Astronomy of To-day: A Popular Introduction in Non-Technical Language. Cecil Goodrich Julius Dolmage

Roman history, but their identity is very doubtful in comparison with those which the Greeks have recorded. Additional doubt is cast upon them by the fact that they are usually associated with famous events. The birth and death of Romulus, and the Passage of the Rubicon by Julius Cæsar, are stated indeed to have been accompanied by these marks of the approval or disapproval of the gods!

      Reference to our subject in the Bible is scanty. Amos viii. 9 is thought to refer to the Nineveh eclipse of 763 B.C., to which allusion has already been made; while the famous episode of Hezekiah and the shadow on the dial of Ahaz has been connected with an eclipse which was partial at Jerusalem in 689 B.C.

      The first solar eclipse, recorded during the Christian Era, is known as the "Eclipse of Phlegon," from the fact that we are indebted for the account to a pagan writer of that name. This eclipse took place in A.D. 29, and the total phase was visible a little to the north of Palestine. It has sometimes been confounded with the "darkness of the Crucifixion," which event took place near the date in question; but it is sufficient here to say that the Crucifixion is well known to have occurred during the Passover of the Jews, which is always celebrated at the full moon, whereas an eclipse of the sun can only take place at new moon.

      Dion Cassius, commenting on the Emperor Claudius about the year A.D. 45, writes as follows:—

      "As there was going to be an eclipse on his birthday, through fear of a disturbance, as there had been other prodigies, he put forth a public notice, not only that the obscuration would take place, and about the time and magnitude of it, but also about the causes that produce such an event."

      This is a remarkable piece of information; for the Romans, an essentially military nation, appear hitherto to have troubled themselves very little about astronomical matters, and were content, as we have seen, to look upon phenomena, like eclipses, as mere celestial prodigies.

      What is thought to be the first definite mention of the solar corona occurs in a passage of Plutarch. The eclipse to which he refers is probably one which took place in A.D. 71. He says that the obscuration caused by the moon "has no time to last and no extensiveness, but some light shows itself round the sun's circumference, which does not allow the darkness to become deep and complete." No further reference to this phenomenon occurs until near the end of the sixteenth century. It should, however, be here mentioned that Mr. E.W. Maunder has pointed out the probability[6] that we have a very ancient symbolic representation of the corona in the "winged circle," "winged disc," or "ring with wings," as it is variously called, which appears so often upon Assyrian and Egyptian monuments, as the symbol of the Deity (Fig. 7).

      Fig. 7.—The "Ring with Wings." The upper is the Assyrian form of the symbol, the lower the Egyptian. (From Knowledge.) Compare the form of the corona on Plate VII. (B), p. 142.

      The first solar eclipse recorded to have been seen in England is that of A.D. 538, mention of which is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The track of totality did not, however, come near our islands, for only two-thirds of the sun's disc were eclipsed at London.

      

      In 840 a great eclipse took place in Europe, which was total for more than five minutes across what is now Bavaria. Terror at this eclipse is said to have hastened the death of Louis le Debonnaire, Emperor of the West, who lay ill at Worms.

      In 878—temp. King Alfred—an eclipse of the sun took place which was total at London. From this until 1715 no other eclipse was total at London itself; though this does not apply to other portions of England.

      An eclipse, generally known as the "Eclipse of Stiklastad," is said to have taken place in 1030, during the sea-fight in which Olaf of Norway is supposed to have been slain. Longfellow, in his Saga of King Olaf, has it that

      "The Sun hung red

       As a drop of blood,"

      but, as in the case of most poets, the dramatic value of an eclipse seems to have escaped his notice.

      In the year 1140 there occurred a total eclipse of the sun, the last to be visible in England for more than five centuries. Indeed there have been only two such since—namely, those of 1715 and 1724, to which we shall allude in due course. The eclipse of 1140 took place on the 20th March, and is thus referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:—

      "In the Lent, the sun and the day darkened, about the noon-tide of the day, when men were eating, and they lighted candles to eat by. That was the 13th day before the calends of April. Men were very much struck with wonder."

      Several of the older historians speak of a "fearful eclipse" as having taken place on the morning of the Battle of Crecy, 1346. Lingard, for instance, in his History of England, has as follows:—

      "Never, perhaps, were preparations for battle made under circumstances so truly awful. On that very day the sun suffered a partial eclipse: birds, in clouds, the precursors of a storm, flew screaming over the two armies, and the rain fell in torrents, accompanied by incessant thunder and lightning. About five in the afternoon the weather cleared up; the sun in full splendour darted his rays in the eyes of the enemy."

      Calculations, however, show that no eclipse of the sun took place in Europe during that year. This error is found to have arisen from the mistranslation of an obsolete French word esclistre (lightning), which is employed by Froissart in his description of the battle.

      In 1598 an eclipse was total over Scotland and part of North Germany. It was observed at Torgau by Jessenius, an Hungarian physician, who noticed a bright light around the moon during the time of totality. This is said to be the first reference to the corona since that of Plutarch, to which we have already drawn attention.

      Mention of Scotland recalls the fact that an unusual number of eclipses happen to have been visible in that country, and the occult bent natural to the Scottish character has traditionalised a few of them in such terms as the "Black Hour" (an eclipse of 1433), "Black Saturday" (the eclipse of 1598 which has been alluded to above), and "Mirk Monday" (1652). The track of the last-named also passed over Carrickfergus in Ireland, where it was observed by a certain Dr. Wybord, in whose account the term "corona" is first employed. This eclipse is the last which has been total in Scotland, and it is calculated that there will not be another eclipse seen as total there until the twenty-second century.

      An eclipse of the sun which took place on May 30, 1612, is recorded as having been seen "through a tube." This probably refers to the then recent invention—the telescope.

      The eclipses which we have been describing are chiefly interesting from an historical point of view. The old mystery and confusion to the beholders seem to have lingered even into comparatively enlightened times, for we see how late it is before the corona attracts definite attention for the sake of itself alone.

      It is not a far cry from notice of the corona to that of other accompaniments of a solar eclipse. Thus the eclipse of 1706, the total phase of which was visible in Switzerland, is of great interest; for it was on this occasion that the famous red prominences seem first to have been noted. A certain Captain Stannyan observed this eclipse from Berne in Switzerland, and described it in a letter to Flamsteed, the then Astronomer Royal. He says the sun's "getting out of his eclipse was preceded by a blood-red streak of light from its left limb, which continued not longer than six or seven seconds of time; then part of the Sun's disc appeared all of a sudden, as bright as Venus was ever seen in the night, nay brighter; and in that very instant gave a Light and Shadow to things as strong as Moonlight uses to do." How little was then expected of the sun is, however, shown by Flamsteed's words, when communicating this information to the Royal Society:—

      

      "The Captain is the first man I ever heard of that took notice of a Red Streak of Light preceding the Emersion of the Sun's body from a total Eclipse. And I take notice of it to you because it infers that the Moon has an atmosphere; and its short continuance of only