New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-03-30
The Eclipse To-Day.

AS we learn from the almanacs, there will be .
,etal eclipse of the moon tonight, in parts OF
europe and Africa, and on the intervening Adan
tic ocean. In New Orleans the moon will enter
the penumbra at twenty eight minutes past seven
P. NJ, the shadow at thirty minutes past
eight. The total phase will begin at fortyfour
minutes past nine, the middle of the eclipse wiz
occur at thirty three minutes past ten the Ao'aA
phase will end at twenty three minutes past ele.eh
the moon will emerge from tne shauo"
at twenty nine minutes after muh'sh' anu
from the pepumbra at thirty-nine minutes past
one A. NJ tomorrow Inc to'ai phase, i"
will he perceiyed, will last one hour and thirty
nine minutes. In days not many jubiees past,
this coincidence between the figures denoting the
duration Of the total eclipse and those denoting
the time of the close of the phenomena would
doubtless have caused serious apprehensions-or
at least many superstitious manifestations; for,
without such accompaniments as this, eclipses
were in former days the causes of extraordinary
notions and customs. quotation from Hoyd's
stratagems of jerusalem" given by Brand in his
!" Popular Antiquities" says:
At any eclipse of the moone, the Romanes
would take their brazen pots and pannes and
beate them, lifting up many torches and linckes
lighted and frebrandes into the aire, thinking by |
these SupefStt10uS meaneS TO feCthlme LHe mOOue i
to her light. So the Macedonians were as super
stitous as the Romanes were at any eclipse of the
income. Nothing terrified the gentiles more in |
their wares than the eclipse of the sunne and the
moone. There was law in Sparta that every
ninth year, the chief magistrates, called Ephori,
would choose bright night without moonlight In
some open place, to behold the starres, and if
they had seen any star shoot or move from one
place to another, straight these Ephori accused
their kings that they offended the gods and thereby
sdeposed them from their kingdome. So did Ly-
sander depose king Leonidas. sa,3s p s.r, ...
Brand further tells US that. Edward Sherburn, in
his Annotations on Medea," published in l64s,
has the following paragraph: -.-.r
OF the beating of kettles. basons, and other
brazen vessels, used by the ancients when the
moone was eclipsed (which they did to browne
the charmes of witches, that the moone might not
as they supposedly shall not need to speake,
being thing SO generally knowne, custom con-
tnued among the Turks at this day; yet cannot
but adde, and wonder at, what Joseph Scalger in
his annotations on Manilius reports out of Bonin
contrus, an ancient commentator on the same
poet; who afirmes that in a towne of Italy where
he lived within these two centuries of yeares) he
saw the same piece of Paganisme acted upon the
| like occasion. -e,r 81
About century later than the time to which
| the foregoing refers-in 1556--" Osborne's Advice
to his Som tells us that "The Irish or Welsh
|
pans, thinking their Glamour and veSations availa-
BILE to the assistance of the higher orbes." /
couple of centuries later than this again, Pere
DuHalde, in his /" General History of China"
gives the following account of the customs pre-
yailing among the Celestial denizens of the Flow
cry Kingdom when they observe an eclipse:
The very moment the inhabitants perceive the
sun or moon begin to be sdaTkened, they fall on
their knees, and beat the ground with their fore
head; at the same time is heard dreadful rafting
of drums and kestle-drums, throughout Pekin, ac-
| carding to the persuasion the Chinese formerly
had, that by this noise they assisted the sun or
moon, and prevented the celestial dragon from
devouring such useful planets. Though the learned
| and people of quality are quite free from this
ancient error and are persuaded that eclipses are
| owing to natural cause, yet such prevalence
| has custom over them, that they will not leave
| their ancient ceremonies; these ceremonies are
1 practised in the same manner in all parts of the
4 empire. asrgr 4a r..4 55Ft ysr }s #aI.J@.
Here, among u.s. an eclipse is held to be mat
ter of SO little moment, that the few who for scien
tifc purposes, or out of curiosity, may be seer
observing it, will perhaps be regarded as the
, strangest accompaniments OF the phenomenon
The maxims NIL adnairdri, and post nunensos
viatus, have such full sway, that it is only by Q
desperate rush to the other extremes of miserable
credulity and proigate layishness that their effect
can be at all counteracted. There is no indnce
lnent or room indeed for these in the case OF the
ecpse-and SO well, vot of it ?" will be as much
notice as not few will deign to give it. After all
this is, perhaps better than the superstitious Gus
toms above noted. .ssas-#
/; As We commenced by intimating, we depend
upon the almanacs for our particulars concerning
the eclipse AS these accord in all We have re-
ferred to- we presume they are correct. That it
will not do to rely implicitly on these authorities
however, is shown by the fact that out of half q
dozen before US, one-third say the next eclipse
which is of the sun, will occur on the 14th of April
while the other two thirds sayit will occur on the
18th. This is possibly due to the difference o
time between the places for which the date is
given; but even if so, there ought to be uniform
ity. well as, q correctness that should preyen
such variances. @asT~'-F -iF-'A
THE YARIEFrEs-No abatement of interest II
Sam. The house last night was as full as ever
4 and Chanfrau yeu know did the best he could yo1
know,aand that's good deal, you know. People
begin to think he's a buster" himself ' as big
as q turkey" Sam may be seen again tonight
you know. >..--ysas.s.a- ,a... y.. 4.,s.-ss
ST. CHARLES THEArER.-Little Lolita, as tht
great favorite at this house is afeconately styled
exhbited, in q seriesof characters last night as
tonishing versatility. AS indy Blake she wa
natural and tender, as Jenny Lind capital car
feature, and as Nan Tie Good for Nothing so de
lightfnl in everything that the audience SCENE.
beside itself. Tonight she has a benefit, whel
she will appear as Tdrtd,sine in the "Sevel
Daughters Of Satan," a character said to be he
great speciality '.atl.' 4s ''S a.''F' 17sro .'
THE 0LYMPrc.-That capital burIesque, 1" Eli
OConnor" so nirthful and musical, is still on tn
bills at the Olympic. 3G8. Ea !
7 STRING AND SUMMER SCHEDULE OF THE POM
: cHAETRAIN RAMRoAp p.-Our readers are referre
to the notice from the superintendent of the Pont
cIartrain railroad to the effect that the spring an
summer arrangement goes into effect on Sunday, Is
proxirno. Horse or steam cars will run from A
to D Il. NJ, and the passage to and from the lax
will be only twenty five cents. sss sss5Es
CLOTHING AT REDUCED sPRTcEs.-Messrs Dare
s. Wheeler, 20 Canal street. advertise that they ar
offering their large new stock of spring and sun
mer clothing at greatly reduced prices. Thei
stock embraces every quality and style suitabl
for our seasons, together with freedmen's goods
and gentlemen's furnishing goods and travelin
equipments, and they sell wholesale and retail.
"