Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-14
CHASING THE SUN.
The Solar Eclipse Next Week and
the Expedition to Observe 1t.
Why the American Scientists Go to the
Coast of Africa-The Path of the
EMBELLISHMENTS by Which the
Observations Will be Recorded.

It would surely seem as though the day had
come, in this enlightened age, when men of
common sense, wisdom and learning should
cease to run after shadows, and hence it may be
Q trihe paradoxical to some folks to learn that
a dozen or more wise men of science, armed
with implements for observation and literature
for reference, should go clear across the sea-
down into the wilds of the African jungle, brav-
ing the dangers of the storm, of the savage
and of the fever for the mere purpose Of hav-
ing peep at the sun when he cannot be seem
And there is another paradox that the sun
should never be quite SO interesting or so at
tractive to his watchers as when his rays are
blotted from sight for few moments by the
accidental interference of the moon between
his solar majesty and this small sphere.
But it is nevertheless true that party of
American men of profound learning, embrace
ing several branches of scientific research
have just landed on the west coast of Africa
at the town of St. Paul de Loando, having gone
thither for the purpose of taking some photo
graphs and other observations on the 22d of
the present month, when the sun will become
invisible for few minutes. 1t has only been
by the most unremitting efforts of the scieh-
lists. seizing every opportunity, risking every
chance, encOuntering every danger. that We
have come at last to know anything but what
Il here before Us on our own planet, to know
anything about the nature. the ways aud means
OF our mysterious neighbors, anything
about the causes of our life, in
fact And this expedition, sent to
such q great distance for such an apparently
small and unimportant object, is simply the
outcome of generations OF restless scientific
energy. To some it might appear though
all had been learned about the sun that an
eclipse can teach, for ever since telescopes
were invented and men began to know how to
use them, astronomers have been peerlng into
space during the momentary darkness of
echpses, measuring, counting, specializing,
theOriZing. guessing as to just what it is that
gives Us light and heat and life; and it would
seem as though the time had come when all
reasonable theories had been advanced. dis
eussed and disposed of. But a scientist gen.
orally goes upon the idea that a man never
knows much that he cannot learn, and so he
goes on endeavoring 10 find new data on which
to work new inspirations or some additional
proof of some old thought. He takes the
ground that there cannot be too much proof
and that it would not be q waste of time If
he searched all his life for one new item and
never found it.
WHY THEY GO TO AFRICA.
1t is no wonder, then, that these men have
gone to Africa. The only question is: Why did
they select that dark, unknown. dangerous and
forbidding land for the basis of their observa-
tons? The answer can easily be given by ref
erence to the diagram here printed. BY the
operation OF the law of planetary motion the
shadow of the moon, as cast by the sun in his
passage on the other side, falls only upon a
limited portion OF the glODe. varying in size ac-
cording to the distance of the moon from the
earth at the time of the eclipse. The
nearer she is the wider the shadow
area. The outer edges of the two ell
hpses and the upper and lower connecting
curves mark the area that will receive any por-
ton of the shadow during the coming eclipse
L. IL.
shadow IS but partial one. In fact. on the
edge OF the shadow field there is no apprecia-
BILE dlmlnutlOn In the suns light. the only eff
feet Of the eclipse being the darkening of one
edge of his disk. As the observer goes south
from the northern curve comes north from
the southern curve this observation of the disk
grows and the sunlight becomes less and less
until there is a point midway from both curves
on which the actual shadow of the moon, as the
word is generally used. falls. This is called the
LINE OF roTALITY"
indicated in the diagram by the heavy black
line connecting the centers of the two eIlipses
To an observer stationed at any point in this
line the eclipse appears to come over the sun
gradually, increasing momentarily until the
entire surface Is covered, when, after a very
short period of what is known as ..totality"
lasting from one to seven minutes in
various echpses. the black screen be-
gins 10 withdraw itself and finally dis
appears. II one could start on the end Of the
black line at the moment the period of totally
began there and run. fly or swim eastward at a
speed equal to that of the earth's surface in
revolving. to the other end of the line, dis
tance Of several thousand miles, he would be
able to see the eclipse throughout its exist
ence. In other words. he would be in dark
ness from the time he started until he stopped
THE COMING ECLIPSE.
1t will be seen by CHANGING at the diagram
that the line of totality of this eclipse runs
over most of its course in the watery spaces of
the western hemisphere. touching land but
twice IN this continent. These points are Cape
Orange, near Cayenne. French Guiana and an
unnamed point Of land In the province OF
Plauhi, Brazil Thence II shoots out across the
Atlantic, hitting the western coast of Africa a
little way from the port OF st. Paul de Loando
IL will, of course. be possible for an observer
at either OF the South American spots where