Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-05
THE SUMS ECLIPSE.
Experiences Of the Lick Observatory
Party Who Landed at Cayenne.

Boston dispatch TO the New York Sun to
day says: Two Of the astronomers from the
Lick observatory in California-Profs. Burn
ham and Schaeberle-who journeyed to Cay
enne, French Guinea, to observe the total
eclipse of the sun last December. are now visit
ing Harvard university. Their experiences
differed from those of the astronomers who
visited other parts Of the globe. The astro-
nomical instruments startled the natives, and
When the party landed from the steamer they
were surrounded by . chattering, half-clad
crowd. who guessed that the visitors were for
eign invaders armed with q new-fangled sort
Of Calling gun. The French fortress III q few
miles from the town and the natives are pretty
familiar with weapons of warfare.
On the day of the eclipse the professors re-
sorted to the actual use OF cannon. Everybody
knows that unenlightened people regard with
superstitious dread any extraordinary darken-
ing Of the solar orb. Ecllpses Of the sun, par
ticularly when they are total. fill their minds
with forebOdings of war, famine and death.
When, therefore, through the announcement
OF the astronomers the common people learned
that the sun was about to hide his face they be-
come more than ordinarily terror stricken and
imagined again that the astronomical instru-
ments were death dealing agencies and that
they would be used to annihilate the town
during the period Of the eclipse. For this rea-
son the astronomers were careful not to expose
their precious apparatus to the possibly violent
curiosity of the mob. After the instruments
had been fixed for the observation of the
eclipse they were surrounded by small cannon,
which increased the apprehension of the ma
tives, but nevertheless kept them at a respect
full distance. They were manned by convicts,
who proved intelligent and faithful.
Entire success attended the scientific work of
the expedition. Early ON the morning of
December ~. the date of the eclipse, the
weather was unfavorable, as it had been almost
ever since the party reached Cayenne. The
sky was dark and cloudy. Between the moment
when the earth's shadow began to creep over
the surface of the sun and the period when the
sun was totally obscured there were two
showers. The second rainfall, occurring only
half an hour before the totality Of the eclipse,
was SO violent that it was necessary to cover
heavens quite clear. Still the conditions were
fairly favorable to. the purposes Of the
observation. When the photographs were
taken. and these were the chief objects OF
the work, there was only slight haze.
Photographs were successfully made of the
were obtained, of which four we're developed
with satisfactory results at the point of
observation. The remainder will receive the
attention of Profs Durham and Schaeberle
when they get back to San Francisco. As yet
they are unable to define the scientific results
OF their observations. Before doing SO they
will have to study carefully the negatives made
at Cayenne and also compare them with those
secured from former eclipses. 1t may safely
be said, however that these negatives show as
much Of the corona as any photographs here
tofOre taken. The plates used were of the
most sensitive kind, made especially for this
expedition, and the times Of exposure were
varied between wide limits The corona OBJ
served at Cayenne very closely resembles that
seen in California on January /, 1889. 1t is
elongated at the SUMS equator, but short at
the poles,