telegraph wire first came into men's minds, it was with
the object of enabling observers who saw the commencement of an eclipse
at one end of the line of totality, to give cautionary notices to
observers farther on, or towards the far end, of special points which
had been seen at the beginning of the totality, and as to which
confirmatory observations, at a later hour, were evidently very
desirable. It is obvious that a scheme of this kind depends for its
success upon each end (or something like it) of the line of totality
being in telegraphic communication with the other end, and this involves
a combination of favourable circumstances not likely to exist at every
occurrence of a total eclipse, and in general only likely to prevail in
the case of eclipses visible over inhabited territory, such as the two
Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia. This use of the telegraph was, I
think, first proposed as far back as 1878, by an American astronomer, in
connection with the total eclipse of that year. His proposal fell upon
sympathetic ears, with the result that arrangements were concluded with
the Western Union Telegraph Company of North America for the expeditious
forwarding of messages from northern stations on the eclipse line to
southern stations. Some attention was being given at that time to the
question of Intra-Mercurial planets, and it was thought that if by good
fortune any such objects were unexpectedly found at the northern
station, and observers at a southern station could be advised of the
fact, there might be a better chance of procuring an accurate and
precise record of the discovery. As it happened, nothing came of it on
that occasion, but the idea of utilising the telegraph having once taken
possession of men's minds, it was soon seen what important possibilities
were opened up.

The want of telegraph organisation curiously made itself felt in the
Egyptian eclipse of 1882. It is stated in another chapter of this work
that during the total phase a comet was unexpectedly discovered. Now
comets sometimes move very rapidly (especially when they are near the
Sun), and had it been possible to have warned some observer to the E. of
Egypt to look out for this comet, and had he seen it even only a couple
of hours after it had been found in Egypt, some data respecting its
position might have been obtained which would have permitted a rough
estimate being formed of its movement through the heavens. Such an
estimate might