Transcriber’s note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber. Boldface is indicated by =equals signs=; italics by _underscores_. CONTENTS The Coming Total Eclipse of the Sun 1 The Most Expensive City in the World 16 A Bubble-blowing Insect 23 The Negro Since the Civil War 29 The Birds of the Adirondacks 40 The Structure of Blind Fishes 48 A Hundred Years of Chemistry 59 Mount Tamalpais 69 International Law and the Peace Conference 76 The Fate of the Beagle 86 Science Study and National Character 90 Editor’s Table 99 Fragments of Science 101 Minor Paragraphs 108 Publications Received 111 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY EDITED BY J. McKEEN CATTELL VOL. LVII MAY TO OCTOBER, 1900 NEW YORK AND LONDON McCLURE, PHILLIPS AND COMPANY 1900 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY McCLURE, PHILLIPS AND COMPANY. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY APPLETONS’ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. MAY, 1900. THE COMING TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. BY FRANK H. BIGELOW, PROFESSOR OF METEOROLOGY, UNITED STATES WEATHER BUREAU. The circumstance which renders the coming total eclipse of the sun, on May 28, 1900, of special significance to thousands of people who might otherwise entirely overlook the occasion is the fact that the path of the moon’s shadow over the surface of the earth, or the track of the eclipse, is in such a convenient locality--namely, in our Southern States--as to render the places of visibility easily accessible. Instead of being obliged to go to the ends of the earth, at a heavy expenditure of time and money, all the while running the risk of not seeing the eclipsed sun on account of prevailing cloudiness, we are fortunate this time to have the show at home in our own country. While many foreigners will be induced to come to the United States to make observations, it is certain that more people will be in a position to see this eclipse with a minimum amount of trouble than has ever happened before in the history of eclipses, at least since the telescope was invented and careful records of the phenomenon preserved.