of this crater lies the largest of the lunar plains, called Mare Imbrium; which is bounded, on the other or northern side, by the remarkable object known as Plato. On the 24th, the brilliant crater Aristarchus will come into view between Copernicus and the nearest part of the disc. The beautiful walled plain called Schickard in the southern part of the Moon, will become observable on the 25th; and the small green plain, known as Mare Humorum, is not far to the north of it. As objects near the east point which cannot be seen until near the Full Moon, we may mention Grimaldi, Riccioli, and the Cordilleras and D'Alembert and Rook Mountains, extending southwards.

OCCULTATIONS OF STARS BY THE MOON.-Attention may be called this month to two of these phenomena; but in neither of them is the star occulted of any great brightness.

The first is that of g Geminorum (5 magnitude), which is passed over by the slightly gibbous Moon on the 22nd; the disappearance taking place at the dark limb, 88° from the highest point of the Moon, at 9h. 24m. ; and the reappearance, 46° from that point on the other side, or at the bright limb of the Moon, at 10h. 31m.

The other occultation is of y Libræ, the magnitude of which is 41, on the 30th, when the Moon is waning and gibbous. The times of the star's disappearance and reappearance are 10h. 49m. and 11h. 52m. respectively. The Moon passes centrally over the star, and the disappearance takes place 40° from the highest point, at a bright part of the disc; whilst the reappearance will be seen at a distance of 37° from her lowest point, where the real edge will be unilluminated.

NEW PLANET.—A 107th Small Planet was discovered by Mr. Pogson at Madras, on the 17th of November last. The total number discovered in 1868 was therefore twelve, not eleven, as stated in THE STUDENT for last month. The largest number found in any single preceding year was ten, in 1861. For the new planet, which is the seventh of which Mr. Pogson has been the first discoverer, he has selected the name Camilla. *

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF AUGUST, 1867.-Whilst so much attention has been given to, and so much information derived from, the total solar eclipse of August, 1868, the observations made of one which was total in South America, in August, 1867, may possess some interest for our readers. The account of Herr Grosch, of the

* In more than one other instance, he was anticipated in original discoveries by other astronomers.

Santiago Observatory, Chili, who observed the eclipse in conjunction with Vice-director Vergara and Lieutenant Vidal, has but just been published. We have made the following translation of part of his remarks, premising that the observations were made at a place called Colchagua, some distance to the south of Santiago. After describing the formation of the "Baily's beads," Herr Grosch continues: :

"Whilst these beads were still very conspicuous, there appeared, on the western limb of the Moon, 45° to the south of the Sun's equator, the first and most brilliant protuberance, not exceeding 25" in height and breadth; during the disappearance of the beads, there came into view another of considerable extent, embracing an arc of between 40° and 50° in length, and from 25" to 30" high. Whilst the former was shining bright and brilliant, the latter appeared dark, almost blackish, with soft reddish (resembling the bloom of a peach) glimmer. On the same arc, which was spanned over by the latter prominence, there appeared also several minute, brightlyluminous points, which seemed, as it were, to shine through the dark prominence, to move on, and, finally, to disappear with it. According to our previously-made arrangement, I was not able to direct my attention long to this phenomenon, and could not, therefore, accurately follow the further changes which took place; but in giving a hasty glance to it some little time afterwards, it seemed brighter; that is, clearer, not blackish-red, with a yellowish glimmer near the Moon's limb, and almost colourless quite upon it. I repeatedly turned my eye towards the place, in order to observe, if possible, the disappearance of the prominence when the first ray of the returning Sun broke out, but its light came upon me in such a way as to prevent my succeeding in that object. The phenomenon had lasted not quite two minutes.

"At the moment of the disappearance of the beads, there appeared around the Moon a reddish glimmering light, similar to that of the aurora, and almost simultaneously with this (that is very slightly after it) the corona. This reddish glimmer, which surrounded the Moon, with a border of the breadth of at most 5', was not sharply bounded in any part, but was extremely diffused, and less distinct in the neighbourhood of the poles. I can decidedly affirm this at least as regards the Sun's north point, but not so much so of the south point, as that part was less observed by me, but was more particularly attended to by Lieutenant Vidal, who could not afterwards give any positive information concerning this

"Astronomische Nachrichten," No. 1737.

phenomenon. There now appeared upon the east side also several protuberances, red in colour (almost carmine-red), mixed with yellow, suggesting the idea of flames; of these, three, especially, exceeded the rest in size.* Their height and breadth were about 20"; but the number of small prominences was, during one short moment, so great, that almost the whole of the Moon's disc seemed as if surrounded by light red flames. All were closely connected with the disc, and broadest at the base, where they were apparently joined to it.

