scholarly journals I. Report of the observations of the total solar eclipse of August 29, 1886, made at Carriacou

1887 ◽  
Vol 42 (251-257) ◽  
pp. 316-318

Carriacou is a small island situated about twenty miles to the north of the island of Grenada, the chief of the Windward group, and furnished an excellent site for the observation of the last solar eclipse. Most of the observers sent by the Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society to the West Indies in August of last year remained at Grenada, or on the small islands in its immediate vicinity, whilst Mr. Maunder and myself occupied the more distant northern station, where the totality was slightly diminished in duration. The work proposed for Mr. Maunder was to secure a series of photographs of the corona, with exposures of 40s. and under, and also to obtain two photographs of the spectrum of the corona with the longest exposures possible.

The astronomers appointed by the Committee of the Royal Society to proceed to the West Indies to observe the total eclipse of the Sun on the morning of August 29, sailed together from Southampton in the R. M. S. “Nile,” Captain Gillies, on July 29, and, after a fair passage, anchored at Barbados at daybreak on August 11. A committee meeting on board had partly fixed our plans with regard to the stations of observation, so that, when we found two of H. M.’s gunboats awaiting our arrival in the roadstead, the instruments of Mr. Maunder and of the Rev. S. J. Perry were, after consultation with the commanders of H.M/s vessels, at once transferred to the “Bullfrog,” whilst the remainder of the instruments found a ready berth on the deck of H. M. S. “Fantôme,” which, being the larger of the two unboats, was reserved for the observers destined for Grenada and its immediate vicinity. Both the war-vessels started the same morning for Grenada, Mr. Lockyer and Dr. Thorpe sailing on board the “Fantome,” in order to secure the earliest possible interview with the Governor of the Windward Islands. The rest of the astronomers left the same evening in the R. M. S. “Eden,” Captain Mackenzie, and, after touching at St. Vincent, arrived at Grenada early on the afternoon of the 12th. The private luggage of Mr. Maunder and of the Rev. S. J. Perry was immediately placed on board H. M. S.“Bullfrog,” where they received the heartiest welcome from Captain Masterman, R. N., who devoted the best part of his own cabin to Father Perry, and found a comfortable private cabin for Mr. Maunder. Captain Archer, R. N., had also arrived at Grenada in command of H. M. S. “Fantome”; and the “Sparrowhawk,” a surveying vessel, commanded by Captain Oldham, R. N., was anchored in the harbour of St. George, her officers having been placed by the Hydrographer of the Admiralty at the disposal of the expedition. Previous to our arrival Governor Sendall, most ably assisted by Captain Melling, had personally inspected most of the best sites for the astronomical observations, collected all existing records of the weather, and designed huts for the protection of the instruments. Carriacou and Green Island were told off for the northern station, to be occupied by Father Perry and Mr. Maunder, assisted by the officers and men of H. M. S. “Bullfrog” and by Sub-Lieutenant Helby, of H. M. S. “Sparrowhawk.” It was thought, however, more advisable not to separate the members of this party by a distance of some twenty miles, and, therefore, the more northerly island of Carriacou was fixed upon as the site best suited for both observers.


An expedition for observing the Eclipse of the Sun of August, 1886, was organised and sent out by the Royal Society, the necessary funds being obtained partly by a special vote from the Treasury, partly from the annual grant to the Royal Society, and partly from the Society’s private funds. A Committee appointed by the Council of the Royal Society discussed the principal questions to which observers were to direct their attention, and distributed the available instruments amongst them. It was also decided that, as far as the scientific part of the work was concerned, the observers should be independent of each other, and report separately to the Society; but that they should elect one of their members as chief, to represent them in all dealings with the authorities in the West Indies. Mr. Norman Lockyer was accordingly chosen to be this representative. The present report only deals with the photographic results obtained by its authors. Mr. Norman Lockyer was the only other observer who took out photographic instruments; most unfortunately, the weather proved so bad at the station he selected that he was unable to see anything of the eclipse.


The expedition to which this report refers was one of those organised by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society; it was supported by a grant made by the Government Grant Committee. Guelma was chosen for the site of the observations, as being an inland station between Sfax, which was selected for an expedition from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and Philippeville, which it was at first expected Sir Norman Lockyer would occupy. Guelma is 58 kilometres from Bona, 65 kilometres from Philippeville, 55 kilometres from the nearest coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it lies at a height of about 1200 feet above sea-level on the south side of the Valley of the Seybouze, amongst hills which range in height from about 3100 feet at 13 kilometres to the north, to about 4700 feet at 11 kilometres on the south, where lies the celebrated mountain, Mahouna, “the sleeping lady,” so called from the resemblance of its silhouette to the form of a woman. (For the position of the observing hut, see p. 59.)


