The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-08-09


day. In the language common on suct
occasions, ..the whole affair passed of
pleasantly, nothing Occurring to mar thu
harmony of the proceedings" The day
was delightfully."- clear, and during TIT
whole-of the ECLIPSE, but a single cloud
and that SO light and fiaky as hardly tt
deserve the natae, drifted across tbs
face of the sun.
From the most accurate data w
could gather, the sun bsgaa to be Oh
scured af 4:45. at which time . very
faint shadow appeared upon the edge o
the SUMS disk. At 5 o'clock about one
sixth of the disk was shaded, and b!
half.past five one half of the face O
the sur was hidden. Persons differ al
to the time of the greatest observation
but we think the nearest approach Il
totality was about $40. The proper
ton of the disk then in shadow is estl
mated by some at nine.tenths but w
doubt if the eclipse was so near total II
this locality.
About the hour mentioned the sky
was tinged with black, and every object
bore q gloomy, sombre look. Shadows up
on the ground appeared perfectly black
and the very sunlight partook of the
heayiness of shade. Although the suns
rays were very much weakened, there
was yet no time during the whole of the
eclipse when the sun coald be gazed
upon by the naked eye for any length
of time without pain. A few tried
the experiment but speedily desisted
As the light lessened and night seemed
to approach, the atmosphere grew
chilly, 80 much 80 as to attract notice
and remark. The phenomena frequent
ly witnessed under total eclipse, such
as the appearance of the stars and the
falling of dew, were not visible here, SO
far as we could learn. Neither did the
night birds sing nor tame animals be-
come terribly agitatad, nor the cows
turn homeward from their pastures for
their nightly milking-occurrences
which fanciful writers describe as al
ways accompanying total eclipses. The
waning sunlight, the blacknsss of the
shadows, the ohilliness of the atmo.
sphere, and the heavy sombreness of the
situation generally, were the only note
worthy facts of the great eclipse here,
but the animal world, man and beast
seemed to be not at all Disconnected by
the great Astronomical event of the cen.
tury.
At about GAL the eclipse ended. The
sun aud sky resumed their wonted
brightness, the earth put off its funeral
attire, and the world wagged on again
rs steadily and carelessly as if great
sclipses were everyday occurrences,
and the ugly interposition of the moon
betwixt mankind and the source
of daylight quite a common and
trivial incident. The observations
made hereabouts partook very lit
tie of the scientific character.
The traditional smoked glass, ungainly
in shape, and exceedingly dirty in ap-
pearance and effect, was the medium
through which our people generally
made their observations. True, no very
interesting statistics concerning the
transactions skyward could thus be OBJ
tanned, but our citizens merely wanted
personal views and satisfaction as to the
event itself, leaving to saraRs and phi
losophers the task Of collecting the
minute and gathering therefrom such
differences and lessons as may furnish
matter for reflection and study to the
world of science.