"To speak now of the corona; its extent was considerably longer in the direction of the Sun's equator, and, in considering its nature, we must, I believe, look upon it as decidedly unconnected with him. Whereas, in the direction of the poles, its apparent height exceeded that of the Moon by only a third of her diameter; in the direction at right angles to this, its extent amounted to four-fifths of that diameter. Its light was white, brighter on the Moon's limb, and becoming 'gradually fainter on the other side. This white light was not in the least radiated itself, but it had the appearance of rays penetrating through it, or rather, as if rays ran over it, especially in the direction of east and west, forming symmetrical pencils diverging outwards, and passing far beyond the boundary of the white light. These rays had a more bluish appearance, and might best be compared to those produced by a great electro-magnetic carbonic light. Their similarity with these was indeed so striking, that, under other circumstances, I should have taken them for such, shining at a great distance. The view of the corona here described is that seen with the naked eye; I employed but a very short time upon it, only as much, in fact, as was necessary to obtain a mere momentary view of the general appearance of the totality. I would now, in conclusion, just mention another phenomenon, which seemed to me too important to withhold attention from; it showed itself exactly at the north point of the Sun. In the white light of the corona, closely upon the Moon's limb, there appeared several dark curves; they were symmetrically arched towards the east and west, sharply drawn, and resembling, in tint, lines drawn with a lead pencil upon white paper. They gave the impression as if they proceeded from one point, which point was on the other side of the Moon, not, however, on the limb, but somewhat nearer the centre of the Sun. Beginning at the distance of 1', they could be traced up to about 9′ from the Moon's limb. Throughout the duration of the eclipse, * Herr Grosch gives the position of these in a drawing which accompanies his paper.

they underwent no alteration whatever, remaining constant both in form and colour until the disappearance of the corona. Lieutenant Vidal (agreeing with Signor Vergara), speaks of a similar appearance, exactly at the south point, in the form of a fan, or sheafformed tuft of light; but he says nothing of characteristic dark curves, such as I saw at the north point. There is, however, no cause to doubt the accuracy of the data, as these dark curves indicate a strong magnetic polar force of the Sun, so that an appearance of the kind in question might be seen at the south, as well as at the north point; but, perhaps, being less developed at the former than at the latter, it was less easily peceptible."

BORNEO OBSERVATIONS OF THE ECLIPSE OF AUGUST, 1868.-Before we take final leave of the memorable total eclipse of August, last year, we have thought it desirable to transfer to our pages the account of the appearances of the prominences, as observed at the most eastern point of observation, by his Excellency J. Pope Hennessy, the Governor of Labuan. The observations were made at Barram Point, in the island of Borneo; and we extract Hennessy's description of the protuberances, which suddenly came into view on the disappearance of "Baily's beads." He says:*

"The first was about one-sixth of the sun's diameter in length, and about one twenty-fourth part of that diameter in breadth. It all appeared at the same instant, as if a veil had suddenly melted away from before it.

"It seemed to be a tower of rose-coloured clouds. The colour was most beautiful-more beautiful than any rose-colour I ever saw; indeed, I know of no natural object or colour to which it can be, with justice, compared. Though one has to describe it as rosecoloured, yet, in truth, it was very different from any colour or tint I ever saw before.

"This protuberance extended from the right of the upper limb, and was visible for six minutes.

"In five seconds after this was visible, a much broader and shorter protuberance appeared at the left side of the upper limb. This seemed to be composed of two united together. In colour and aspect it exactly resembled the long one.

"This second protuberance gradually sank down as the Sun continued to fall behind the Moon, and in three minutes it had disappeared altogether.

"A few seconds after it had sunk down, there appeared at the lower corresponding limb (the right inferior corner) a similar proProceedings of the Royal Society," vol. xvii., No. 195, p. 85.

VOL. III.-NO. II.

K

tuberance, which grew out as the eclipse proceeded.

This also seemed to be a double protuberance, and in size and shape very much resembled the second one; that is, its breadth very much exceeded its height.

ones.

"In colour, however, this differed from either of the former Its left edge was a bright blue, like a brilliant sapphire with light thrown upon it; next to that was the so-called rose-colour, and, at the right corner, a sparkling ruby tint.

"This beautiful protuberance advanced at the same rate that the Sun had moved all along, when suddenly it seemed to spread towards the left, until it ran round one-fourth of the circle, making a long ridge of the rose-coloured masses. As this happened, the blue shade disappeared.

"In about twelve seconds the whole of this ridge vanished, and gave place to a rough edge of brilliant white light, and, in another second, the Sun had burst forth again.

"In the meantime, the long, rose-coloured protuberance on the upper right limb had remained visible; and though it seemed to be sinking into the Moon, it did not disappear altogether until the lower ridge had been formed, and had been visible for two seconds.

"This long protuberance was quite visible to the naked eye, but its colour could not be detected, except through the telescope. To the naked eye it simply appeared as a little tower of white light standing on the dark edge of the Moon.

"The lower protuberance appeared to the naked eye to be a notch of light in the dark edge of the Moon-not a protuberance, but an indentation.

"In shape the long protuberance resembled a goat's horn."

We can scarcely doubt that the total eclipse, which will be visible in the United States of America in August of the present year, will also yield some interesting results. On some future occasion we may recur to the subject of the progress of discovery in solar physics, which has lately been so especially one in which new and valuable knowledge has been acquired.