Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/567

Rh receive our messages; and for this not a single cent of money was asked or expected. It was found that fifty miles to the west of us, at Albania, where were the observers from the Lick Observatory under Professor Campbell, there were thin clouds, while one hundred miles to the east along the Mediterranean coast the Englishmen were even more unfortunate in having the clouds denser. In the northeastern part of Spain at Burgos more astronomers were located than at any one place, and here too was King Alfonso of Spain. Five minutes before totality it was pouring rain there, but as if by a miracle a little blue patch of sky appeared, and the eclipse was seen under perfect conditions. The weather along the eclipse track was: in Labrador, cloudy, no observations made; in Spain, cloudy and clear; in the islands of the Mediterranean, cloudy; on the coast of Africa, slightly cloudy; but further inland and along the rest of the eclipse track the skies were perfect. All three parties of the Naval Observatory were fortunate in having their work unhindered by a single cloud.

My own work was entirely spectroscopic. The photographic plates were developed within the walls of the college of Daroca, and in the long hours necessary for this work I was greatly encouraged and assisted by my good friend the rector of the college, Padre Felix Alvirez. Daily intercourse with this reverend father endeared him to me very much, and Srs. Lorente, Soria and Padre Felix made my stay in Daroca one of the most interesting spots of my whole life by the kindness with which they bore my imperfect Spanish, by the interesting bits of history they told of Daroca and by the deep insight each gave of the courtesy of a Spanish gentleman's heart.

The developed plates show that a great amount of detail had been caught, on one plate there being no less than twenty-five hundred lines all in good focus. A careful and accurate measurement made of the position of these lines of the spectrum will give much of scientific interest about the constitution of the sun's atmosphere.

As a result of the observations of this latest eclipse much valuable information will undoubtedly be gained about the sun and its immediate surroundings. These discoveries, however, will all be in minor details, and it is hardly probable there will be any wonderful or startling revelations made.

It is a long time till the next eclipse to be generally observed in 1912, and astronomers will have plenty of time to fully investigate their photographs of this past summer.

The instruments that took weeks to mount and adjust were easily pulled apart and packed, and in a few days after the eclipse everything was in readiness to be transshipped home.

The writer left Spain with many regrets, and with many happy recollections of a pleasant and profitable time spent among the courtly Spaniards.