“They are not so rare as you might suppose,” I replied. “It is not necessary, in order that an eclipse, either partial, or total, or annular, may occur, that the moon’s nodes be in a _direct_ line with the centers of the sun and the earth. The moon may be a few degrees out of line, and yet either pass into the earth’s shadow or be seen crossing the sun from one point or another on the earth. There are about 70 eclipses in every eighteen years, 41 of the sun and 29 of the moon, but the number varies a little. Generally there can be no more than two eclipses of the moon in any one year, but it is possible for three to occur. The greatest number of solar eclipses in a year is five, but this is very rare, the usual number being two. In fact, there must be at least two solar eclipses in a year, but there are many years which have no eclipses of the moon at all. And now, I think I have said all that is necessary about eclipses, and we arrive very opportunely at the end of the discourse, for behold the moon is passing out of the shadow, and her light begins once more to glow in the park.” This was indeed the case. Going to the door, we saw the earth’s shadow slowly withdrawing from the face of the moon, while the landscape was brightening under her returning rays. For a few minutes we watched, in silence, the brilliant spectacle. Then my companion turned to me. “Would you know my whole thought?” she asked. “I fear that I cannot recall many of the scientific facts you have just been telling me, but for them I can go back, at need, to the books. Yet one thing I feel that I have certainly gained. It is a sense of friendly, companionable interest in the moon. Henceforth she will be more to me than she ever was before. I shall always be conscious, when looking at her face, that she is the offspring of the earth, and that there exists between these two bodies an intimacy that I had never imagined possible. For me your tides and your eclipses seem an inarticulate language, a caressing exchange of communications between these two celestial beings of one blood. To my mind they are, in a certain sense, personalities, and, as a creature of the earth, I feel now my relationship to the moon.” “Very good,” I replied. “All science and all forms of knowledge are rooted in the imagination. To-morrow we shall begin with the photographs, and many most interesting things that I have not yet mentioned will then naturally present themselves before us.” “Good night then,” said my companion, “and to-morrow I shall count upon the delights of a photographic journey in the moon.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I NEW MOON TO FIRST QUARTER ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I NEW MOON TO FIRST QUARTER