"All the phenomena of an annular eclipse were clearly and beautifully visible on the Fotheringay-Castle-mound, which is a locality easily identified. Baily's beads were perfectly plain on the completion of the _annulus_, which occurrence took place, according to my observation, at about seventy seconds after 1 o'clock; it lasted about eighty seconds. The 'beads,' like drops of water, appeared on the upper and under sides of the moon, occupying fully three-fourths of her circumference. "Prior to this, the upper edge of the moon seemed dark and rough, and there were no other changes of colour. At 12.43, the cusps, for a few moments, bore a very black aspect. "There was nothing like intense darkness during the eclipse, and less gloom than during a thunderstorm. Bystanders prognosticated rain; but it was the shadow of a rapidly-declining day. At 12 o'clock, a lady living on the farm suddenly exclaimed, 'The cows are coming home to be milked!' and they came, all but one; that followed, however, within the hour. Cocks crowed, birds flew low or fluttered about uneasily, but every object far and near was well defined to the eye. "A singular broadway of light stretched north and south for upwards of a quarter of an hour; from about 12.54 to 1.10 P.M." [Illustration: Fig. 38.] [Illustration: Fig. 39.] If the annular eclipse of the sun be a matter for wonderment, the total eclipse of the same is much more surprising; no other expression than that of _awfully grand_, can give an idea of the effects of totality, and of the suddenness with which it obscures the light of heaven. The darkness, it is said, comes dropping down like a mantle, and as the moment of full obscuration approaches, people's countenances become livid, the horizon is indistinct and sometimes invisible, and there is a general appearance of horror on all sides. These are not simply the inventions [Page 28] of active human imaginations, for they produce equal, if not greater effects, upon the brute creation. M. Arago quotes an instance of a half-starved dog, who was voraciously devouring some food, but dropped it the instant the darkness came on. A swarm of ants, busily engaged, stopped when the darkness commenced, and remained motionless till the light reappeared. A herd of oxen collected themselves into a circle and stood still, with their horns outward, as if to resist a common enemy; certain plants, such as the convolvulus and silk-tree acacia, closed their leaves. The latter statement was corroborated during the annular eclipse of the 15th of March, 1858, by Mr. E. S. Lane, who states, that crocuses at the Observatory, Beeston, had their blossoms expanded before the eclipse; they commenced closing, and were quite shut at about one minute previous to the greatest darkness; and the flowers opened partially about twenty minutes afterwards. A "_total eclipse_" of the sun has always impressed the human mind with terror and wonder in every age: it was always supposed