or three
years ago, is fixed by Prot. Airy at May 10, $50
B. &. .,.
That known as the eclipse of Aga'hocles, which
establishes an interesting epoch in the history Of
Sicily, is identified by the same authority 40 that
which occurred on the 18th Of August, 300 b. G.
These dates deviate widely from those given
hitherto; but when it is considered that the track
of total darkness in solar eclipse is very narrow,
and that the motions of the earth and the moon are
understood with such wonderful precision that it 10
possible to trace these phenomena back for
thousands of years, and to point out, with close
opnrox;ma tion tn accurarv the boundaries of tba