The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1869-08-14
The Great Eclipse.

Perbaps no incident in science ever created
the intense excitement among the scientific men
of our country as did the great Solar eclipse of
Saturday last. 1t is, in the first place, very sell
dom that we have a total eclipse of the sun visi-
BILE to any part of the world. There must be,
according to astronomers, five eclipses OF the
sun each year, but the disparity between the
size of the sun and moon is so great that the two
bodies must be in peculiar position to eclipse
any part of the sun to the earth and even if
this position occurs, but small belt of the
earth can possibly be thrown in the total line OF
the moons shadow. The eclipse Of Saturday
last was observed all over this country, in var-
Gus phases, but its totality embraced only belt
one hundred and thirty miles broad, extending
from Alaska, in a Southwest direction, until it
passed into the sea off the coast of North Caro-
lina In this latitude about fve-sixths of the
SUMS surface was obscured, but so powerful
source of light and heat is that luminary that,
even with only one-sixth of its surface visible to
the world, it gave light equal to that which
would be afforded by ten thousand of our moons.
We witnessed the eclipse in Virginia, where lii
of the twelve parts of the sun was obscured but
even then there was light sufficient to read the
finest print To witness total eclipse of the
sun, in all its grandeur, some point inside o.
the line of totality must be reached. AT
such place it is empowering in its awful
sublimity We give short account ofan astron-
omer who saw the eclipse at such point:
RALEIGH, N. c., August TO o'clock P. NJ
A Washington party, consisting of VIM. 3:
Huntington, Col. Magruder Hallett Kilbourne
& Porter Morse, of the Washington Express, ac-
companied by Hon. D. R. Goodloe, of North
Carolina, arrived here at O'Clock this evening
Gov Holden, the Raleigh press and others, and
proceeded at once to the State Insane Asylum,
adjoining this city, 10 take observations from
the cupola, which commanded an extended and
unobstructed view Professor j. K. Burr, Of
Newark, N j., and J. NJ. Buckley, of the New
York Evening Post, and other scientific gentle
men were present. The sky was clear and
bright, and all the surroundings were propi-
tious. The scene at the time Of totality was
magnificent beyond description. At sos the
eclipe began, the shadow gradually covering the
disc of the sun until complete. At 5:442 the
sun was half obscured, and at 6:023 the eclipse
was total and remained so for ll8 seconds. A
thermometer which was placed in the sun stood
at SO degrees at o'clock minutes. At 5:443
it fell to Is degrees, and at the time of the total
eclipse it fell to 60 degrees, the air growing rap
idly colder, while the whole atmosphere assumed
hazy and leaden appearance
Immediately succeeding the total observation
the corona became visible and brilliant. Cor
ruscations seemed to fash and radiate from the
circumference of the moon. fluctuations ofsoft,
white light burst out brilliantly and repeatedly
until the close, when Venus, Mercury and Mars
shone out in magnificent splendor. A peculiar
gloom spread like a pail over the landscape,
while changing tints Of black, orange, indigo,
and leaden hues covered the heavens near
the horizon, south and north. The spec
tace was magnificent and sublime, and the
crowd about the cupola spontaneously burst out
with 'Praise God, from whom all blessings
how''
During the totality two blades of crimson light
seemed to cut the moons circumference, and
curved lines were visible across the disc of the
moon, resembling the groined projections Of the
top of some gothic cathedral.