Art. XII.—Shadow-pictures.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 22, 1889, Page 108

Art. XII.—Shadow-pictures. By Taylor White. [Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 8th July, 1889.] Plate III. Shadow No. 1. During the last total eclipse of the sun visible in New Zealand I was standing outside the house, in company with my brother, the late Colonel White, viewing the progress of the eclipse, when, happening, in the partial darkness, to take notice of the shadow thrown on the wall under the verandah after the

Shadow Pictures.

rays of light had passed through a quantity of jasmine trained on wires along the front of the verandah, to my astonishment all the spots of light showing on the densely-black shade were of a crescentic form, and made a most unique and wonderful pattern. Not one series of rays passing through the jasmine-bush but what took the exact crescentic form, all about the same size; and, more singular still, all the horns of the crescent-forms were directed in a similar manner. To the left of the observer, or eastward, the door of the room opening on the verandah was open, and similar shadows were shown on the far wall of the room, by the side of the fireplace. The sun was low on the horizon. Unfortunately I neglected to note the exact stage of the eclipse—that is, whether the crescentic form of the visible portion of the sun pointed to the east or west, or if the eclipse was coming on or going off at the time. I am quite convinced that the shadow-crescents corresponded to the stage of the eclipse, and that at the opposite stage of the eclipse these crescentic shadows would all have faced in the opposite direction—that is, westward. I have no theory to account for this occurrence, but simply record what was plainly visible. Doubting whether or no it were some delusion, I said to my companion, “What do you see on the wall?” when he turned and looked at the shadow, and then said, “All the light spots are crescents.” Afterwards, in his presence, I described this scene to Mr. and Mrs. H. K. Hodge and Miss M. E. Worthington, and drew a rough sketch, all of which was corroborated by Colonel White. So that, although these persons did not actually see the shadow, yet they can speak to the fact that Colonel White agreed with me as having himself seen this unusual sight. When viewing a total eclipse of the sun, which seldom falls to the share of any one person to see more than once in a lifetime, there are so many points of interest and such a short time allowed for observation that one's attention is frittered away in trying to notice too many things at one and the same time. Above all, the observer should be clad as for an antarctic expedition, or he will soon find himself by the fireside and in no way eager for astronomical observation. I noticed ice about an inch thick on buckets of water, formed during the interval of the eclipse. If the time occupied by an eclipse were of longer duration all life would no doubt become extinct in localities under its immediate influence, owing to the intense cold prevailing. The annexed diagram (Pl. III., fig. 1) will be sufficient to illustrate my description, but gives no conception of the beautiful pattern which was shown, and which, to the best of my ability, I have attempted to describe.

Shadow No. 2. Scene near Lake Wakatipu, Otago. The traveller at the foot of the mountain begins to ascend from the valley enveloped in a dense fog, without sign of sun. After an arduous climb he is half-way up the mountain-side, and sits down to rest, but soon starts again on his way, for all is cold, dank, and miserable. After breasting the slope for some time, suddenly he finds that he is, as it were, standing on the misty billows, which glisten white in the glorious sunshine, with a beautiful clear blue sky overhead. The summit of each mountain is piercing through the mist, giving the appearance of numerous islands surrounded by a most beautiful sea of snowy and rounded billows. Now, supposing the traveller to be standing on a narrow spur, or razorback, leading to the mountain-top, with a hollow curve, or basin, to his right, and the sun to his left, he will, all things being favourable, see his gigantic shadow lying on the mist, and around the head a circular halo of yellow-green, margined with or gradually changing into purple, something similar to that at times to be seen encircling the moon. I have taxed my memory as to whether I have seen this more than once, which would seem probable, owing to my business at one time requiring that I should be almost constantly on the mountains after sheep; and also if any person was with me at the time. But after the lapse of years I can only connect this shadow-view with one particular place and time, when alone. Also, I was in the habit of always having a dog with me, but I have no remembrance of his being there, or seeing his shadow. You will see by the accompanying sketch (Pl. III., fig. 2) that the halo did not surround the head, as is shown in old pictures of the saints, with a glory around the top of the head, but was upright, as if a centre was taken near what I may call the centre of eyesight of the figure, and the outer circle of the halo drawn equidistant from that centre, overhead and down towards the shoulders of the shadow, which might be supposed to look through it. Should there be more than one observer each would probably see his own shadow only; but I have, as I before said, no remembrance of seeing this tested. To see this is well worthy of a stiff climb up the mountain; but the particular contour of the spur, the elevation and position of the sun, are special requisites, and probably it would be hard to find places specially suitable for showing the shadow. I wrote on this subject to a relative, now resident in Scotland. In answer he speaks with enthusiasm of the remembrance

of such a scene when accompanied by a friend, and makes the remark “that probably his dogs would stand too near the ground to throw a shadow.” He omits to satisfy me as to whether he could see the shadow of his friend contiguous to his own. The place he speaks of was some miles distant from where I locate my position.