1969 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Snyder

Many of the termites of the West Indies are endemic, and so far as known, have a very limited distribution, often recorded from only a few islands. Kalotermes mona Banks is endemic to Mona Island and is found nowhere else. By contrast, many of the termites occuring in Cuba are also found in the United States, those of Jamaica in Panamá and Central America, and those of Trinidad in South America. The truly tropicosmopolitan Cryptotermes brevis (Walker) and Nasutitermes costalis (Holmgren) readily become established in new localities, islands or countries in which the environmental conditions are at all suitable. The comparatively large island of Trinidad, close to the mainland of South America and mostly with a continental fauna, has the largest number of species of termites of any of the West Indies: 31. The island of Curacao, also near the coast of South America, but small and arid has but 2, and none is recorded from Aruba, Margarita or the other smaller islands off the north coast of Venezuela. The comparatively small island of Tobago, northeast from Trinidad, has 8 species of termites recorded, and Barbados 7, but none is listed from St. Vincent, and most of the other Lesser Antilles have at most but 3 or 4. None is reported from Nevis, Saba, or St. John, but St. Croix of the U. S. Virgin Islands has 10, St. Thomas 5, and Culebra and Vieques 1 each. Fifteen species of termites are recorded from Puerto Rico, and 4 from Mona. In the large island of Hispaniola, only 8 species of termites are recorded from the eastern portion: the Dominican Republic, while 18 are known from Haiti. Sixteen species of termites are known in Jamaica, and 9 from the widely dispersed islands of the Bahamas. The large island of Cuba, closest of any to continental North America, has 22; the comparatively minute, and most distant Bermuda has 4. All recorded species may be identified by means of keys based on the characters of the soldiers, or of the winged adults.


Author(s):  
P. J. Marshall

Burke became involved with West Indian issues at the very beginning of his political career. The brief Rockingham administration of 1765–6 was committed to measures to improve flows of trade around the British Atlantic, of which the West Indies was a crucial component. As the prime minister’s secretary, Burke was deeply involved in these measures. The main problem which they sought to remedy was the inability of the British West Indies to produce commodities needed in other parts of the Atlantic in sufficient quantities. These commodities were principally sugar and raw cotton for Britain and molasses for British North America. The remedy chosen was to allow foreign supplies of these commodities to enter the British system through what were called free ports in two British islands—Dominica and Jamaica. Burke was particularly influential in the provisions of the act relating to Dominica, whose ports were intended to draw in produce, especially raw cotton, from French islands that the British had occupied during the war. In return, they would export British manufactures and slaves to foreign colonies. Getting the act through Parliament required the careful balancing of interests, notably those of the North American colonies and of the West Indies. Burke was in the thick of these negotiations, forming many contacts with merchants. The act, by letting in foreign produce to British islands, marked a significant breach in the hitherto sacrosanct doctrine of imperial self-sufficiency.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (21) ◽  
pp. 5543-5553 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Founda ◽  
D. Melas ◽  
S. Lykoudis ◽  
I. Lisaridis ◽  
E. Gerasopoulos ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper examines the effect of the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 on meteorological variables across Greece. Integrated micrometeorological measurements were conducted at Kastelorizo, a small island within the path of totality, and other sites within the Greek domain, with various degrees of solar obscuration. The observations showed a dramatic reduction in the incoming global radiation and subsequent, pronounced changes in surface air temperature with the lowest temperature values occurring about 15 min after the full phase. The amplitude of the air temperature drop was not analogous to the obscuration percentage but was principally determined by the surrounding environment (mainly the sea influence), the background meteorological conditions and local cloudiness. Surface wind-speed decreased in most sites as a result of the cooling and stabilization of the atmospheric boundary layer. This perturbation provided a unique opportunity to apply a sensitivity analysis on the effect of the eclipse to the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) numerical mesoscale meteorological model. Strong anomalies, not associated with a dynamic response, were simulated over land especially in surface air temperature. The simulated temperature drop pattern was consistent with the observations.


1959 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 232-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Dondale

Grammonota Emerton, 1882, is one of the many uniform genera that constitute the large and complex family Erigonidae. All of the 28 species and one subspecies recognized by the present writer are American in range, and representatives occur from southwestern Alaska and James Bay in the north to Central America and the West Indies. A few species are arctic-alpine, or are restricted to the Pacific coast, but most occur east of the Rocky Mountains from southern Canada to the Gulf States.


Author(s):  
Bernice Kurchin

In situations of displacement, disruption, and difference, humans adapt by actively creating, re-creating, and adjusting their identities using the material world. This book employs the discipline of historical archaeology to study this process as it occurs in new and challenging environments. The case studies furnish varied instances of people wresting control from others who wish to define them and of adaptive transformation by people who find themselves in new and strange worlds. The authors consider multiple aspects of identity, such as race, class, gender, and ethnicity, and look for ways to understand its fluid and intersecting nature. The book seeks to make the study of the past relevant to our globalized, postcolonized, and capitalized world. Questions of identity formation are critical in understanding the world today, in which boundaries are simultaneously breaking down and being built up, and humans are constantly adapting to the ever-changing milieu. This book tackles these questions not only in multiple dimensions of earthly space but also in a panorama of historical time. Moving from the ancient past to the unknowable future and through numerous temporal stops in between, the reader travels from New York to the Great Lakes, Britain to North Africa, and the North Atlantic to the West Indies.


1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uffe Østergård

From a cultural and historical-sociological perspective, the Danish nationstate of today represents a rare situation of virtual identity between state, nation, and society, which is a more recent phenomenon than normally assumed in Denmark and abroad. Though one of the oldest European monarchies, whose flag came ‘tumbling down from heaven in 1219’—ironically enough an event that happened in present-day Estonia—Denmark's present national identity is of recent vintage. Until 1814 the word, Denmark, denominated a typical European, plurinational or multinational, absolutist state, second only to such powers as France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and perhaps Prussia. The state had succeeded in reforming itself in a revolution from above in the late eighteenth century and ended as one of the few really “enlightened absolutisms” of the day (Horstbøll and østergård 1990; østergård 1990). It consisted of four main parts and several subsidiaries in the North Atlantic Ocean, plus some colonies in Western Africa, India, and the West Indies. The main parts were the kingdoms of Denmark proper and Norway, plus the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. How this particular state came about need not bother us here.


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