The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-07-25

TRAVEL 10000 MILES TO VIEW
AN ECLIPSE.
Professor Todd of Amherst Expects
10 Make 400 photographs on
n Japanese Island.

To obtain a two minute glimpse Of the
sun while that orb is in eclipse few sci
entists will have made journey of over
10000 miles and spent about $4,000 III it
should happen to be cloudy at the precise
time that the face of the sun is obscured
the scientists will have made the Journey
spent the money and given a years hard
work for nothing. Even the nervest gam
bier would hesitate to accept such desper-
ate chances.
In the middle of the afternoon of Sun
day, Aug. ., next the sun will be in total
eclipse. This is a rare event among as
tronomers and scientists in all parts of
the world have been making arrange
ments to take advantage Of it. The worst
of it is that the eclipse will not be visible
from any part of North America, but that
fact has not deferred Professor David p
Todd OF Amherst College from a deter
mination to see it, He is now at Yezo.
one of the most northern islands of
Japan, with thirty telescopes and photo
graphic paraphernalia, and if the weather
conditions are favorable he expects to
obtain the finest collection of photo
graphs of the sun in eclipse the world
over.
Were it not for the assistance of some
enthusiastic amateur astronomers this
trip would cost double the money that is
being spent, and if this were the case it
is doubtful If any college or scientist
would feel justified to risk the large sum
when the vagaries of the weather may
ruin everything.
A Long Voyage.
| These amateurs are Arthur Curtis
James and his father, D. Willis James.
They own the noted schooner yacht Coro-
net. which defeated Dauntless in the his
| toric ocean race across the Atlantic in
the spring of 1886 The plans for the trip
were made last fall, and in December
last the Coronet sailed from her anchor
age in New York bay for San Francisco
| by way of Cape Horn. There are not
many yachts capable of standing a voy-
age of this kind, but the Coronet accom-
pushed it without trouble, making good
| time, and reaching the Golden Gate in
J May last. Before sailing from New York
| the Coronet was loaded with three tons
| of astronomical apparatus, including the
most cumbersome parts of many tele-
scopes and other paraphernalia. The very
| delicate parts of the mechanism We're
sent overland to San Francisco and plac-
ed on board the yacht on her arrival
there. In the long voyage around the
cape it was feared that these might be-
come badly disarranged, particularly as
the chances were that the yacht would
run into very heavy weather
Mr. Arthur Curtis James. Mrs. James
| Professor Todd and Mrs. Todd met the
Coronet at San Francisco, as none Of
them cared make the long and tedious
journey around the cape In the middle
of May the Coronet sailed again, with
4 taa fY,Il inc
Der of skilled mechanics for the long
voyage of 1000 miles across the Pacific.
Only one stop was made and that was
at Honolulu, 200 miles out The trip
| to Yezo was to consume seven weeks, and
while no advices have as yet been re-
ceived from the party, it is believed that
they have safely arrived.
Lovely Japanese Islands.
There is beautiful scenery in the Japa-
nese islands where the astronomers are.
During the time when they are getting
their instruments in readiness for use
they will be in a cheerful country and
one with an interesting population Yezo
is the land of the Aims, the hairy peo-
pie of northern Japan.
The city at which the Amherst eXpedi-
ton is stopping. Akeshi, has a popula-
ton of about 1000. There is excellent an
CHOIdSt lOI the yacht lneIc, ana JuSl
above the town are cliffs 200 or 300 feet
high where the instruments may be well
placed. Labor is plentiful and cheap, SC
that the scientists can, with their few
skilled mechanics. get their apparatus in
position without difficulty
The Eclipse.
To understand the character of the
eclipse imagine a small circular, non.
luminous body intervening between a
larger luminous globe and your eve
and near enough to the eye
to obscure the larger body, as
penny held near enough to the eye will
hide silver dollar or an orange will shu
off from the eye the big glass glob,
around an arc light.
The shadow of the orange will be cone
shaped, large near the orange and mar
rowing down to point. So with the sur
and moon, and at the time of the Angus
eclipse the shadow which begins at tn,
near side of the moon with a diamete
equal to the moons. will be truncated
just before it has narrowed to a point
by the earth. and will fall upon the eartl
with breadth of about 100 miles. 1t will
be as if the moon took a monster pain
brush, nodded it to a point, and, apply
ing little pressure, drew narrow blacl
line around that part of the earth which
revolved within reach.
The black line, or band, or shadow, vii
mark the earth from point west of Nor
way, in the ocean across Norway, Swe
den, Finland, northern Russia and ST
IBERIA, the Pacific ocean and some of tn
northern islands of Japan. OF these las
it will fall upon Soya and the north en-
of Yezo, Mombetsu and Yubetsu. Fror
| Yubetsu it will go on falling 1Ipon mount