Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1918)
TIIE MORNING OKEGONIAN, SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1918. EYES DFVVORLD ARE CENTERED Oil BAKER ECLIPSE TO SETTLE MANY ASTRONOMICAL DISPUTES Thousand Theories May Be Proved or. Repudiated by Observation Taken by Scientists "Who Will Study Phenomenon. 8 ur 1 ii V u f r Scientists Ready to Take Pho tographs and Study Eclipse L. .of Sun Today. ACTIONS ARE REHEARSED Astronomers Practice Carefully Every Detail of Programme Which Is to Be Carried Out la 113 Seconds of Total! y. BAKER, Or., June 7. (Special.) The eyes of the astronomical world will be on Baker tomorrow on the occasion of" the total solar eclipse. This will not be because Baker has a monopoly at the points of vantage from A GREAT astral pencil,- whose point is 50 miles in diameter, is to draw a jet black, line across the United States from Aberdeen, Wash., to Orlando, Fla., this afternoon. While the marking is being' made chickens are expected to go to roost and birds to nest." Streetcars may run with their headlights aglare. and there will be a sudden Btraln on all lighting utili ties. The great cosmic titan who will hold the pencil and mark the line will "get even" with Washington for steal ing an hour of sunlight on that day, for he will take 47 minutes of that sun light back again. The point of that pencil, black as ebony, will represent an eclipse of the sun. The point will begin with the moon, and will drop in an exact cone to the earth, where it will delete a con siderable portion of the Pacific Ocean and the states of Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Mis sissippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, in about the same manner that a mili tary censor deletes an objectionable line from a war correspondent dispatch. The stock of the pencil will be repre sented by a nebulous space of Infinity, also attract interest. Scientists at the University of California and elsewhere say that the light around the sun moves in regular waves like wireless air waves. Instead of being a steady, even substance, as around the earth. The eclipse may explain this difference. Corona to Be Stadied. The 'coronal spectrum of the sun, ac cording to Professor E. P. Lewis, de partment of physics. University of Cali fornia, is made up of unknown ele ments. Professor Lewis is to study this coronal spectrum through . a large quartz spectograph as a member of the Lick Observatory party at Goldendale, Wash. The spectograph, in the event of clear weather, is expected to reveal many new and startling facts concern ing this corona and accompanying spec trum. The war has had soma effect on the plans for observing the phenomena, many of the scientists who observe such things now being engaged on, prelim inary study of the great German eclipse, which Is due "somewhere in France" at an unnamed date. Stations have been established, how- POSITION OF SUN, MOON AND EARTH AT TODAY'S SOLAR ECLIPSE, WITH COURSE OF SHADOW SHOWN ACROSS UNITED STATES. Diagram of Ibe Eclipse, Showing Shadow Cone as the Moon Passea Between Sun J. W. Daniels, of Mill Military Academy. and Earth. Drawn by Professor which it may-tro observed( but because the United States Government's offi cial representatives, the party from the naval observatory at Washington, D. C, have located their station here and the result of their study is expected to play an important part in solving sev eral problems, brought near to com pletion by observations made - on for mer occasions, but lacking in some few details, which it is hoped the studies tomorrow may clear up for all time. The Government party Is here by "virtue of a special act of . Congress which appropriated $3500 for the under taking by the naval observatory. Hammond Heads Expedition. The party is headed by J. C. Ham mond, with W., M. Conrad and C. C. Wylie as his assistants, and includes Dr. George H. Peters, Professors S. A. Mitchell and L. G. Hoxton, of the Uni versity of Virginia, and Dr. P. W. Mer rill, of the Bureau of Standards, Co-operating with them are the rep resentatives of several other institu tions, guests of the Government on the occasion. Study of the solar atmospheric con ditions and composition will be the principal object of the official Govern ment representatives. This study will be carried on during the less than two minutes totality by means of spectro scopic and photographic work .