The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-27
TILE COMING .EOLLPSE.

rest There are partial ecipses aud total eclpses;
onds, and the spectator has small time to study
the startling phenomena that the occasion
maniiests; in others, however. the obscurAtlon
endures for several minutes, and good opportu-
nifty Is afforded Tor observing and recording tue
attendant appearances. Now, in the ecDpSe In
question the sun will be hidden for more than
six minutes, nearly the maximum possible lnter.
val and the astronomers are on the qui
Uiue with preparations Tor making the best use
of this time in settling moot questions now eX-
listing, and In cleaning new facts for the
advancement of ther comprehensive science.
One unfortunate circumstance is that the
spectacle can ouly be witnessed in situations far
removed from the great centres of European
civilization; for the shadow path Of the moon
passes over India, the Malay Peninsula aud the
Oriental Islands, But this has not deferred the
sdUdas from their search after knowledge;
India, at all events, offers vantage ground for
the observers, which ample preparations nave
been made TO occupy. Schemes have been
discussed. expensive instruments nave oesn
use them; and well-equipped expeditions have
been fitted out. Learned societies have given
their brains, and governments their moneys,
and all tnat tar sight and foresight can do has
been done TO make the event fruitful one to
science; for it may be centuries ere an eclipse
OF such magnitude VIII occur again.
In times when minds were dull and unlnquir-
ing, and when eyes had no telescopes to aid
them in prying into the hall-revealed secrets of
nature, solar eclipse was thing to be won
dered at, frightened at and passed over. The
five years war between the Medes aud Lydians
was brought TO close by an eclipse, which so
scared the rival armies that they made peace.
The fears engendered by such turning of day
into night lasted for centuries, for William of
Malmesbury relates of an eclipse that occurred
in ll40, that persons while sitting at their meals
were so frightened by the sudden darkness, that
they ran out from their houses fearing that the
ancient chaos was ABOUT to return; and later
historians tell OF similar effects. The vague
aud aWe-insplred accounts that were IN
former times given OF those phenomena
gave way TO others having some pretensIons
to fulness aud precision, about the commence
ment of the last century; probably the first
Wpll observed eclipse was one which took place
ON the 18th OF May, l706 But the telescopes of
at time were poor tools, and the records refer
on'ehJ to sucn effects as were visible to the un'
ntled eye. In the sky the planes near the sun
and the brighter stars were seen, and the phe-
numeDon known as the corona which had been
noted by previous observers, and of which we
shall have more TO say presently was oni-
nently visible. On the earth the recorded effects
were those which are always seen and telG
on such occasions TIE bats flew as, at
to rest; the singing birds siencel
their notes; the laborng ANIMALS stood
still; inanimate nature assumed cadaverous
aspect; animate nature was appalled, The de-
pressing influence of the unnatural darkness
caused by total eclipse mas been remarked and
commented upon by every observer down to the
last occasion of witnessing it, 1t is darkness
TO be felt; gloom that brings a silence deep
as DEATH" aud makes
'The bodest mold his b,e ath for tiue"
Arago tells, of poor shepherd child that
cried and called for help at the total phase
growth have felt thrill of horror ruo
through them when the last beams of a
meridian sun have been suddenly extn-
guished, and livid black pail has descended
upon The face of the earth. The same observer
describes in graphic lauglage now crowd of
twenty thousand people, including body of
soldiers, was affected on the same occasion.
During the progress OF the eclipse all had been
excitement and lively curiosity. But when the
sudden darkness came, 'Ohe phenomenon in
its magui6cenca trinmnhad oyer the retulanoo
or youth, over the leyity which certain per-
sons assume as sign. Of superiority, over the
noisy indifference of which soldiers usually
reirned hS 0 the air. the bird. ceasei
TO sing" The tngIish Royal Astrono-
mer, HALEY, in relating the effects OF the
able in all kinds of birds animals, aud Dishes, as
consequence too obvious to be noticed when
even he and others could not escape from
sense OF horror; and cool, experienced OBSERVERS,
knowing what to expect, have been ye-stricken
at the coming on OF the unearthly gloom. For
the darkening is not like that oil night; alth ough
1t is nearly as intense, it is of far different cha
racter. Tue sky assumes purple black color,
and appears 10 tall upon the earth; the atmos
phere ard terrestrial objects take strange tint
that some have described as a livid yellow
Others as dark green, Others as an olive hue,
Mrs. AIRY, who observed with her husband at
Tourn 1912, SAID that the eiect was like that
produced by looking at landscape through
tions which have been offered to account for
this apparent change of color, that which
refers II to physiological causes is the most
plausible. This theory attributes the effect to
contrast; the change from one state OF llluRt-
nation to another is very sudden, and the
duration of the darkness Is too short TO allo "
the eye TO recognize the SPECIFIC hue of colored
objects. 1t may be that during an eclipse of
long totaltY, like that which is comIng, the
optic nerves may have time 10 recover from the
sudden shock caused by the instantaneous dark
enng, and towards the end of the obscuration
may see objects as under an ordinary twilight
aspect This is point to be determined
Glancing from earth TO heaven, The most pal
pable popularity in total solar eclipse is the
halo of white phosphorescent light that entirely
surrounds the black disc of the moon. HALEY
aptly pictured this feature to the popular eye by
comparing 1t TO the radiatipg appearance with
which painters surround the heads Of saints. The
historians of the ante Christian era who were
fortunate enough to behold solar eciipses make
mention OF the phenomenon; they gave il the
name of the corona, by which il has since been
known. OBJ ervers who have seen it upon recent
occasions give the most varied descriptions of it:
some have called it fbrous, and comparable "a
entangled thread; others have described it
as brushlike and feathery; and others have
attributed TO it q circular motion like that oi
some varieties of fireworks. Very curious and
iTrecoucilable are the drawings which have
been given by different observers of the same
eclipse Some have isolated beams or rays o
light shooting in ore direction, others, similal
beams darting an opposite way; some show the
rays emanating radlallY FROM the black moon
while others make them tangentlal, and agaiu
Others exhibit them carved like sickle or
sclmeiar The Astronomer Royal expressed
himself beWildered at the discordances in the
0eD!CuOns he had rec aiyed of the corona vi hif