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Story of Eclipses

<h1>[3]THE STORY OF ECLIPSES</h1> SIMPLY TOLD FOR GENERAL READERS. WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN OF MAY 28, 1900. BY GEORGE F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S. Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM”; “THE STORY OF THE STARS”; “A HANDBOOK OF DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY,” ETC. LONDON: GEORGE NEWNES, LTD. SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND 1899. [4]The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig01_th.jpg" width-obs="333" height-obs="472" alt="The Total Eclipse of the Sun, Sept. 7, 1858 (Liais)" title="The Total Eclipse of the Sun, Sept. 7, 1858 (Liais)" /> Fig. 1.—The Total Eclipse of the Sun, Sept. 7, 1858 (Liais).</div> <div class="textbody"> <h2 class="spaced">[5] PREFACE.</h2> <hr class="chapter" /> The present Volume is intended as a sequel to my two former volumes in the Newnes Series of “Useful Stories,” entitled respectively the “Story of the Solar System,” and the “Story of the Stars.” It has been written not only as a necessary complement, so to speak, to those works, but because public attention is already being directed to the forthcoming total eclipse of the Sun on May 28, 1900. This eclipse, though only visible as a partial one in England, will be total no further off than Portugal and Spain. Considering also that the line of totality will pass across a large tract of country forming part of the United States, it may be inferred that there will be an enormous number of English-speaking spectators of the phenomenon. It is for these in general that this little book has been written. For the guidance of those who may be expected to visit Portugal or Spain, a temporary Appendix has been prepared, giving a large amount of information showing how those countries can be best reached, whether by sea or overland, from the shores of England. [6]If anyone is inclined to doubt whether an eclipse expedition is likely to provide non-astronomical tourists with incidents of travel, pleasant, profitable, and even amusing, perhaps the doubt will be removed by a perusal of the accounts of Sir F. Galton’s trip to Spain in 1860 (Vacation Tourists in 1860, p. 422), or of Professor Tyndall’s trip to Algeria in 1870 (Hours of Exercise in the Alps, p. 429), or of Professor Langley’s Adventures on Pike’s Peak in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, U.S., in 1878 (Washington Observations, 1876, Appendix III. p. 203); or of some of the many Magazine and other narratives of the Norway eclipse of 1896 and the Indian eclipse of 1898. Subject to these special points no further prefatory explanation seems needed, the general style of the contents being, mutatis mutandis, identical with the contents of the Volumes which have gone before. I have to thank my friend, Dr. A. M. W. Downing, the Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, for kindly verifying the calculations in chapters II. and III. G. F. C. Northfield Grange, Eastbourne, 1899. <h2 class="spaced">[7]CONTENTS.</h2> <table class="contents" summary="Contents"> <tr><th>CHAP.</th><th></th><th class="page">PAGE</th></tr> <tr><td class="right">I.</td><td class="title">INTRODUCTION</td><td class="page">9</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">II.</td><td class="title">GENERAL IDEAS</td><td class="page">11</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">III.</td><td class="title">THE SAROS AND THE PERIODICITY OF ECLIPSES</td><td class="page">18</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">IV.</td><td class="title">MISCELLANEOUS THEORETICAL MATTERS CONNECTED WITH ECLIPSES OF THE SUN (CHIEFLY)</td><td class="page">34</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">V.</td><td class="title">WHAT IS OBSERVED DURING THE EARLIER STAGES OF AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">40</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">The Moon’s Shadow and the Darkness it causes</td><td class="page">41</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">Shadow Bands</td><td class="page">46</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">The Approach of Totality</td><td class="page">49</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">The Darkness of Totality</td><td class="page">53</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">Meteorological and other effects</td><td class="page">54</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">VI.</td><td class="title">WHAT IS OBSERVED DURING THE TOTAL PHASE OF AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">56</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">Baily’s Beads</td><td class="page">57</td></tr> <tr><td></td><td class="subtitle">The Corona</td><td class="page">62</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">VII.</td><td class="title">WHAT IS OBSERVED AFTER THE TOTAL PHASE OF AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN IS AT AN END</td><td class="page">73</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">VIII.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES OF THE SUN MENTIONED IN HISTORY—CHINESE</td><td class="page">75</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">IX.</td><td class="title">ARE ECLIPSES ALLUDED TO IN THE BIBLE</td><td class="page">86</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">X.