The Hickman courier., 1878-07-19
THE sun In Fc1IpSE.


4uaPpeu Par1ies VIII leave Washington
ior the lar west, where the phenomena in
It's totallty is visible. This Is the first
total solar eclipse that has been visible in
TINS country since that of 1869, which
IecsiFeo Inc attention of our astronomers, |
ana and was fully observed. The eclipse of
1873 may be regarded ss return, or
rather completion Of the cycle OF the |
eclipse OF July 1S, 1860. The dark
snaGoW OF IL the moon viii first strike tie
eartn III SIBERIA and Crossing Behring's
straits the line OF totality-which will
cover space about ll6 miles wide-will
strike the United States at the northwest
corner OF Montana Teritory, snd NOV
ing IN q northeast direction viii sweep
over the Yellowstone Park, through
wyoming Territory, Denver, Colorado,
northern and eastern Texas. and enter
ing the Cult of Mexico, between New
Orleans and Galveston. will cross the
islands OF Cuba and San Domingo, and !
then leave the earth. AS the line of to-
tality remains so long in this country
there will be abundant time to observe
all the many curious and important Phe-
nomena connected with it. Much in
terest IS attached to the eclipse by SCI
entists, who look upon it as the means
/ for determining many Texed questions
First, aud perhaps the most important,
as 1T Is OF practical valae to the naViga''
tor, is the corrections t,let.-xill be OBJ
| tanned TO the presenko and lunar ta-
| bles Notwithstt As-1narkable
accuracy already obtaned it is TO be OBJ
| served that the Location of the central
line of the eclipse, as calculated by the
! American Nautical Almanac, differs by
/ about four miles fromthat derived from
| the English Nautical Almanac Impor-
/ tant observations will also be made re-
specting the physical constitution of the
sun. The polariscope and spectroscope
will be used to examine the corona of
the sun during totally. As the dura-
/ ton of totality viii not be more than
three minutes in the north, and two
and half in Texas, all the
observers will be required to
work very rapidly in order TO OBJ
tain the required o55eryations. As the
observations Of the nansit of Mercury
last Nav, as far as they have been worSed
up. demonstrate the isct that the tables
| of that planet were Incorrect. as lie Yer
rier had said, there is some reason to
suppose that lie Verrier might also be
correct in his supp0sition of an intra
mercurial planet, which he, not having
seen, called Vulcan, to account for the
undoubted perturbations Advantage
will therefore be taken of the suns OBJ
scuration by the dark moon TO examine
/ the heavens in the neie hborhOod of the
sun for one or more small bodies that
shall be added to our solar universe.
/ Besides this careful telescope scrutiny,
large photographs will be taken of the
heavens in order 70 allow the small
planets, if any there be, to print them
selves upon the Photographic plate, and
| thus announce to the world the fact OF
their existence and influence upon the
motion OF their eighbor-Mercury. II
any of our astronomers should be so for
tunate as to discover any such body or
bodies. his discovery will be heralded
throughout the scientific world, and he
will be ranked with lie Verrier, the dis
coverer of Neptune, and Hall, the dis
c0verer of the satellites of Mara.
Through the liberality of congress
in appTopriating eight thousand dollars
Ior the purpose of observing this eclipse
the work Of our scientific men will not
be crippled by lack OF funds, and the
results will, no doubt, be attained
As soen as the money was avail
able, Admiral John Rodgers, superin'
tendent of the United States nava
observatory, began to make preparation
for as full and exhaustive observation
as the means at his disposal warranted
These preparations ere now eompiettesd q
the field, fully instructed as to thei
duties, and the woIk carefully manned
out and divided up among the differen
observers.
Five parties will be sent out from thu
naval observatory under the command o
the pro iessors of mathematical in the navy
They will be assisted by four officers o
the line, selected and detailed for thi
service because of their recognized skill
and ability: Commander w J. Samp
son, now head of the departments o
physics and chemistry at the nava
academy; Lieuts. S. w. Very and c
G.. Bowman, instructors in applied mathe
matics and astronomy, at the nava
academy, and Lieut.. E. w. Sturdy, nov
stationed at the national observatory
Two assistant astronomers from the
observatory and civilians skillful in the
use of instruments in photography anC
with the pencil, complete the pers0nne
of the expedition. The observatory
also extends its aid to three parties who
intend TO go out, lead by distinguished
astronomers. The following is com
plete list OF the parties sent out from, ol
assisted by the observatory theil
instructions and their proximate
points of destination Prof S
Newcomb, Commander w. T. Samp
son, Lieut.. G. G. Bowman and
John Meier will locate at Cfeston
Wyoming. This party will photograph
with one of the photo-heliographs used
in photographing the transit of Venus in
/ December, 1874 They will also observe
contacts and look for intra-mercurisi
planets. The following party will be
stationed at Pueblo, Colorado Prof. A
Hall, Prof. j. A Rogers, Prot. A. w.
Wright. Mr.. H. T. Gardner and Mr.. A
B. Wheeler. They will take photographs
of the eclipse, corona, and all around it
that can be gotten on plate; make po-
lariscopic observations CT the lighs of the
corona; observe time of contacts and
make a search for intra mercurial
planets. The next party locates at
Creston, Wyoming, and is made up as
follows Prof. William Harkness, Lieut..
f. w. Sturdy, Assistant Astronomer A.
NJ. Skinner, Messrs i. E. Walker, A.
G.. Clark and Ppf G. III. RJbinson.
This party has the same instructions as
Prof. Halls, except that instead OF
pelariscopic ob,erations they will take
spectroscopic and dthermo-electric ebser-
vations. At Pueblo, Col, there will
also be stationed Prof. J. r. Eastman,
Prof Lewis Ross, Assistant Astronomer III.
NJ. Paul and Mr.. III. S Pritchett. This
party will take polariscopic observations,
observe contacts. search for planets and
make drawings of the corona. The
following party viii be at Central City,
Col: Prof. E. S. Holden, Lieut.. I. w.
Very and DIR. G. S. Hastings. They will
go into the mountains northwest OF
Denver, search for planets and investi-
gate structure of corona.
Mr.. l.. Trouvelot, Of Cambridge, Mass,
most skillful artist, accompanied by
his son, will go to Rawlings, Wyoming,
to make drawing of the corona. Mr..
@. w. Hill, of the Nautical Almanac
! office, will be stationed on one of the
mountains in Colorado to make draw
ing OF the corona. Prof Ormond Stone,
OF Cincinnati, and Mr.. Wiuslow Upton,
Of Cambridge, viii observe tho eclipse
from the Fifty Peas OF Colorado. Gen.
Myers and Prof. Able, of the signal
service Office, and Prof Langley, of
Pittsburg, will go 10 Pixies Peak. They
will be obliged to take their instruments
apart and carry them by hand TO an
elevation exceeding Il. 600 feet. Mr.. ID.
Z. Todd will go to Texas and make
| arrangements for ohza duration of