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HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY.

Capies * * * § , at Geneva by Duillierf, at Nuremburg , by Wurtzelban J, and ata variety of other places. At Montpellier the total obscuration lasted4 m 10 s . During the time that the sun was totally hidden, there appeareda corona of light around the dark body of the moon. The planets Venus ,Mercury, and Saturn , as well as Aldebaran, and several other fixed stars,were visible to the naked eye. The effects produced upon the animatedcreation by the sudden transition from day to night were remarkable.“ The bats flew about as at dusk. The fowls and pigeons betook them-selves in great haste to their resting-places. The little birds which sungin cages were silent and put their heads under their wings. The animalswhich were at labour stood still.” At Geneva the total obscuration lasted3™. Duillier states, that the Council which had been engaged in delibera-tion when the eclipse came on, arose from their seats, because they wereunable to read or write. Bats were seen flying about, and swallows look-ing in amazement for a place of refuge. In several parts of the city therewere seen persons prostrate on the ground and offering up prayers, underthe impression that the last day was come. On the tops of some of themountains of Switzerland , where the view of the heavens v T as not ob-structed by the gross vapours that accumulate in the lower regions of thehorizon, the stars appeared as thickly strewed as in the time of full moon.The aspect of the heavens could neither be compared to the darkness ofnight, or the chastened hue of twilight §. Wurtzelban states, that it wasimpossible for any person not to feel appalled at the spectacle j|.

Halley lias given an interesting account of the total eclipse of the sunwhich happened at London on the 3rd of May, 171551. The total ob-scuration lasted 3 m Sti*. The planets Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus , as wellas Capella and Aldebaran, were visible to the naked eye. There appeareda luminous ring around the moon as on the occasion of the eclipse of1706. “ I forbear,” says Halley, “ in bis communication to the Royal

Society , “ to mention the chill and damp which attended the darkness ofthis eclipse, of which most spectators were sensible and equally judges.Nor shall I trouble you with the concern that appeared in all sorts ofanimals, birds, beasts, and fishes, upon the extinction of the sun, sinceourselves could not behold it without some sense of horror.” ** * * §§

Louville, who repaired from Paris to London , for the express purposeof witnessing this eclipse, has also given an account of it which appearsin the “ Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences,” for 1715 Lb- In variousplaces of England which were more favou@ble for observing the phenome-non than London , as many as twenty stars were seen with the naked eyeduring the totality of the eclipse Jj. The direction of the shadow wastowards the north-east. At Upsal, in Sweden , the total obscuration lasted4™ 6 s §§•

On the 22nd of May, 1724, a total eclipse of the sun happened, whichwas visible in France and Germany . It was observed by Maraldi and J.

* Mem. Acad, des Sciences, 1706, p. 113 (Hist.).

+ Phil. Trans., 1706, p. 2241, et seq.

j Miscellanea Beroliniensis, tom. i., p. 219, et seq.

§ Mem. Acad, des Sciences, 1706, p. 118 (Hist.).

|| Miscellanea Beroliniensis, tom. i., p. 223.

If Phil. Trans., 1715, p. 245, et seq. ** Phil. Trans., 1715, p. 261.

f+ Mem. Acad, des Sciences, 1715, p. 89, et seq. Jt Phil. Trans., 1715, p. 250.

§§ Ibid., 1715, p. 256.