Congress, Sessions of Cuvier, Baron 134 297 300 Latitude and Longitude of Places 235-242 24 259 255-258 307 148 275 301 83 Louisiana - Government; Judiciary ; Deaf and Dumb in Europe 272 Debt, United States' 142 Delaware- Government; Judiciary; Outlines of the Constitution; Educa- 202, 203 138 Eclipses in 1834 6 Eclipse of the Sun, Nov. 30 8 Eclipses, Elements of Eclipses of the Satellites of Jupiter Education, United States, Remarks on Ephemeris of the Sun. 60 145 256 52 ERRATA. Page 3, last line, for "the descending node," read "," &c. 66 6, Oct. 13th, for "Feast" read "Fast" 66 9, near the bottom, for "Sun cent. eclipsed" read "Sun sets centrally eclipsed' 15, for "Norfolk, Pa." read "Norfolk, Va." 66 27, "Salem, in lat. 42° 31' 30"" not " 52°," &c. 66 ፡፡ 35, The setting of the Moon is, to a certain extent, erroneously "192, 2d line from the bottom, for "Robert C. Trier," read "Robert C. Grier." "276, for "*Essex," read "§ Essex." ** For Additions and Corrections, see pages 335 and 336. N. B. In the volumes of the Almanac for the years 1830, 1831, and 1832, the rising and setting of the sun were given according to apparent time; but in the volumes for 1833 and 1834, they are given according to mean time. CAL DEPARTMENT. THE most remarkable of the phenomena that this year (1834) will happen, is the eclipse of the Sun, on Sunday the thirtieth of November. This is the third of the very uncommon series of five large eclipses, visible to us, in the short term of seven years; the fourth of this series will take place May 15th, 1836, and the last, September 18th, 1838. The eclipse of the present year will doubtless receive great attention throughout our country. In those places where its magnitude will not exceed eleven digits, much diminution of the light is not to be expected, even at the time of the greatest obscuration; perhaps, however, it may be sufficient to render visible the planet Venus, then about 30 degrees E. S. E. of the Sun, and much nearer the Earth, than usual: nor will the obscuration be very great where the eclipse is almost total; since it has been observed, on former occasions, that the uneclipsed part, even when reduced to a mere point, sheds sufficient light to render small objects distinctly visible, and invisible the brightest of the stars. Indeed, on account of the refraction of the Sun's rays by the atmosphere of the Earth, the darkness can hardly with strictness be considered total, even where the Sun is completely shut out from the sight. In the great and remarkable eclipse of June 16th, 1806, when the Sun was totally obscured, at Boston, for five minutes, as much light remained as is given by the Moon when full; and greater darkness will not probably be experienced, in any place, on the present occasion. Throughout the United States, however, a great depression of the thermometer, if placed in the sun, will probably be noticed; and, for some minutes before and after the moment of greatest obscuration, the power of a lens to produce combustion, by condensing the solar rays, will be quite, if not entirely, destroyed. At the time of the Annular eclipse of February 12th, 1831, it was observed by the Editor, that the thermometer in the sun, fell from 72 to 29, and that during the continuance of the ring, no sensible effect was produced by placing its blackened bulb in the focus of a powerful burning-glass. This Eclipse, it will be seen on tracing the path of the centre, will be total in a small part of the Territory of Arkansas, and of the States of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. The principal places, in which the obscurity will probably be complete, are Charleston, Beaufort, S. C., Savannah, Milledgeville, Tuscaloosa, and Little Rock. The greatest duration of total darkness in any place, will be about 1m. 56s.; at Tuscaloosa, it will be about 1m. 53s. and at Beaufort, 1m. 46s. ; these places lying very near the central path. At Charleston and Savannah, the duration will be considerably less, the former being situate about forty miles north of this path, the latter about thirty south. The width of the line of total darkness varies in its passage across the Earth, but in the United States will be about one hundred miles. Those of the inhabitants of the Atlantic States, who desire to behold this rare spectacle, the most magnificent and sublime of the phenomena of nature, compared with which even Niagara sinks into mediocrity, will find Beaufort the most eligible place in which to make their observations; and they will not neglect this opportunity when they reflect, that the Moon's shadow will not again, for the space of thirty-five years, pass over any part of the inhabited portion of the United States, or until August 7th, 1869. As, at the time of the Eclipse of Feb., 1831, much inconvenience and even injury was sustained from want of care in looking at the Sun without any protection for the eye, or through glass not sufficiently colored, it may be proper to remark, that should the sky, during the continuance of this Eclipse, be clear, one of the very darkest green or red glasses of a sextant, and in default of this, a piece of common window glass, free from veins, and rendered quite black by the smoke of a lamp, only, can be used with safety. If the lustre of the Sun should be diminished by intervening clouds, a lighter shade will be sufficient. In the computation of the phases of this Eclipse for some of the principal places in the United States (see pages 10-15), the semidiameters of the Sun and Moon were reduced 5 for irradiation and inflexion; the quantity indicated by all the observations on the Eclipse of Feb., 1831. The total eclipse of the Moon of June 21st, and that of Dec. 15th, will be more interesting to the public generally, than to the astronomer. Occultations of the planets and of stars of not less than the fourth magnitude, will this year be rare. Jupiter will be eclipsed in the morning of September 24th, and Venus, in the southern extremity of the United States, in the afternoon of the 2d of December. The moment of the Immersion or Emersion of any star, however small, behind, or from, the dark side of the Moon, can be determined with precision; but if the star is small, great difficulty is experienced in satisfactorily ascertaining it, when the phenomenon takes place on the side that is enlightened. Indeed, it has been found by Professor Struve, even with the assistance of the celebrated telescope in his possession, by Fraunhofer, so nearly impossible, that he recommends measuring with a micrometer the star's distance from the limb of the Moon, some minutes before or after the moment of contact, and when its light is, comparatively, but little diminished by her superior lustre. Those conjunctions, however, of the Moon with stars of less than the fourth magnitude, which may be occultations in some part of the United States, are noted in the Calendar pages by an asterisk, instead of the usual symbol of conjunction. The catalogue of the eclipses of the Satellites of Jupiter (pages 17 and 18) contains only those visible in some part of the United States. The eclipses before the planet comes into conjunction with the Sun, on the 9th of May, will happen on the east side, then, until the opposition, on the 29th of November, on the west, and afterwards again on the east between the 9th of May and 29th of November, the Immersions only of the first and second satellites will be visible, and during the remainder of the year, the Emersions only; but both the Immersion and Emersion of the two outer satellites can sometimes be seen. The fourth satellite will not, however, be eclipsed this year, its Latitude, at every opposition, being greater than the planet's semidiameter. The eclipses take place farthest from the body of Jupiter when in quadrature, and nearest when in opposition or conjunction; but for some weeks before and after he is in the latter position, the eclipses cannot be observed, the planet and satellites being rendered invisible by the superior light of the Sun. As these eclipses appear to take place at the same moment of absolute time in every part of the Earth where they are visible, to determine the approximate time, at which any one in the catalogue will happen in any place in the United States, it is necessary merely to subtract the estimated Longitude of that place from the time of Immersion or Emersion at Greenwich. In the table of Latitude and Longitude of some of the principal places in the United States (page 24, &c.), will be found the latitude of several, as determined by the editor, by recent observations made by himself; also the longitude of a few, deduced by him from observations made by others on the annular eclipse of February 1831, or as ascertained by comparison of the place in question, by chronometers, with |