The New York herald., 1874-10-22
THE MOON.
The Shadow of Old Earth on
Cynthia's Brow.
Total Eclipse on Saturday
Night.
ILLUSTRATIVE DIAGRAMS.


ing Of the 25th Of october the people of this coun
try are to behold o total eclipse OF the moon AS
this coincidence occurs only once in eighteen
years, and as the representatives OF science and
the press have both been mute concerning its ad-
vent the facts given in this sequel believe will be
accepted with no little interest by all.
HISTORY OF EcLIPsEs.
An eclipse is an obscuration OF one OF the
heavenly bodies by the interposition of another,
either between 1t and the spectator. or between it
and the SUM- The nrst total eclipse Of which We
have any knowedge-that is. the first recorded
occurred in the year 100 b. c.. and was visible at
Babylon. The occurrence was the occasion OF
great alarm, and, indeed, before the dawn Of
science, eclipses, both solar and lunar, greatly
affected the minds Of the Inhabitants of the earth.
The ancients failed to comprehend them within
the order OF nature and regarded them as pre-
sages or dire events, while ar one time IN Rome
it was blasphemy, and punishment by law, to talk
In public of their being due to natural
causes. In ancient times when the rays Of
the moon were obscured the people turned out
and made great disturbance with drums ana
brazen instruments, their idea being that the
..Queen OF the Night" was In afiicrion, and that
by making the noise they did they frightened
away those who were tormentlng her. According
to some, Luna, wnen in eclipse, was In the pains
or labor. According to others she was suffering
from the arts Of wicked magtcians
All barbarian tribes held peculiar notions con-
cerning ecpses OF the moon The Chinese
imagined that all dissertations OF the sun or the
moon were caused by the attempt OF immense
dragons endeavorlng to dev0ur them, ana accord
1ngly, whenever eclipses occurred, they would as
semble at street corners, and, by beating upon
gongs and Kettles. strive to frlghten the
monsters Of. On account OF these popu-
lar superstitions many parties better versed
IN science than the common throng
which surrounded them, by predicting the coming
OF an eclipse accomplished many events which we
OF to-day regard as authentic and historical. By
the fortunate occurrence OF an eclipse Thales
brought peace between the Medes and the
Lyd,ans and by predicting an observation Of the
celestial orbs, Columbus on March !, 1904 at ia
maica procured provisions for himself and his
panions, after every other effort to secure such
provisions haa failed.
THE RANGE OF ECLIPSES.
Stars. planets and satellites OF planets may suffer
eclipse, but the principal eclipses. however, are
those OF the sun and the moon, called solar and
lunar ecnpses The rranstts OF the lower planets
over the face OF the sun are partial solar eclipses;
but solar eciipses properly 80 called, are those
caused by the interposttlon of the moon between
the sun and the earth. Regarding the
eclipses OF the moon. it has been said,
ana truly said, that they are caused
by the moon passing through the
earth's shadow Another assertion OF equal
importance and truth is that lunar eclipses hap
pen only at full moon. They do not happen every
full moon because the moons orbit Is inclined to
the ecuptic on which the centre OF the earths
Bhawdow moves at an angle OF deg. min., nearly.
1t may be foolish to remark that case the Queen
OF Night moved on the ecliptic there would be an
eclipse every full moon, but from the magnitude
OF the angle OF Inclination OF her orbit to the eclp
tic an eclipse occur only on full moon, hap.
pening when the moon is at, or very near one Of
her nodes, or, in other words when she Is at the
points where her orbits lntersect the ecliptic
Therefore an observation can take place
only when the centres Of the circle OF the
earth's shadow and OF the moons disc approach
within distance less than the sum Of their ap-
parent mi-diameters; consequently, except when
near the nodes, the moon, on whichever side OF
the eclptic she may be, may pass above or below
the shadow without entering it the least. The
moons average diameter is known to be 81 min.
25.7 Sec, and from the Nautjca1 Almanac we may
hour It's variations all taking place between the
values OF 20 min. % sec. and 33 min. 2S sec.
'4THE NOON ITSELF"
The poet Butler would have US believe that the
moon is made OF green cheese.n Another poet
greater than Butler says
oh, not by the moon, the tncon slant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb!
And SO it has been that the moon, with certain
class Of people, has fallen into great disrepute,
and simply on account OF her natural phases
when contrasted with those OF the great lumtnary
from which she oorrows her light-the sum- 'An
lunar echpses are universal, or visible In all arts
OF the earth which have the moon above their
HORIZON" say the authorities, and no doubt the
authorizes are correct. All lunar eclipses more
over, are everywhere OF the same magnitude, with
the same beginning and end. 1t is this unver.
salty Of lunar ecllpses that leads people 10 I'm.
aginc that there are more eclipses OF the
moon tnan there are OF the sun. The
fact is, however. that the latter is more often
ecipsed than the former, e., there are more
ecipses OF the sun than there are Of the moon.
SUMS eclipse Is only visible to part OF the earth,
whereas lunar eclipse, as just stated above, is
visible wherever the moon can De seen. The con-
sequence Is that there are more echpses OF the
moon visible az any particular place than Of the
sun. The why the solar eclipse s visible to
only particular portions OF the earth is, because
being caused by the moons shadow, 1t is only to
be seen where the moons shadow tails and the
moons shadow Is very much smaller than the
earth.
"aCLIPsICAL" CONSISTENCY.
A peculiar fact about ecnpses are that they ap.
pear In regular order, only In every eighteen
years and eleven days; this fact was discovered
by the ancient Chadeans, and the period is called
the Chadean period. therefore, the total eclipse
which we shall witness on this coming satur.
day night took place eighteen years ago, In
October, 1855. The total eclipse OF 1856 occurred
npon October l3, OF tnat year. IL was not quite
total, the moons edge being about one -lve-hun.
dredth part or its diameter outside OF tho shadow
by referring TO the large figure at the head OF this
article 1t will be seen that at this time us74) the
moons edge is about one-twentteth OF
ITS diameter within the edge Of the
shadow. Il Of oIuhtanr, a.