El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-26

fore this is the best region for locating
the eclipse stations, so far as that con
lsideration is concerned The scientists
of the observatory, however, have tax
. en- thought of other conditions also.
| and although the period of eclipse Is
longer in the nelghborhood OF Norfolk,
have about decided to es5a olish sta
tions on high ground in North Caro-.
lima and Georgia. The stations Sc
lected will be occupied two or three
weeks before the eclipse. The instru-
ments will be erected, and the part each
man is to take will be thoroughly re-
hearsed. There will be careful
division of the work during the eclipse.
Each man will be assigned to some
particular duty, and he will bend
every effort to the gathering of all
| data possible in that connection.
| There will be but minute and half
| in which to make Il ii the observations,
and it Is imperative that the whole
affair thould be carefully systematized
and that each man should know de-
fnitely and absolutely what he is to
do.
THOUSANDS WILL TAKE OBSERvA-
TIONS.
"No previous eclipse has had the at
tension of SO many skilled observers as
will watch this one The Smithsonian
Institution will have q corps in the field
under Prof. s. +. Largely. Princeton
College will have force under Prof.
Young; the University of Penn Viva
MIA, under Prof. Stone, and the Yerkes
Observatory will conduct an expedi-
tion with Prof. Hale at Its head. T hese
are only few of the institutions which
are preparing for the field. In fact,
practically every college and scientific
Institution in the country will be re-
presented. ALI told, probably hun
dred expeditions of this kind will be
sent to the path of totality we'll equip
ped for some portion OF the work.
THE eclipse will be great attrac-
ton for neutrality-suspicious. who own
Photographic outfits or other scientific
instruments used in OBJ. CRYING the
phenomena of the solar eclipse. Let
ters have been received at the obser-
vatOry which warrant the prOgnostics-
tion that probably one Thousand of
these unattached 'amateurs will be
somewhere along the path OF the
eclipse. The government does not dis
courage these amateurs, but rather
gives them every encouragement, and
courts contributions of photographs
and data from them to add 10 the gov
ernment records. It is renembere
that one of the finest sets of phot-
ographs of the eclipse in India in 1896
was taken by an amateur WITH o home
made camera, but one having an excel
lent lens. Amateurs have been help
in the field in many instances, and they
are always ready to volunteer their
services. When Prof. Campbell, of the
Lick Observatory, went to observe the
eclipse in India he took only his wife
for assistant; on the field he found all
the trained volunteers necessary to
manipulate the seven instruments he
made use Of.
"The expeditions to be sent out by
the National Observatory will not be
large ones. They will consist prob
ably OF five or six observers, including
photographers. But the men cent will
be the best procurable. The govern
meut naturally has superior resources
60 draw On Tor making observations.
1t has at its disposal the lenses and
spectroscopes gathered during the
last twenty-five years, and its appro-
priation of money is probably larger
than any Of the institutions could af-
ford to devote to the purpose. Large
Instruments are now being prepared
for use next May. A number of spe-
c!al Photographic Instruments, rang
ing from q 40-inch telescope down.
will be erected on the field. Instru-
ID ents will be selected in all cases be-
cause of special fitness"
have ready for distribution little
pamphlet contsiuing the map of the
path of the eclipse, on sufficient
scale to show most of the towns and
cities, railroads and streams, aud the
elevation of points along the path of
totslity, together with the exact time
OF the eclipse. 1t will also contain
sugge stions for amateurs, by following
which they may ba able to contribute
much that is valuable from their OBJ
servatiOns.
After the eclipse the observatory
will pu blish a complete report of OBJ
servatiOns, with reproductions of pho
tOgrsphs and drawings. Any sketches,
photographs and observations, of
sufficient merit to make them worthy
OF preservation, will gladly be rsceiv-
ed by the scientistslaud included in this
publication.
Now Is The Time.