-entirely. ' . Dr. Merrill will make an attempt to extend knowledge of the flash spectrum to greater wave lengths by photo graphing with plates stained with dicyanin. One of the novel features that will be introduced at this eclipse is the use of moving picture cameras. It is hoped that some of the films will bring to light phenomena hitherto unobserved. Women , to Assist. For the first time, too, women will , assist in the observations, Drs. Harriet Bigelow and Mary Murray Hopkins, of Smith College, being here for the event. In addition to the work undertaken by the Government party and the Bu reau of Standards, as noted, Edward D. Adams and Kempton Adams, of New York, will make a special study of coronal lights and Dr. Howard Russell Butler, of Princeton, N. J., will study the colors of the corona by a special system of shorthand listing, devised by himself and designed to enumerate the several hundred tints and shades of the wonderfully colored corona. Another detail of Interest is the fact that Dr. Peters, while he has traveled to all parts of the world to study eclipses, has never made a visual ob servation and expects to enjoy that experience on the present occasion. . Townley Station in Hllla. Professor S. D. Townley, of Leland Stanford University, has set up a tel escope at a distance from the Govern ment station, having located in the foothills just east of town, where, in addition to study of the corona, he will make a special study of the moon shad ows, more . readily accomplished from eminence, rather than in the valley. He will be assisted by Mrs. Townley. If the day is clear the scientists state that nothing can prevent their work meeting with unqualified success and if cloudy weather prevails their five weeks of preparation, which included the building of a station of permanent character, with all instruments mount ed on concrete bases, will go for naught. The local Weather Bureau predicts showers and partly cloudy weather and the outlook is none too bright for clear sky during the eclipse. In the matter of preparation nothing has been left undone making for the success of the undertaking. The past week has been almost entirely devoted by the scientists in rehearsing their programme for ' the brief period of study, which will be carried on strictly in accordance with a schedule prepared in, advance. Sailor to Call Seconds. A lusty-lunged sailor from the Bre merton naval station party, which has been assisting in establishing the sta tion, will call the seconds of totality as Indicated br the beats of the chro , uometers, the accuracy of which has been thoroughly established, so that the time-keeping Instruments beat in -unison with the Government clock at the naval observatory, which fixes the time of the Nation, to a degree of ex actness within 1-100 of a second, aa millions of miles long, between the sun and the moon. .j .' Many to View Ecllpae. Many an astrological Christopher Co lumbus will be out "along the line" to i discover a new world or two. The mythical planet Vulcan, said to hover near the sun. may possibly be given a positive identity. The great solar force that makes Mercury shake with an as tral ague as it spins around its orbit may be uncovered. A thousand theories may be proved or repudiated, chief of them being the theory of relativity. first suggested by Einstein, a German physicist. ... The nubbin of this theory is that the light from stars beyond the sun is bent by the sun's gravity before it reaches the' earth in about the same manner that a streetcar rail is bent around a slight curve. The eclipse la expected to prove whether such sun gravity can bend light or not. The eclipse is expected also to throw some light on the composition of the sun's spectrum, which, during the period of totality, glows with a green ish hue. What makes it green Is the question the scientists are going to try to answer. Points of similarity and dissimilarity between the atmospheres of the sun and the earth are to be given Close attention also. 'The polarized light of the sun will ever, by the Lick Observatory at Gol dendale, the United States Naval Ob servatory at Baker, Or., the Yerkes and Mount Wilson observatories at Green River. Wyo.: the Alleghany. Chamber lain and rentes observatories at Den ver, the Drake University Observatory at Matheson, Colo., the Sproul Observa tory at Eads, and the Smithsonian As trophysical Observatory at a point In itasaas. Stations on Line. These stations are all" on the line to be drawn by the great astral pencil and are situated at all sorts of altitudes to get all possible effects. The line of totality will be 50 miles wide and that of semi-totality 150 miles wide. The eclipse will be visible, how ever, in varying phases all over North and Central America and Japan and a great portion of China and Russia. Before Copernicus discovered in the 16th century that the planets revolve about the sun, eclipses were a source of terror, scientists