E. D. Ashe

“ Indeed, it had the appearance of a coming storm, and seemed in part to issue from the prairie. It did not reach or envelope the observatory. In front of this was a lurid, unearthly glare, clear and bright, of a greenish tinge; the dense prairie grass around might have contributed to this effect. Presently, when totality took place, all became comparatively dark; every tongue was hushed amongst the groups of persons who had come out on foot, or were seated in their waggons, from Jefferson and the country around. ”

“ Of the phenomena during totality, those which I most noted were, first, the disappearance of the last rays of the sun in an irregular broken line of light, succeeded at or near this point by a band or corona of a silvery white light almost as bright as the face of full moon. This though much wider at this point than elsewhere, was soon observed to extend in an entire ring around the dark body of the moon; from this luminous ring, rays of light seemed to shoot out at right angles on every side, diverging as it were from the centre of it. ”

“ At one station where we stopped to water our engine, I saw two children of the soil; they have good reason to complain at their lot. The buffalo and antelope driven away, and if they are hungry they are told to go and dig; dig, how can they dig? let us reverse the picture. Suppose that our cities and towns were by the Indians turned into a prairie, and when we were hungry they told us to go away and catch a buffalo, a pretty hand I should make of catching a buffalo. The sooner the poor fellows are shot down or killed by small-pox, the sooner they will go to their happy hunting grounds. ”

“ I knew that if a man once gets up to his waist, it would be impossible to extricate himself; however, when I dismounted I sank up to my knees, and although that was not the place to philosophize, still I did so, and I began to think what is the reason that a man in struggling works himself down, and I immediately discovered that on raising the heel I produced a vacuum, as the mud prevents either water or air getting underneath the foot, and so with 15 lbs. ”

“ There is evidence in these negatives of the telescope having moved, or, perhaps, followed irregularly, during the exposure of the plates, and this renders the dealing with the negatives very difficult; moreover, it contradicts the theory set forth by Commander Ashe in respect to a certain terrace-like formation in the prominences, and also the rapid shooting out of a certain prominence. The American photographs are very much more perfect than those sent by Commander Ashe; in fact, they leave nothing to be desired. ”

“ At E is seen the protuberance with a triplicate form, and appears to be three parallel planes of light; upon the upper one there appears a dark line, similar to those seen upon fig. 3. Now, on looking at the Des Moines photogram, you actually see the stumps of these three parallel planes; could anything be more satisfactory? I will leave it to others to discuss these various phenomena, which will throw much light on the physical constitution of the sun, but will recapitulate some of the facts deduced from our observations. ”

“ Unfortunately, the long exposure of sixty-six seconds gives a softened appearance, and what should have appeared as a heap of cinders, now looks like a fluid.
I now come to the most remarkable photogram that has ever been taken of an eclipse. No. IV. was taken as near [19] the limb of the sun as it is possible to take one, for on shutting down the slide, out burst the sun. In this photogram you can see two luminous concentric bands running from A to E, separated by a dark space, or rather a dark band, which takes its origin on a part of the protuberance A. (See fig. 3.) ”

“ There is one exception, the African negro, and no matter what you do to him he thrives under the treatment; whether free or in slavery he multiplies and is happy. Strange that rum which kills the Indian, only makes him fat. ”

“ Stanton must have moved it in uncovering the object-glass; but in so doing, he must have given the telescope a pretty hard blow, of which he must have been aware. But neither Mr. Stanton nor myself are aware of any disturbance of the telescope. There was no wind, which would only have caused a vibration, and given a blurred image. In examining Nos. I. and II. photograms, the limb of the moon may be clearly traced, and there is not a shadow of suspicion of any relative motion in the telescope. Here we have proof that the driving clock was performing its duty well for the first half of totality ”

“ As this was Saturday, July 31st, we had exactly a week to select a site and to build an observatory—mount the telescope and take preliminary observations. The American parties were several weeks at their station before the day of the eclipse, and found it not too long to prepare.
[7] Jefferson city is three years old, has about eight thousand inhabitants, and looks a thriving place. The next day, after church, Mr. Douglas and I rode across the prairie to a station situated about eight miles on the railway from Jefferson. ”

“ After going up two flights of stairs, we were shewn into a room which two gentlemen occupied. The chief was smoking, with the chair resting on its two hind legs and his resting on the table. We told our story, and shewed him a certificate from the American Consul at Quebec. ”

“ Vail who had not seen the photograms when he wrote his report, gives a description of certain lines and cracks that are to be seen in the negatives when they are examined by a lens. How is it possible to get over this? Here, an American gentleman sees with a telescope exactly what is photographed. ”