Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-14
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THE GREAT ECLIPSE,
Observations made at Springfield,
Illinois.

/ CHICAGO, august 8.-The eclipse 9
! Springfield was q startling and sub
lime phenomena. The sky was per
| fectly clear, not cloud visible. Prof
Pierce, of Harvard, had charge of tht
observations which were made neal
the reservoir. q hundred photo
| graphs Of the eclipse were taken hy
| Mr. Black, of Boston. When the oh
servation took place the heavens and
the earth presented a scene Of awful
| sublimity. A brilliant amber cOlOred
| corona appeared around the sun end
moon, shining Lays OF light outward
in all directions, when the whole
| horizon was Illuminated with light
of the same color. The planets Mer-
curry and Venus and a number of fixed
stars were distinctly visible, but no
planetaTies between Mercury and the
sun were discovered; a brilliant rose
c0lOred fame or prOtuberance was
noticed on the western limb of the
sun during the periOd Of total 0bseHra-
/ lOH. 4he phenomenon known Is
baiiey'S beads was also distinctly
seen. The phenomenon, Prof. Price
thinks, is OccasiOned by refracticn CT
light he is ais9 satisfied lhat the
corona or halo at the time of the total
| observation was Qocasianeq by the
| suns atmosphere. Prof Chas. Scott,
Of the coast survey, had charge of the
! general arrangements, and with 2
powerful telescope cbseryed paftleu-
| larry the nrm of the pFotrgheFauees.
and made special obshlsz's..t.ii66n In con-
nection Win the Photographic.
W. p. Montague, a graduate cf
Harvard college this yeaF, was de
| tailed ia note the time BY a chrome
meter, and during the entire eclipse,
from it, commencement until its final
close, never tor a moment allowed his
eye to wonder from the dial plate,
thus losing sight of the eclipse in any
Of its phases. During the total OBJ
sCuratiOn Of the sun, a silence ike
death rested over the city. The birds
few to their nests, fowls to their
rOOst, ana chickens to the friendly
wings of shelter. 4 drove Of cows
feeding near the reservoir, with heads
and tsils erect, and with G startled,
frightened look, Started for the city,
and did not cease running until " old
SOI' once more shOne forth.
Many other incidents, some laugh
able and others grave, tranSpired dur
ing the eclipse, Dogs were seen to
gaze in wonder AT the terrible appear
ance Of the Sly, and remain during
the total ohscuratiop in an attitude Of
alarm and WOndermept, bat just at
the moment the first ray of the sun
appeared expressed the joy they felt
in a way dogs only can
The observations made by the
scientific gentlemen have been all that
could be desired. The photographs
taken Ly Atr. black have never been
equaled, in number or perfectness Of
execution.
Alto minutes and 10 seconds past
1, the eclipse commenced, the moons
first contact with the sun occurring
when the former was 19 degrees south
Of the selar equator, on the west side.
The thermometer which a few min
utes before had risen to lQ2, began 70
fall rapidly. Gradually the darkness
Of twilight spread over the earth.
Small flies, gnats and other heralds of
night, thickly hutteFed in the air,
until, at II minutes past the unani-
nous eXclamatiOns from the eager
spectators announced the visible Cd
vent of the first stsr i,eeuius. At
preci-g,y Il minutes. and 10 seconds
past o. the sans shining face pc
came totally Obscured. and star after
star appeared. The corona threw its
brilliant CCfrusc8tiOns of luminous
light around the black sphere for two
minutes ana thirty seconds, The
darkness was equal to that of a moon
light night, and the temperature was
fOrty-twO degrees cooler than one
hour before. The countenances of the
spectators assumed a ghastly, U,C-
natural hue. The shy vas OF & light
purpli5h cClCr, excepting near the
horizon, where the aspect was that
golden radiance with Wki2h il glGWs
after 2 beautiful sunset. The climax
occurred when at the close Of the
totality, like a fash Of silver light
ming, the iiFSt ray Of sunlight that
suddenly shot out piercing the gloom
around, and again Illuminating the
world. The eclipse ended at nine
minutes and twenty-five seconds past
G c'clcCk. Ia the Observations taken
the phenomena eorresponded pre-
eisely. with the computations prevt-
ously made. Six spots were visible
upon the surface Of the sun before the
eclinse, f,1'1 1'1 on which were very
prominent, and the others much ,2S3.
The cusps on the moon had q rugged
and biHrred appearance. As the
eclipse progressed towards the totallty,
the form of the moon became visible,
Near the Ousps of the phenomena OF
tOtality Baily's beads were seen dis
tinctly by all the observers, extend
ing through an arc of at least fifty de-
greeS. The moment the eclipse be-
came total the hame-like protuber-
ances were seen with wonderful dis
tinctness, one being very large and cn
the lower limb Of tie sln, ana three
nearly Is large on the upper limb,
while at least seven or eight of them
in all were visible. The one on the
right hand and lower limb had
somewhat the appearance CT full
rugged ship VITA sails set. In its part
nearest the moon were two or three
Jet black spots. To the naked eye it
seemed as though they were openings
or assures in the moon; two on tie
east side and one on the southwest
side. Just after the total eclipse,
| through the opening the lurid glow of
the sun was distinctly visible. The
corona was apparent to all observers
either with OF without instruments.
| 1t was very generally described in
books, etc, as a halo of light sur
rounding the moon, but was distinctly
seen to be a tive-pointed prong on the
lower and two on the upper circum-
ference of the moon. These points
had radiant appearance. The gen.
orally received theory regarding this
corona, that it is the atmosphere Of
the sun, does not seem to be sustained
BY observations, 1t is eoniectured
that the corona is in some way caused
by the phenomena of light passing
through the atmosphere.
| WONDERFUL ACCURACY OF MODERN
SCIENCE.
As pertinent to the above yYe copy
from the Washington &tEtT of the 5th
i1st. TIE fslioWiing extract of letter
written by Prof NJ. Spinner, formerly
fthe Natioual Observatory at Wash
ington city, to the Rev. Or, Charles
! Collins, the much respected and
| SCHOLARLY President of oI1r NUN State