Welsh Journals

lunar eclipse of October 4th, 1884, was noteworthy as being an extremely dark one, the Moon being practically blotted out to the unaided eye. Bright eclipses are by far the most effective from the artistic standpoint. In the lunar eclipses of February nth, 1895, July 3rd, 1898, and December 16th, 1899, the edge of the earth's shadow was at one time or another noted as irregular, and departing from the conventional curve. This anomaly has been accounted for in various ways. Partial solar eclipses are not nearly so attractive as lunar ones, and the writer owes one of them a grudge in that it permanently injured the sight of one of his eyes for telescopic purposes. In the 8|-inch, of course, the mountains along the lunar limb are always well seen in profile during an eclipse such was the case for example last August, when however, the rapidly passing clouds only permitted of a hurried sketch. The reader's patience has long been exhausted, and it is more than time that I brought this record to a close. Other objects have been observed and studied so far as weather and circum- stances would permit, including Uranus, Mercury, Nova Persei, one or two Comets, many Meteors, Occultations, Zodiacal Light, Aurora Borealis, Sunpillars, and similar phenomena. Then in another domain there have been such striking occurrences as the majestic thunderstorm of August 21st, 1898, the extraordinary darkness on March 3rd and 4th, August 18th, 1898, and May 5th, 1903, and the earthquake of December 17th, 1896 (my first experience of a quake-I can just recollect- was in the autumn of 1863). Then again there has been pleasant work in connection with the Astronomical Society of Wales (where the courteous aid of the Naturalists' Officials has been of such valuable service); the delivery of many astronomical addresses; and flying visits to the Greenwich, Paris, Edinburgh, and Stonyhurst Observatories, and so forth. Altogether there is plenty to occupy the leisure of an amateur astronomer; and when his friends hold him personally responsible for the vagaries of the weather, he begins to find that there is a thorny side to the pleasures of his hobby