sake of the
eclipse.

On May 15, 1836, there occurred an annular eclipse of the Sun, which
though it was nowhere total, may be looked upon as the first of the
modern eclipses the observations of which have taken such a great
development during recent years. The annularity of this eclipse was
observed in the N. of England and in the S. of Scotland; and it was at
Jedburgh in Roxburghshire that Mr. Francis Baily[108] observed that
feature of eclipses of the Sun now universally known as "Baily's Beads."
Some indications of the Red Flames were also obtained at places where
the eclipse was annular.

Probably it was the recognition of Baily's Beads as a regular
concomitant of eclipses of the Sun, which helped to pave the way for the
extensive preparations made in France, Italy, Austria, and Russia for
observing the total eclipse of July 8, 1842. Many of the most eminent
astronomers of Europe repaired to different stations on the central line
in order to see the phenomenon. Amongst these may be named Arago, Valz,
Airy, Carlini, Santini, and O. Struve. The eclipse was witnessed under
favourable circumstances at all the various stations on the central line
across Europe, from Perpignan in France in the West to Lipesk in Russia
in the East.

Arago wrote[109] such an exceedingly graphic account of this eclipse
from what may be termed the standpoint of the general public, that I
will quote it at some length, because, with an alteration of date, it
might be re-written and applied to every total eclipse visible in much
populated tracts of country.

"At Perpignan persons who were seriously unwell alone remained within
doors. As soon as day began to break the population covered the terraces
and battlements of the town, as well as all the little eminences in the
neighbourhood, in hopes of obtaining a view of the Sun as he ascended
above the horizon. At the citadel we had under our eyes, besides
numerous groups of citizens established on the slopes, a body of
soldiers about to be reviewed.

"The hour of the commencement of the eclipse drew nigh. More than twenty
thousand persons, with smoked glasses in their hands, were examining the
radiant globe projected upon an azure sky. Although armed with our
powerful telescopes, we had hardly begun to discern the small notch on
the western limb of the Sun, when an immense exclamation, formed by the
blending together of twenty thousand different voices, announced to us
that we had anticipate