The New York herald., 1870-12-10
SOLAR ECLIPSES.
'Ths Approaching TOTAL Eclipse Of the sun-Cal-
culations Of an English savan-Another
Observation in 1882

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON TIMxs:-
On Thursday, the 22d OF December next, the sun
will be totally eclpsed at several points In the south
OF Europe OF easy access from this country No
other opportunity Of witnessing the imposing phe-
nomena OF total eclipse so near our shores will
occur until the year 1887 and then the circumstances
VIII not be nearly so favorable a. on the approach.
ing occasion.
"a this eclipse the line OF central ana total phase
G nrnences about 200 miles south OF Cape Farewell,
t!G southern extremity OF Greenland; thence
rgersing the Atlantic Ocean In 0 southeast
g direction, 1t enters Europe on the coast
o Portugal near serdao, In the province q OF
ntelo. and passing close to Tavira, between &C.
th Mediterranean and reaches the coast OF Algeria
wesG OF Oran; passing eight miles south o. s tnas
4 deg rs MINI IN the longitude OF Aigers, whence
s Wy rising, it passes near Batna ana leaves the
a. ci,oa oi scliy which island Is reached in lat
,tu % 81 deg, the centre OF tho shadow leaving It
,fn the mediterranean it again lands a. Preyisa on
Tire Gulf OF Arta, ana crossing Tnessaiy VI tne
i.oumelia, the Black Sea, the Crlmea between Ba-
5aklava and SebastopoD and the Sea OF Azof finally
S1 Tcnerkass ask the Country Of the DON Cossacss The
itme occupied In describing this track is one hour
and forty six minutes.
t1ope viii be about one hundred miles. Seville is SO
snearly upon the calculated northern limit that 1t
WIN be presented IN that city. and observations
taken there may possess much interest. Cape st.
Vincent and Gibraltar are well within the shadow
south OF the central llne and the eclipse will also be
HOtal at Ceuta on the African coast. Malaga s
hbout midway between the central line and the
northern limit. At Algiers the eclipse Will be very
large, but not total. and at Tunis the sun Will be
reduced to an extremely narrow crescent, though
k0tallty, according TO the best prediction we can
make, Is not likely to occur there. Malta
witnesses q very large partial eclipse. Mount
Etna Is Just within the northern limit Of
ttotality; Syracuse south and Catania north
SDf the central line ana Cape Passaro, the southern
point OF Sicily, within the southern limit. Adria-
Btantinople Is beyond the south border OF the zone
kof totaty and consequently large partial eclipse
Dnly occurs tnere The central line appears to pass
tAbout midway between Baaklava and lnkermann,
And the whole position OF the allied armies before
HebastopO will be involved In the gloom OF the total
ECLIPSE at twenty seven mnues to four r. NJ, local
time, the black moon being about deg above the
Southwestern horizon. The pert OF TaganrOg and
Novo-Tcherkask are two OF the last places at which
the total eclipse may possibly be visible. 1t was at
NovO-Tchcrkask thai the Russian astronomer WIS.,
n1ewskt obtained the nna gliMpse OF the celebrated
tcomet OF 1871 in August, 1872 1t set out upon its
nlnseen journey through space Of upwards OF three
th0usand years.
The following are the calculated local mean times
fof commencement OF the total eclipse Or moments
when sunlight Will disappear, and the duration of
H0tallty for various places. Those for Xeres Etna,
Adrlanople and Sebastopol are from my own calcu-
patiOns the others are extracted from publications
emanating from the Offices OF the national ephemer-
Lldes OF Great Britain, France. Spain and Portugal
n1nf