red for the like number of stations,
and the observers were to report their results at the earliest possible
moment. On a rehearsal of the programme the thought occurred that the
sending and reception of so many cypher messages in the ordinary course
of business might lead to delays which would be productive of serious
inconvenience, and that the success of the whole scheme could be only
well assured if a special wire, in direct circuit from New York to the
eclipse stations in turn, could be dedicated to the work. Thanks to the
liberality of the Western Union Telegraph Company this privilege was
secured, and a branch wire was led across from the Company's New York
office to the office of the _New York Herald_, which journal had
undertaken to be responsible for the non-astronomical part of the
business.

Mrs. Todd gives the following account of the final arrangements, and of
how they began to work when the moment for action arrived:--"From San
Francisco every California observer was within easy telegraphic reach,
and the wire thus extended by direct circuit to each eclipse station in
turn. From the editorial rooms of the _Herald_ Professor Todd was in
immediate communication with any observers whom he chose to call. As
previously intimated, arrangements had been made with the Harvard
astronomers at Willows to receive their message first and with the
utmost despatch, in order to test the feasibility of outstripping the
Moon. Shortly before 5 o'clock in the afternoon despatches began to come
in. Of course a slight delay was unavoidable, as the observers at the
various stations were some rods distant from the local telegraph
offices, and it would take a few minutes after the eclipse was over to
prepare the suitable message from the cypher code. On the astronomer's
table in the _Herald_ office were a large map and a chronometer. The
latter indicated exact Greenwich time, and the former showed the correct
position of the Moon's shadow at the beginning of every minute by the
chronometer. In this way it was possible to follow readily the precise
phase of the eclipse at every station. About the rooms and accessible
for immediate use were arranged the cypher codes pertaining to the
several stations and other papers necessary in preparing the reports for
the press. Everything being, as was supposed, in working order, New York
about a quarter of an hour before totality commenced inquired of Willows
the state of the weather. The ans