Abstract
THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF A.D. 418, JULY 19.—Philostorgius, in his “Epitome of Ecclesiastical History,” relates that while Theodosius the Second was a youth, on July 19, at the eighth hour of the day, the sun was so greatly eclipsed that the stars were seen, and while the sun was thus hidden there was seen in the sky a light in the form of a cone, “which some ignorant people called a comet”; and he goes on to describe the supposed differences in the appearance of the phenomenon from that of a comet, particularly remarking that it resembled the flame of a torch, subsisting of itself, without any star to serve as a base, and adding particulars of its track and duration. That the object thus singularly discovered during a total, or nearly total, eclipse of the SUD, was really a comet as the “ignorant people” supposed, is proved by the records in the Chinese Annals. The eclipse to which reference is made by Philostorgius took place on July 19, A.D. 418. The comet of that year is stated in Pingré's Cometographie to have been discovered in the 10th moon, commencing November 15, in which he follows the Jesuit, Couplet, but the account given by Mr. Williams, on the authority of the She Ke and Ma Twan Lin, dates the appearance of the comet on day Kang Tsze of the 5th moon, when it was situate in Ursa Major; on September 15 it was on the confines of Leo and Virgo; “it was bright, and gradually lengthened until it was 100 cubits in length.” Philostorgius also refers to the passage of the comet through Ursa Major, and says it continued visible until the end of the autumn.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 17, 163 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/017163b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/017163b0