New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-18
THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUM-


oRsrRyING Yesterdays PHENOMENON.
VISIBLE ONLY IN AFRICA AND ASiA-"hAi wa
vvprcrrp TO BE DETERMINED-A TALK WITH
PROFESSOR REFS.
The eclipse of the sun which occurred Yesterday
warming was invisible in this country. me me
of The central total eclipse" said Professor Jouh
X Rees of Columbia College yesterday aiterhooI
"traverses Africa, the Desert OF Sahara, ESyPt
Arabia Persia, Turkestan and China In as'Iohony
The DAYS are reckoned from noon TO noon ana ~
fore this eclipse is spoken of rs beginnIng az el0
seyenteenth hour of Nav 16. But taking aIis I'M,
the total eclipse began nj 602 for the Tn
Of Western Soudan, Africa at their sunIlse' os
fhe Turks of Bokhara saw the eclipse wheh III "ao
noon for them or 7:5O a. by Paris time, ana tne
Japanese fishermen of the Pacific beheld inc o p
rims the shadow of the moon travelled across Ine
earth as the shadow OF ci9uu rraatay
across the fields, but win tt ao minutes
the shadow of the moon has travelled from Mesterh
Africa TO the extremity of Asia, AT faIls lo sHn
has been only one quarter ecPs sb and at caro-
the eclipse was nearly total, only ABOUT one
tenth of the SUMS surface beng, lett visible.
e. narrow track, about twelve miles wide, the
eclipse was partly visible over iarse6 PoIuhon
the earths surface, between about Su ono ant
1Oo south latitude, and between aDout " wesss
from Paris and 1902 east longitude: Inc length OF
the totality of this eclipse In Egypt was
only about minute, yet party OF EhgiiS S as'rono
mers went there TO observe IT, lhey are
healed by Dr. Norman LOckyer, with whom are Dr'
Schuster and Messrs Lawrence and WOODS. Messrs'
Lewis Swift Ranyard and Abney are also there,
49, theTc is an expedItion from the Observatory of
Nice of which NJ. ThOllon is the head. me ieng,n
of the eclipse at Bagdad was 30 seconds ana lts
MAXIMUM at Bokhara | 10 seconds. The Engnsh
expedition chose station, of course IN the me OIL
the total eclipse the banks of the Nle about TWO
miles south OF Stout. ..oa T.,
these observations is knowledge of tho solar red
flames The corona of the sun. Here sad professor
Rees, taking up glass pIotogtapn1,S shuJS too
in Texas. OF course, the sun Is Dlack
and this white radiance streaming on TO one
side is the corona. Here is another photograph
taken III 1870. You see the corona appears IKE
ly-shaped nmbus around the sun instead OF
looking like the tan OF comet. ana mere Is pno-
tograph Of another eclipse, where the corona SHOOTS
ont from the sun like the points OF a star. us
chromospheTe or exterior atmosphere OF the sun,
which appears as the corona in an eclipse, is yet
problematcal as To its physical and chemical consul
tuition. In extent. form and appearance III diners
from one time To another. and iron one eclipse 10
another. To study these astonishing dlteiehces
and ascertain their reason constitutes the chel IL
terest of this observation OF total echpsrs. me
time in the eclipse was 50 short that the EheIsh
party had their Instruments mounted toge'heI 10
avoid loss OF time in going from one STAND TO
another. For eye observation they had on one
stand four telescopes AMI TWO specroscopes, anu vi
another stand for Photographic registration, pho-
tohellograph and spectTOscopic camera. through
the improvements in photography much Is hoped
for from the Photographic record
"On November / next Will occur an annular
eclipse of the SUM- visible only III the Pacific Ocean,
and on December Will be the transit OF venus
total eclipse at any gwen place Is
n rarity. Tie last total eclipse visible
at Paris that of May 22, 1924, and the next one
will take place in the year 2O26. AT London the
last eclipse was in l715, aud the next Will be in
2O9O In December. 1870, there was total
eclipse central III Algeria; there was one Ill 1873;
there will be one Ill August, 1887, central
IN Russia and Austria. another in 1896, CEN
trail III Germany. and another IN 1900 CEN
trail in Spain. The eclpses OF the sun and moon
occur In "A regular cycle of eighteen years and
eleven days. Aud SO to-days eclipse is the same as
the eclipse of May 5, 1864, and Will repeat Itself
on MAY IS 1900. Only these eclipses do not repeat
themselves at he same hours or places. nor are they
visible in the same countries. Ecllpses are, even III
this iay, often ATTENDED with odd effects upon ~
nOrant beholders. In the total eclipse OF 1878,
visible this country, negro, seized
with terror thought the end of the world had come
and cut the throals of his wife. children and him
self In the eclipse of March, 1877, the Turks,
who like the Chinese, b lieve that an invisible
dragon Is trying to swallow the sun, got out their
guns and kept up ali inces> ant fusliade 10 flghen
the beast Off In the eclipse of 1865 the natives oil
Uindustan employed by NJ Jansen plunged into
the river when the eclipse began and fused TO
leave the water until ii ended III obedience TO
some superstition"