[3]THE STORY OF ECLIPSES
SIMPLY TOLD FOR GENERAL READERS.
WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE TOTAL ECLIPSE
OF THE SUN OF MAY 28, 1900.
BY
LONDON: GEORGE NEWNES, LTD.
SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND
1899.
[4]The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.
Fig. 1.—The Total Eclipse of the Sun, Sept. 7, 1858 (Liais).[5]PREFACE.
The present Volume is intended as a sequel tomy two former volumes in the Newnes Seriesof “Useful Stories,” entitled respectively the“Story of the Solar System,” and the “Storyof the Stars.” It has been written not only asa necessary complement, so to speak, to thoseworks, but because public attention is alreadybeing directed to the forthcoming total eclipseof 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 andSpain. Considering also that the line of totalitywill pass across a large tract of country formingpart of the United States, it may be inferredthat there will be an enormous number of English-speakingspectators of the phenomenon. Itis for these in general that this little book hasbeen written. For the guidance of those whomay be expected to visit Portugal or Spain, atemporary Appendix has been prepared, givinga large amount of information showing how thosecountries can be best reached, whether by seaor overland, from the shores of England.
[6]If anyone is inclined to doubt whether an eclipseexpedition is likely to provide non-astronomicaltourists with incidents of travel, pleasant, profitable,and even amusing, perhaps the doubt willbe removed by a perusal of the accounts ofSir F. Galton’s trip to Spain in 1860 (VacationTourists in 1860, p. 422), or of Professor Tyndall’strip to Algeria in 1870 (Hours of Exercise in theAlps, p. 429), or of Professor Langley’s Adventureson Pike’s Peak in the Rocky Mountains,Colorado, U.S., in 1878 (Washington Observations,1876, Appendix III. p. 203); or of some ofthe many Magazine and other narratives of theNorway eclipse of 1896 and the Indian eclipseof 1898.
Subject to these special points no further prefatoryexplanation seems needed, the general styleof the contents being, mutatis mutandis, identicalwith the contents of the Volumes which havegone before.
I have to thank my friend, Dr. A. M. W.Downing, the Superintendent of the NauticalAlmanac, for kin