The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-23


friendly sun, and in Japan on such occa-
sions the peasants cover their wells to
! prevent poison from falling into them
weird and dreadful shadow envelops all
things, and strange chill falls over the
| and. Sometimes dew falls.
Describing such an eclipse. Mary l.
Todd, the astronomer. says:
"A sense OF uneasiness seems gradually
to steal over all life Cows and horses
feed internationally, bird songs diminish.
grass-hoppers fall quiet. and a suggestion
OF chill crosses the air A weird light
wan, unnatural, and different from twi-
light, falls upon the landscape Darker
and darker it grows and at this stage
frightened savages beat upon gonss with
wild shouts and uproar Then with
frightful velocity the actual shadow OF
the moon is seen approachiEg-a tangi-
BILE darkness like wall. swift as inlagi-
nation. silent as doom. Strong must be
the nerves not 10 CULVER as this blue-black
shadow rushes upon the spectator with
Incredible speed.
"A deathlike trance SeiZes upon every
thing earthly Then ont OF the darkness
rona-a silvery. soft. unearthly Hight
with radiant streamers stretching millions
of miles into space. while rosy. flaming
protaberances skirt the black rim Of the
moon. II has become curiously cold Sud
denly an arrow OF sunlight strikes the
landscape, and earth comes 70 life again,
while corona and pretuberances melt into
the returning brilliance. and perhaps the
receding lunar shadow is glimpsed as II
flies away with the tremendous speed OF
its approach"
Astronomers nowadays are more inter-
ested in the corona than in any other fea-
ture OF a total eclipse. Nor need this be
wondered at. inasmuch as the phenome-
non is wholly mystery. no satisfactory
explanation of ii having been found. At
the period of "totality'-that Is. when the
face Of the sun is entirely hidden by the
moon-a pale halo OF light Is seen en-
circling the dark body of the lunar orb.
Being so pale. as compared with the sun
itself, this halo is never observable ex-
cept when the moon interposes itself be
tween the sun and the earth; hence the
great eagerness OF astronomers to use
those few precious moments for the pur-
pose OF watching the phenomenon in ques-
ton.
Commonly the observer who is 20 take
special note OF the corona on the occa-
sion OF a special eclipse has his eyes
bandaged for ten minutes before "totali-
~" so that they may be accurately SEN
sitive TO the faintest rays. Then, as well
as he can he sketches its appearance, and
most particularly the wonderful stream
ers which are seen extending from the
sun ten million miles or more into space.
Now. what are these stTeamers? No
body knows. What is it that composes
the halo-like envelope of the sun? No
body can tell that either. II IS surmised
by some astronomers that the corona Is
composed of star dust-meteoris matter
in a finely divided state-which Is rend
cred visible by rejecting the radiance Of
the solar photosphere. Another theory IS
that it is electrical. and yet another that
1t represents a gaseous atmosphere sur
rounding the sun. 1t was Professor S p.
Langley who in 1878. discovered the CO.
ronal streamers from the summit OF
Pixies Peak: but as far back as 1869 Pro-
fessor Young found in the corona a sub
stance unlike anything known on the
earth to which he gave the name "coro-
MUM"
Another curious thing noticed at the
period of totally" is the shooting cut
Of vivid rosy-colored flames around the
edge of the moon. These have been pho
togra pied, and It has even been ascsr-
tanned by spectral analysis that they ere
composed chiefly OF hydrogen-of course
in a tremendous state of combustion.
These flames spring up from the burning
shell or envelope OF the sun. and it has
been estimated by Langley that. where
as the shell itself may be 5000 miles thick
the jets in question leap outward from
1000 TO 100000 miles. Some OF them are
so great in size as to suggest the .dea
Of eruptions from solar volcanoes, en-
gendered on a scale inconceivably vast
Photography was first successfully ap-
piled to total eclipse IN 1851 at K3uigs-
burg. when fine records were obtained not
only Of the rudy flames which burst
forth az "totality' but Of the mysterious
radiance OF the corona However. the a.
Economical event OF 1890 viii be represent
ed through the aid OF the camera With a
completeness never before dreamed of
All the countries OF Europe viii be rep
resented by observers IN the United
States and Spain. and in. Africa, Commu-
nicauon by wire will be maintained be-
tween the stations IN this country and
ttose n Eurcre ard Alglers. AMI ne OF
the objects sought will be 10 ascertain
whether the corona exhibits alterations
OF aspect as viewed Al different hours
and from points wide apart.
The moon. on the occasion Of = ts.sl
eclipse. conceals the sun entirely oscaHse
though 900 times smaller than the after
Il f. 40 times nearer the earth. lis shId-
ow sweeps eastward over the earth "a; the
rate Of 20e miles an hour bnt the a.
server Is also carried eastward by ire
90 rth's rotation at one-half that rate. %
that the apparent movement Of the sHa3-
ow is only l.o9 miles az hour.
- any one point IN the shadow path
during the eclipse % MAY. partial dark
ness viii last for about two hours. bgt
the observation viii only be complete FOR
z minute and a half Though the shadow
path IS thousands ~ miles long - f. only
about 10 miles vide. and. for best OBJ
servation Of the total phase. one must
place oneself near the middle q the
track.
One thing FOR which the asfronone-F
viii keep sharp lockout s. the alleged
planet which was declared by the famous
I,e Verier % De somewhere inzlfe the CT
bif q Mercury. He never saw g. but ne
proved % his own satisfaction ~ .nafhs-
mates that Il must b there. and he even
calculated its o-F1it and named y vulcan,
Some astronomers eth believe in g..
To most people The prediction = eciips~s
81 ore q ths most myste5l0uE things
ina ,sosr,1a s.-,f sF~u lid sfvre q ~r~sr,a