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES MENTIONED IN HISTORY—CLASSICAL</td><td class="page">107</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XI.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES MENTIONED IN HISTORY—THE CHRISTIAN ERA TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST</td><td class="page">128</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XII.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES MENTIONED IN HISTORY—MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN</td><td class="page">145</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XIII.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES MENTIONED IN HISTORY—NINETEENTH CENTURY</td><td class="page">162</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XIV.</td><td class="title">THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH AS APPLIED TO ECLIPSES OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">179</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XV.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES OF THE MOON—GENERAL PRINCIPLES</td><td class="page">186</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XVI.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES OF THE MOON MENTIONED IN HISTORY</td><td class="page">197</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XVII.</td><td class="title">CATALOGUES OF ECLIPSES: AND THEIR CALCULATION</td><td class="page">218</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XVIII.</td><td class="title">STRANGE ECLIPSE CUSTOMS</td><td class="page">224</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XIX.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSES IN SHAKESPEARE AND THE POETS</td><td class="page">229</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XX.</td><td class="title">BRIEF HINTS TO OBSERVERS OF ECLIPSES</td><td class="page">233</td></tr> <tr><td class="right">XXI.</td><td class="title">TRANSITS AND OCCULTATIONS</td><td class="page">235</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="appendix"><big>APPENDIX—</big>INFORMATION RESPECTING THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF MAY 28, 1900, FOR TRAVELLERS VISITING PORTUGAL AND SPAIN</td><td class="page">239</td></tr> </table> <h2>[8]LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> <table> <tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th>PAGE</th></tr> <tr><td>FIG.</td><td class="right">1.</td><td class="title">TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, SEPTEMBER 7, 1858</td><td class="page">Frontispiece</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">2.</td><td class="title">THEORY OF TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">14</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">3.</td><td class="title">THEORY OF AN ANNULAR ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">15</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">4.</td><td class="title">ANNULAR ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">17</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">5.</td><td class="title">PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN</td><td class="page">17</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">6.</td><td class="title">SHADOW BANDS</td><td class="page">47</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">7.</td><td class="title">RAYS OF LIGHT SEEN DURING TOTALITY</td><td class="page">49</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">8.</td><td class="title">BRUSHES OF LIGHT</td><td class="page">57</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">9.</td><td class="title">“BAILY’S BEADS,” FOUR STAGES, AT BRIEF INTERVALS (MAY 15, 1836)</td><td class="page">58</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">10.</td><td class="title">CORONA OF 1882. SUN-SPOT MAXIMUM</td><td class="page">68</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">11.</td><td class="title">CORONA OF 1867. SUN-SPOT MINIMUM</td><td class="page">70</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">12.</td><td class="title">ECLIPSE OF JAN. 11, 689 B.C. AT JERUSALEM</td><td class="page">100</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">13.</td><td class="title">THEORY OF AN ECLIPSE OF THE MOON</td><td class="page">187</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">14.</td><td class="title">CONDITIONS OF ECLIPSES OF THE MOON</td><td class="page">189</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">15.</td><td class="title">OCCULTATION OF JUPITER, AUG. 7, 1889 (IMMERSION)</td><td class="page">237</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">16.</td><td class="title">OCCULTATION OF JUPITER, AUG. 7, 1889 (IMMERSION)</td><td class="page">237</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">17.</td><td class="title">OCCULTATION OF JUPITER, AUG. 7, 1889 (EMERSION)</td><td class="page">238</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">18.</td><td class="title">OCCULTATION OF JUPITER, AUG. 7, 1889 (EMERSION)</td><td class="page">238</td></tr> <tr><td class="center">"</td><td class="right">19.</td><td class="title">PATH OF THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN OF MAY 28, 1900</td><td class="page">at end of book.</td></tr> </table> <h1 style="margin-bottom: 1em">[9]THE STORY OF ECLIPSES.</h1> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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