, 1885-09-24
THE ECLIPSE.
\ Heavenly show That Was Visible
Last Night.

The moon has the advantage of cutting
all her capers at night, when people are
not looking SO much. This is the case
when she gets tull or when she Is in the
condition of not having more than a quar-
ter. The dwellers here below who didn't
take the pains TO look at her last night
missed a beautiful sight. for the night was
clear and the exhibition was a plain one.
The eclipse began at MA At that
time the moon was IN the south Ia little
east of south about half way from the
horizon to the zenith. within five minutes
a small notch seemed to be cut out of the
eastern side. Had its shining face been
painted like the dial of some great tower
clock, the mineral MI being uppermost,
the notch would have appeared between
the characters y and ri. As the moon
plunged more deeply into thc shadow the
size of the notch WIS increased. until,
at midnight. about half of the
moon was in shadow The
eclipsed portion was visible to the naked
eye, shining with a dull, copper olorcd
hue. When we remember that the moon
gives ont no light Of lis own but is simply
like a furnished mirror, rejecting back TO
Us the sunlight which falls upon its sur
face, we wonder how the portion hat is
immersed in the earth's shadow can be
visible. We know, however, that if a
beam of sunlight be let into a darkened
room. and be caused To fall on the surface
Of water in q dish, it will not go on into
the water in the same direct Inc. but will
be bent, or, as physicists say, rcfncted
ly the water
Time was when untulored men believed
that the Great Spirit yelled the moon
beauty from them To Indicate his dis
pleasure for their s,ns. But, thanks To
the patient research Of our fathers, sc are
now enabled to break away from supcrsti-
tion, and standing on the threshold of the
magnificent temple Of nature To behold its
beauties, observe il, matchlcss architecture
and get glimp,c~ al the plans of the
Almighty Architect. k%nsnaring the
shining worlds in the toll, of our mathe-
malical analysis. We mark out their paths
and predict their comiug-, goings and
changes of appearance with an accuracy
which is almost marvellous. Gut many
problems still defy u powers.
At 4s.2 minutes after midnight the
eclipse was greatest, nearly ciEht-tenths of
the moon diameter being in the shadow.
After that time the dark part of the disc
grew smaller and the light part larger,
until at 2:lj g. M only a small notch was
left, and at III 2l.9m a. M the shadow
vanished, The great silver dollar was
then blazoned on the dark sky once more,
and will not ho furnished again till Feb.
:. 1851.
For centuries men have been able to
%ioretell the times of oclipScs Of the moo
with a certain approach to cXaelness. On
the first day of March, 1904, Columbus
made good use of lis astronomical knowl-
edge. lie was in % dire strait the sup
plies for his fleet were exhausted aud the
inhabitants of Jamaica refused TO give
him aid He informed the natives that
on that evening he would deprive them of
the moon $ light. At first hey treated
his threat with Indifference, but when the
eclipse actually began they made haste TO
do his bidding Though Astronomical
science has made great strides since Co
lumbus day, it is not yet possible to give
an accurate prediction of the time when an
eclipse of the moon will begin, OF end, and
We may assert with reasonable certainty
that it never will be- possible. If the
earth wcrl an Opaque sphere, it, shadow
would bo % truly gcomeirical shape, a
beautiful conc, whose base would be nearly
equal to the earth diameter. and whose
apex would BE- about $50. 900 miles away
But unfortunately our planet is not a
sphere, and it is surrounded by an atmos
phcrc the transparency of which varies
much from day To day. Astronomers
think that the earth. shadow is usually
one-Gnieth larger than it would be it
there were no air, aud they are accu-.
toned to take account of this correction in
their computations of lunar eclipscs.
-
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