The sun., 1900-06-28
LIGHT FROM OLD ECLIPSES.
DATES ~ HISTORY ESTABLIsHED
ny CELESTIAL PHENOuENA.
An Interesting Paper by Prof. stockwrli Read
Before the Astronomers fe'terdn'-hr'
Edward Atkinson II Active Again In the
N.IIheIatlnn. OF the Stlentlnc Nen.


The men OF science who have been in session
In various classrooms of Columbia uh''r9'H
will close their reunion on Friday moFnlhg'
Tho American Association for the ho'a"'e'
ment OF Science, with tho sixteen affiliated So
cieties which have taken part IN ,he lfo'''u-
ings, will then adjourn to meet at som" place
which will be selected at this morning . 'eN'''"
after the election Of officers for the ensuing
year has taken place.
Yesterday the sc,tons devoted TO ma'h'-
MATES and astronomy. physics. chemistry
mechanical scianco and engineering H'ooES
and geography, zoology, botany, ahlm"poIoSH
and social and economic science all had sessions
both ,norninr and afternoon aud In oil no less
than Ii3 pagers were read, followed IN many
cases by very interesting debate. EdNad
Atkinson again trottcd out yesterday his hoppy
horses, "Imperialism" and "Mthrism' ana
those fiery eteeds, which might well have beeh
rather Jaded from the hard run he gave them on
Tuesday, seemed ~ fresh and risky ana rs
fun OF Atknsonian CavOftlngi a. though th'y
xere lust In from pasture. II was rather a
heavy and numbering cart that Mr.. Atkinson
had them h.tched up TO yesterday inc
Influence Of Mechanical Science on the Soria
Conditions Of humanity, Win Special ke'-
erence 10 the Invention Of Killing instruments
VIVA what no called il. and II waa vehicle rath'r
more suggestive uf the ox-team soDrlety Oh
Boer troll than a war chariot. Mr.. Atkinson
soon had il numbering and JoltIng at mao
gallon right in the vortex Of batlenelds anu
up 10 tie hubs in gore The only thing ne IN
sisted on about the gore was that IT be the gore
of oiiiccys, presumably that OF American a'iiS
Officers prcfcrred ,..,,, ,,osso,
of the people said Alr Atkinson speaking
pertnputy u the subject 81 MefHHl,,'
Science" which bstrhys them to the fal>r lral-
,ers who prOmit Is MlItarisln and permit TIhil-
nal Aggression to bo committed ahu ulJu5'
dable wiTs to be conducted AT tnrH cost b"l
the progress which ha' Just put the uadssii.ln
and the mechanic In control of tho aft OF WA
Is gradually IeTvadlnx great masses Ul the I'ru-
pie OF this country aud ~ Europe, Developing
what has been called tho thlnRIhe Da!onrt
When the great body uf the priyat'' carry thlhk-
Ing bay onrts, II Wal be- useless lor tue lu'AttIy
class to array tueIu-rlNcS IN contests WIN eh,h
other and order them TO hstt. lhry WI rlgntS
say: We privdteS will net XIII e,ch other ana
we refuse 10 engage III mutual slaughter, our
Interests are the same, We de-li" lQ htep tp
\ peace and e&cnans' ,'rSlce'' nov pn.irVt WIN ~
each other We Will however, Obey 10 the
Oletter one class ~ your orders. We Will an
Nomnteor In the shaTpshoutlng dlytoh Whith
SOU have ordered 70 shoot the oHlorrs on IN"
ttner side ana not 10 waste powder on lAc ill-
N''sNhen the number has been sufficiently ,di,
tnnshed 10 be Incapable ~ luilIef mn uhcl
thr priVatcs will salute each ulhfr, return 10
thc pursuits uf Icnce, oruor ana li'uu"tlN, Nd
BE- thereafter free from tie ilalslnht llnu.
snces OF mtan'm, sSnerat'9 IL. li.at ,pL rpitLl.
the true remark that when ou scratch JlhSo
you hnd pirate.
