HISTORY OP PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY.
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the air was exhausted, being exposed to the sun, was found to have de-scended 8°.7 between 5 h 6 m and 5 h 48“*. A. thermometer with a bulb ofordinary glass descended 5°.5 between 5 1 ' 10 m and 5 h 48 m . At thevarious places of Italy , where observations of this nature were made, themean descent of the thermometer was 2°.5 Reaumur. At Lipesk, M.Otto Struve found that a thermometer placed in the shade fell 3° Reau-mur i- At Perpignan, Turin , Vienna, and several other places, a heavydew fell during the obscuration.
The total eclipse of July 8, 1842, afforded an interesting illustration ofthe high state of perfection which astronomical science has attained, in thefidelity with which it responded to the calculations that had been pre-viously made respecting the time of its occurrence. The coincidencewhich subsisted in this respect, combined with the remarkable phenomenawhich presented themselves during the obscuration, were also well cal-culated to elevate the mind to a contemplation of the Eternal Beingwho directs the movements of the celestial bodies with such unerringI regularity, and exercises such an all-pervading influence over the in-
j numerable arrangements of creation. Although in European countries
I a total eclipse of the sun is no longer regarded with feelings of super-' stitious terror, it would be forming an opinion of human nature equallyerroneous and ignoble, to suppose that in the present advanced state ofcivilisation, a spectacle of such sublimity could be viewed with scepticalindifference. “All the accounts respecting this eclipse,” says Sig.Piola, “ contain reflections on the perfection of that great machine ofthe universe, whose movements are so regular that the astronomer is en-abled, long beforehand, to predict their effects with unfailing precision ; andfrom contemplating the machine, it was natural to ascend to the SupremeArtificer. While this idea swells in the mind, there is another which, atthe same time, shrinks into insignificance—that suggested by contem-plating the position of man in the midst of creation. The magnificenceof the scale upon which the phenomena of the eclipse, whether atmo-spheric or celestial, took place, was patent to every spectator. The exten-sive coloration of an unusual hue, that was visible, the rapid changeswhich occurred, above all the obscurity which settled over nature likethe funereal pall thrown over a dead body, and whose subsequent with-drawal in an instant, operated like a resurrection—all this produced onthe mind a mixture of profound and indefinable impressions which itwill be pleasing to hold long in remembrance.”;
Among the various eclipses of the sun recorded as having happened inancient times, some were, in all probability, annular; but in no instanceis the description of the writer sufficiently clear to establish, beyondall doubt, the actual occurrence of an eclipse of this nature. The earliesteclipse, which is unequivocally asserted to have been annular , -was onewhich occurred in the year 1567. Clavius, who observed it at Rome , hasstated that, when the obscuration was greatest, there still remainedaround the moon’s limb a very narrow ring of the solar light §. Kepler,however, found by calculation, that the sun must have been totally coveredby the moon on that occasion, and upon this ground he maintained thatthe luminous ring, observed by Clavius, was no other than the corona
* The total obscuration commenced at 5 h 46 m 51 s a.m.t Bibliotheque TJniverselle de Geneve, vol. xliv., p. 309.
1 Giornale dell’ Istituto del Lombardo, tom. iv., p. 320.
8 Sphoeva Sacrobosci, cap. iv.
B B 2