CHAPTER XIII.

ECLIPSES OF THE SUN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Observations of total solar eclipses during the 19th century have been,
for the most part, carried on under circumstances so essentially
different from everything that has gone before, that not only does a new
chapter seem desirable but also new form of treatment. Up to the
beginning of the 18th century the observations (even the best of them)
may be said to have been made and recorded with but few exceptions by
unskilled observers with no clear ideas as to what they should look for
and what they might expect to see. Things improved a little during the
18th century and the observations by Halley, Maclaurin, Bradley, Don
Antonio Ulloa, Sir W. Herschel, and others in particular rose to a much
higher standard than any which had preceded them. However, it has only
been during the 19th century, and especially during the latter half of
it, that total eclipses of the Sun have been observed under
circumstances calculated to extract from them large and solid extensions
of scientific knowledge. Inasmuch as it has been deemed convenient to
sort out and classify our knowledge under particular heads in previous
chapters, I shall in this chapter speak only of the leading facts of
each eclipse in such an outline form as will avoid as far as possible
unnecessary repetition.

In 1806 a total eclipse of the Sun occurred, visible in N. America.
Observations made in the United States have been handed down to us. Don
Joachin Ferrer, a Spanish astronomer, observed the eclipse at Kinderhook
in the State of New York. The totality lasted more than 41/2 m.--a somewhat
unusual length of time. One or two planets and a few 1st magnitude stars
were seen. During the totality there was a slight fall of dew.

On Nov. 19, 1816, there occurred the first total eclipse of the Sun in
the 19th century, the central line of which passed over Europe. There is
only one known observation of the total phase, and this was by Hagen at
Culm in Bohemia, but he appears to have seen only the beginning of the
totality and not the whole of it.

A partial eclipse of the Sun visible as such in England but which was
annular in the Shetland Isles took place on Sept. 7, 1820. The only
reason why this is worth mention is for its political associations. The
trial of Queen Caroline was going on in the House of Lords, and the
House suspended its sitting for a short time for the