ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

Southland Times, Issue 19460, 27 January 1925, Page 5

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

SEEN IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND. BIRDS TAKE TO NESTS. CATTLE LIE DOWN IN FIELDS. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, January 24. The eclipse of the sun is the chief topic all over the country. The eclipse was preceded in the southern part of England by a brilliant, sunny morning. The eclipse began at 3 p.m., and lasted for an hour. It was uncompleted when the sun set. The progress of the eclipse was easily observed by means of smoked glass, and was witnessed by large crowds in all the public parks. After the early stages the light clouds rendered the viewing apparatus unnecessary. In the latter stages the light was similar to that of early dawn. The birds accepted the eclipse as the normal twilight, and took to their nests. The cattle laid down in the fields. One observer says that in Hertfordshire the villagers regarded the appearance of thunder clouds on the horizon as due to the eclipse, but he points out that the Australian blacks had exactly the same idea when the last eclipse was studied in Western Australia. There was no scientifically valuable observation of the eclipse possible at Greenwich owing to the clouds. WIRELESS TESTS. MOSUL AND MELBOURNE HEARD SIMULTANEOUSLY. LONDON, Jauary 24. The British Broadcasting Company sent out a programme of music before, during and after the eclipse of the sun in order to test the effects of light and darkness upon wireless waves. Mr J. Partridge, an amateur, when carrying out tests at Wimbledon, says that immediately after the eclipse he heard Mosul and 3BQ (Melbourne). The latter announced that it had maintained touch with both America and England simultaneously. Another station similarly heard Mosul and Melbourne. This is the first time either has heard England prior to 7 o’clock in the evening.