ent that the
contemplation of a total eclipse of the Sun is one of the most marvelous
spectacles that can be admired upon our planet.

Some persons assured me that they saw the shadow of the Moon flying
rapidly over the landscape. My attention was otherwise occupied, and I
was unable to verify this interesting observation. The shadow of the
Moon in effect took only eleven minutes (3.47 P.M. to 3.58 P.M.) to
traverse the Iberian Peninsula from Porto to Alicante, _i.e._, a
distance of 766 kilometers (475 miles). It must therefore have passed
over the ground at a velocity of sixty-nine kilometers per minute, or
1,150 meters per second, a speed higher than that of a bullet. It can
easily be watched from afar, on the mountains.

Some weeks previous to this fine eclipse, when I informed the Spaniards
of the belt along which it could be observed, I had invited them to note
all the interesting phenomena they might witness, including the effects
produced by the eclipse upon animals. Birds returned hurriedly to their
nests, swallows lost themselves, sheep huddled into compact packs,
partridges were hypnotized, frogs croaked as if it were night, fowls
took refuge in the hen-house, and cocks crowed, bats came out, and were
surprised by the sun, chicks gathered under their mothers' wing,
cage-birds ceased their songs, some dogs howled, others crept shivering
to their masters' feet, ants returned to the antheap, grasshoppers
chirped as at sunset, pigeons sank to the ground, a swarm of bees went
silently back to their hive, and so on.

These creatures behaved as though the night had come, but there were
also signs of fear, surprise, even of terror, differing only "in degree"
from those manifested during the grandiose phenomenon of a total
eclipse by human beings unenlightened by a scientific education.

At Madrid the eclipse was only partial. The young King of Spain, Alfonso
XIII, took care to photograph it, and I offer the photograph to my
readers (Fig. 79), as this amiable sovereign did me the honor to give it
me a few days after the eclipse.

[Illustration: FIG. 79.--The Eclipse of May 28, 1900, as photographed by
King Alfonso XIII, at Madrid.]

The technical results of these observations of solar eclipses relate
more especially to the elucidation of the grand problem of the physical
constitution of the Sun. We alluded to them in the chapter devoted to
this orb. The last great total eclipses have been of immense value to
sci