say. Arabian wise men happened on the theory of eclipses some time before, but kept the know! edge to themselves in order that they might strengthen their hold on the 11 lit erate populace by utilizing the phe nomena. Followers 'of Copernicus were burned at the stake for their beliefs. determined by exchange of time sig nals by wire between Baker and Washington. This will leave no open ing for a slip in checking the time of the first contact, when the moon first darkens the surface of the sun and the succeeding stages of the passing of the eclipse. As each second is called by the sailor every member of the party will perform some particular task carefully prac ticed to make certain of no mistake. In all about 50 photographs will be made during the 113 seconds of totality and the revelations of the photographic plates when developed will or will not answer the problems which the as tronomers hope to solve. HAWAIIAN AGENCIES CLOSED Railroad Order Affecting- Traffic Offices in Effect. Abolishment of foreign agencies, as the traffic offices situated far from the lines of the companies were called, extended to some far corners of the earth, as well as to cities in the continental United States. Yesterday Frank Bollam, the steam ship agent for the Pacific Steamship Company and the McCormick line, re ceived a letter from A. B. C Denniston. now of Honolulu, formerly general passenger department representative of the Great Northern at Seattle and an old-time Portland passenger agent. Mr. Denniston writes that the island agencies of all of the railroads have been closed. H. TS. Vernon, formerly Santa Fe agent at Portland, Is now with Davles & Go., shipping agents at Honolulu. GIRLS PLAN NIGHT FROLIC Soldiers Will Be Honor Guests at Multnomah olltel Dance. One of the delightful affairs for the soldiers planned for tonight, to be tho first of a series, is the party to be given at the Multnomah Hotel by the girls employed throughout the city In tire department stores and offices, who are working to aid the fund for the relief of the' refugees in devastated France and Belgium. All proceeds of the evening will go to this fund. Dan cing will start at 9 o'clock. The chairman in charge of the affair is Mrs. Thomas W. Saul, wife of Cap tain Saul, now serving in France. Among the patronesses of the evening are Mesdames Farrell, Piatt, Curry, Whitehouse and Skene. Rev. H. F. Geldon to Be Speaker. Rev. Harry F. Geldon, of Clatsttanie. Or., will be the speaker at the Men's Resort Sunday night at 8 o'clock. Miss Pearl Shaffer will be soloist. There will also be special music .by the or chestra. S. N. Steele will lead the XJ Swept by Arctic Breezes BEGINNING TODAY " - KT 1 1 I I - -:- - ..1 Wallace Reid and Ann Little in "Believe Me, Xantippe" A $10,000 bet a $100 forgery a million dollar's worth of girl.' Like "Xylophone" it sounds different than it looks and like "Xmas," it's something to look forward to! Try and pronounce it. It Was a Scream on the Stage It's a Riot in the Picture And Billy Parsons, the Hairless Comedian, in a Love Song in Two Spasms. singing. - Last Wednesday night Dr. Joshua Stansfleld, of tho First M. E. Church, was the speaker, and spoke to a record Summer audience. Miss Chapman and Pearl Slnfleld were the soloists. READY FOR ACTION AT THE ECLIPSE STATION OF UNITEO STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY, BAKER, OR. Si' 'i 1& & r : - - a . i i v-ms3ufin.'jai& u.:..is,'.:;i-.it. i.-AA.aB' i-i.;, As. :t .. -tLA i PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS THE MORE IMPORTANT INSTRUMENTS TO BE ISED IN THE STUDY OK THE ECLIPSE TODAY. Members of the party, from left to right, are: Dr. Mary Murray Hopkins. Smith College, Northampton. Muss.; Dr. K. A. Mitchell, director Leander McCormick Observatory, University of Virginia; G. H. Pehling, naval station, Bremerton: Dr. P. W. Merrill, Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C; Dr. Harriet Bigelow, Smith College: Dr. L. G. Hoxton, University of Virginia: J. C. Hammond, in charge of naval observatory party; Dr. George fl. Peters and C. C. Wylle, of the observatory; H. H. Horrick, C. Krummel and P. Welsh, Bremerton; W. if. Conrad, naval observatory, and Howard Russell Butler, Princeton, N. J. Electric !roe; 10-Year Guarantee 2 Hotpoint Irons 4.00 Hotpolnt Toaster Stoves. . .54.50 Electric Grills (S-heat) . . .$7.K0 Tungsten Lamps, 10-4 0-Ws.tt 27 f Masda Lamps, 10 to 40-Watt 8f Flashlights Repaired. Electric Irons Repaired. Your Old Hotpolnt Taken in Exchange on New Iron. We Sara You Money on Electrical Supplies. - Open Saturday Night Till 10 EVINRUDE MOTOR CO. Erinrude Motors and Electrical Supplies. , 211 MORRISON. NEAR FHtST ST.