The morning times., 1897-02-02
OLD SOL PLAYED A TRICK
He Hid Behind Clouds at an In
tereSting Moment.
THE ASTRONOMERS PUT OUT
They Cherish Resentment Against
the weather Prognosticators Be
Clouds Roll By-There VIII BE an
Eclipse Some Other Day.

There is mere or less clearly defined
spectacular contention between the as
trononlers and tie weather makers. The
former have a grievance. 1t is true as
vet there mas been no official notification
OF a fugidity, but nevertheless such
thing exists The whole thing is due TO
a little rub between the sun and the
shadow OF the moon that occurred last
evening just as Old Sol was shutting up
shop for the day in the District.
IT was a total eclipse of the sun for i
part OF the world. For a few favored
spots in Washington, such as the top Of
tie Monument, the dome OF the Capitol,
tile .untlme d Windows at the top Of the
new postoffice tower, and tile observation
room of the Naval 0hserv atory, there
would have been few minutes when n
partial eclipse could have been seen. But
Here is where the difficulty came in
ana the weat ther man, accidentally or
otherwise. placed his foot in it, so to
speak To the average citizen OF Wash
lngton it probably did not matter whit
whether the sun and the moon got into
a difficulty or not. 1t was billed TO hc
lust at sunset anyhow ana the two elec-
tric light companies and the gas makers
were fully prepared to cope with any old
kind Of darkness that might see fit to come
aIong So far as could be learned, nobody
climbed Tie Capitol dome, rode up the Mon
ument elevator or scaled the postoffice
tower But with the astronomers out ut
tile Naval Observatory it was different
An eclipse, even the smallest pretense of
an eclipse, N cans ain ost as much to them
ts an Easter hat Goes to every Young lady
fin the city. Whether they come high or
low they must have them. They need them
in their business. For that reason every
time the almauacs say there is to.ng TO
Ice an eclipse the astronomers rub up their
tel,.sC ooeS and get ready their sensitive
plates and cameras and wait for IL 10 CCme
along. 1t can lie properly SAID, therefore,
that even Old Sol and Luna are not ex-
empt fIom the camera fiends.
Prof Hardness is confined TO his apart
uents with slight indIsl oStion- He cid
not watch for the eclipse. But Prof East
man and Prof Frshie and other aStronO-
mersa 1.-THE observatory did Every line that
the scurrying clouds OF yesterday brushed
out of the way and gave the sun chance
the astronomers smiled The smiles came
with dee rcasing frequency asthe Afternoon
rolled 10y.
As evening gathered, 20 did the clouds
in the West. The last Official view Of the
sun was caught at 4 O'Clock 3 minutes
and 2S seconds. A short time after that
the weather maEcIs came ont VIII! TIE
Observation-Disclosures il was purl osely ar
ranged scheme or not could not be ascer-
tained-that the weather would be cloudy
and that there might Toe snow and rain,
or anything but eclipscs.
There was no communication between
the weather makers and the astronomers
The latter could see the snowbankS gather
ing in the west just as well as any other
peaceabie citizens 1t is TO be presumed
that they felt disguised. The presumption
is borne out by the facksthat the aStrono-
mers beganleavingthe observatoryone at a
time. The eclipse behind the clouds had lot
begun yet, but they knew it was no use u
wait At o'clock i minutes and 40 sec
onds Prof Eastman left. When tae re-
porter arrived at the observatory there was
no one there but the watchman.
He said he understood that an eclipse
was coming off at that very minute, but
be had no official Information on the sub
!ect, because his superiors had gone If
they had stayed and turned the telescope
on the western bank of clouds, he said
they would have seen nothing bat clouds
for the X-ray telescope had not yet heer
completed. The sun set at O'Clock and 21
minutes II is not believed that the ECLIPSE
caught on and was accidentally carried
down, for. if the almanacS were correct
the black spot should have slid off just
one minute and thirty-twO seconds before
this time.
But there were places where, barin.
friction with the weather men in the lie
spective quarters, the eclipse could be seen
and it was good one. 1t was the regular
annular eclipse Of the sun, and in suct
places as the central Pacific. Patagonia
and New Zealand an excellent view # The
spectacle was to be had. As the Offens'
of the weather men cannot be repeated TO
some time, there will probably be no eli
max to the controversy that is alleged tC
have arisen between them and the astron
omers.