In tLa n, rtlon OF mathematics and astronomy
Prof j. ". Stoukwrll read naITr on New
Light From Old ECupses, III Which the WIT
Inss Of ancient authors were cited IN rciefchce
TO eclipses both of the sun ana the moon h1-
ings there Ia mention Of cCllpsrs, l. SUPPOSED
10 have been born In tho year Is {, AL, and
since he described events OF which lie Wan a
itrSonnl witness We may safely commence
our research for eClpscs with the year B {. 40
without danger of overlooking any. An eclipse
occurring Aug. 3 j, C. AL was very nearly total
nj Athens according to my own computation,
and il seems TO satisfy the description Of the
one a. occurring IN the summer OF the hfst
year Of war, and We may aocept i aS SUCH
at least professionally. II this il the correct
date We ought to md another cclps-, visible
at Athens early in tho year B, {. 42t We find.
In fact, that on March q Of that year there was
a small eclipse Of the sun visible at Athens,
and a, IL occurred at tho very beginning of
the summer, or the campaign season, ii also
satisfies tho description OF tho came as given
by Thucydides Now. II these two dates are
corr, It, we ought to fnd an eclipse of the moon
some time during the season Of military opera
tlons IN the year B C.. %l3. We ma. III TACT,
that there wero two ecllp-rs OF the moon that
year which wero visible IN Greece, one Of which
took place on March and the other Aug. ~
the latter being total.
record given by ThuCydide., and II We pursue
the inquiry we shall find that there were no
other three eclipses visible IN Greece ana oc.
curing In tho same order during period ~
SOo years. The three cclipees which We have
thus discovered ore therefore the only ones
that occurred during the lifetime OF Ihucyd-
Of tho Peloponncsian War with as much ac-
curacy as any date in the worlds history.
"herodotls also refers 70 an ,ecinse, thus
the ds G ana nf hsoTanu. .. ns
historian, mentions nm cClip-e taking place in
Constantnopls in which he mentions the hour
and ,hs day Of tns wssn In e S',S S,S T'o S
DESCRIPTION given by the historian;
There are traditions that In the twenty-
sG0W2 ssn %hSh Ssn' war Ybe Is T in china " and Ma,
CURED on the day Of the autumnal equinox
Investigation shows that m eclipse visible IN
China took place in u. g. ?l37, on Oct y. and
the following year on oct 10 there was
an eclipse which was visible az noon through
out the whole Of China 1hi. last eclipse hap
pened on the day OF the equinox. and thus the
tradition concerning tho eclipse. which has
given rise 10 so much frutless Research, at once
becomes authentic history.
There IA another tradition concerning this
same eclipse to the eject that the Astronomers
Ho and Ill were put 10 death FOR having failed
10 predict IT,. This failure on their part may bo
very plansibly ACCOUNTED for by the eclipse "
the iprecedng year, since II IL very unusual
for two ecllpses OF the sun TO be Svlsibls at tho
same place In two successive years and they
NhOhshN b'h' eNNh III ''NHS wa IN
possible.
Numerous other Instances Of tho dates of
ancient events may be added. and tho whole
atmosphere OF history Is luminous with now
light from old eclipses."
DIR. Walter +. Wilcox. professor Of economics
In Cornell University and chief statistician OF
the Census once. read paper on the diftcultie@
OF census taking In which lie enumerated the
defects OF past cenSuseS n regards the statstlCs
OF births marriages, divorces, deaths and the
industries. In the present census, he said
similar defects were inevitable hut under the
system adopted which no described in detail --
they will be reduced TO tho smallest dimensions
possible,
The American Microscopical Society will hole
tts first session this afternoon, and In the even.
Ing the address Of the society President, Prof
a. n. Bleile. professor Of physiology in Ohio
University. win be delivered In tho rooms Of th'
New York McrosCopicol Society, ~ Madison
avenue, The. subject IA The Detection an'
Recognition Of Blood"
Miss Cora A. BonncSon, NJ, IT.. b. Of Cam
bridge. Mass read paper before the Advance
ment OF Science Association yesterday on TN,
subject, The Power Of our Court, TO Inter
pret Constitutions" NJ tho hist annual meetin!
Of the association Miss BNuneson rend a papC
on Federal Guarantees for Maintaining Repuh
lcan Government in the States which attracte,
40 much attention that sho was there and ther
elected u fellow Ot the association. She il
graduate of Michigan University, where sh
studied constitutional law under the instruction
OF the lnte Judge Cooley who AT the time sh
was a student was professor In the university
LOiN ASSOCIATION Nv TROUBLE.