Harvard Astronomers Prepare for Great Day--Appeal to Amateurs as Dr. Halley Did in England 210 Years Ago

The solar eclipse scheduled for tomorrow is producing much the same tension in the precincts of the astronomical laboratory as the Harvard-Yale football game does to the undergraduate body the day before the game. A report from the laboratory conveying the general impression of hurrying and skurrying and "Where are you located to see the eclipse?" and "What time do you leave South Station?", is common knowledge.

The Harvard Observatory tomorrow is maintaining four official observation stations along the path of totality, from which they will attempt to measure photographically the light of the corona. The efforts to determine the facts has led the Harvard observers to request amateurs to station themselves along the northern border of the path of totality, which extends approximately from Cotuit, directly through Providence, to Stafford, Connecticut, in order to determine the exact line along which the shadow of the eclipse ceases to be total.

An appeal to all school pupils, boy scouts, and girl scouts to assist by making informal observations tomorrow has also been made. This last is interestingly analogous to an appeal sent out in 1715, 210 years ago, by Dr. Halley, the famous British astronomer, as contained in an old account now on exhibition in the Widener Room of the University Library.

"Having found," Dr. Halley is reported as saying, "by comparing what had been formerly observed of solar eclipses, that the whole shadow would fall upon England, I thought it a very proper opportunity to get the dimension of the shade, ascertained by observation. And accordingly, I caused a small map of England describing the track and bounds thereof, to be dispersed all over the kingdom, with a request to the curious to observe what they could about it, but more especially to note the time of continuance of total darkness."

Any new facts or interesting data which the Harvard observers find tomorrow, the CRIMSON intends to publish as soon as the astronomers can prepare them for the press.