The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-10

fore, having been delayed by the diff
ficulty in obtaining the finest quality
of glass from Germany needed for the
lenses.
The French party, under Prof. Des-
landres of the Paris Observatory. was
established near the western end OF the
town, in large, open square OF land,
where the various tents and houses,
the brick piers and large instruments.
made almost little village in them
selves. The outfit was very elaborate,
and was intended quite exclusively for
work in spectroscopy, the speciality of
this celebrated astronomical physicist,
who has added to the fame of the al
ready famous Paris Observatory by his
successful and brilliant work in physi-
cal research, in photographing the So
lar prominences without an eclipse
(the same line of work that is pur-
sued by Prof. Hale of Chicago), and by
his discovery of the rotation of the
eclipse of April 16, 1893, Assisting Prof.
Deslandres are the brothers F. and ].
Mittau and M Millochau. The French
man-of-war Alger brought these gen.
tlemen to Esashi from Yokohama, and
very valuable cooperation was given
by its officers. These gentlemen were
assisted by a detachment of sailors
from the Alger, and their presence
quite revolutionized life in the quiet
little town. Prof. Deslandres' outfit is
probably the most elaborate and com-
plete battery of spectrocsopic instra-
ments ever brought to bear on an
eclipse by and single expedition. Alss,
appliances were not omitted for pic
torial photography of the corona.
The preparation of the Amherst ex-
pedition has been already alluded to,
with it's automatic arrangement where
with electricity is made to do the work
of many observers, in exposing and
covering plates, removing them from
the Photographic field and inserting
fresh ones, thus extending almost in
definitely the precious two or three
of totality, rich with its tan
stores of coronal wealth. Fast
ened upon one great central axis, made
to follow the sun by an ingenious glyc-
crime clock, where the Lyman twelve
inch reflector from the Amherst Oh
servatory, the Draper fifteen-inch re-
f1ector from Harvard, an Edgcomb re-
nector of eight and a half inches, nu-
cylo hx
& Sons, the largest of which has ten
inch lense lent by Harvard, and one of
seven and quarter by Amherst, siS-
inch objective made by Schroeder of
Hamburg, and a great variety of pho
tographic doublets. In addition were
arranged and lent by DIR.
Wright of the Sloane Laboratory OF
Yale University, two spectroscopes
from Harvard Observatory and the
Institute Of Technology
and a wheel photometer for measuring
the variation of the intensity of the
-otal light of the corona.
All this apparatus was individually
with the electric commu-
.ator Invented by Prof. Todd and
made for this eclipse), slowly revolv-
ng copper cylinder full of pins, each
IF which represented a certain move
nent of one particular instrument at
/ given fraction of a second. The whole
hing, most complicated to have in
rented and thought out in all it's prac-
ical workings, but absolutely simple
n manipulation, was set up and ad-
usted in time, and its working was
perfect; at a touch of the electric key
plates came into place, were exposed,
covered and passed out, and new ones
brought up for exposure, all with the
precision of machine. Thus was dem
onstrated the practicability of apply
ng an unlimited amount of apparatus,
automatically, to the various and fer
lie problems of eclipse research. 1t is
possible with the arrangement now
perfected to take between three and
four hundred pictures of the corona IN
two minutes and a half, and that with
out having to depend upon the fiuctu-
ations in the nervous systems OF
crowd of observers, many of whom ut
is to be hoped in justice to their sense
of the sublime in nature) might fire.
uuently be so affected by the spectacn-
lar part of an eclipse that their routine
work would be injured.
The chances for clear sky in Esashi