The Transit of Venus Preparations for Observation by Different Nations. 



53 



value particularly iu regard to these hemorrhages one 

 of the most common of post-mortem results. What have 

 these observations of osteology shown; that the por- 

 tion of alcohol returned iu the system acts directly upon 

 the nerve tissues, and upon what tissues? First, 

 upon tlie cellular tissue; then adventitious tissue 

 is gradually substituted for the healthy tissue. We find 

 This takes place in tlie stomach, the liver, aud the bruin, 

 and that probably accounts for the hardening process. 

 The first post morteuis which I made were iu 1843. 

 Some were men who had died from chronic alcoholism. 

 In several cases the odor of alcohol was very strongly 

 perceived on the removal of the cerebral membrane, and 

 its presence in one if not in two cases was shown posi- 

 tively by chemical tests. The change iu tissue takes place 

 by the direct poisoning- of this tiss:ie. Then comes the 

 <flvct ot mechanical pressure, as well as the vital action 

 of tiiis poisoning upon the essential tissue of these 

 organs. That is a granular fatty degenera- 

 tion. We have therefore a twofold result 

 or tatty degeneration, in the first place, and secondly, 

 not only a hardening but a substitution of tissue. It 

 has been shown that there is an inflammation 

 upon the surface of the brain and surround- 

 ing the membrane, as in the ordinary cases 

 of general paralysis. We have known of this fatty de- 

 generation, but it was not until recently thatwekuew 

 that this extended to the nervous centers. 



Remarks' were also made by P. D. Lewis, M. D., of 

 Cold Springs. N. Y., and Dr. Roberts Burtalow of Cin- 1 

 cinnati. 



1HE TRANSIT 



VENUS. 



PREPARATIONS FOE OBSERVATION BY DIF- 

 FERENT NATIONS. 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF WHAT OTHER NATIONS ARE 

 DOING ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES 

 COMMISSION FOR THE WORK DETAILS OF THE 

 ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE EXPEDITIONS. 



[FROM AH OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.] 



WASHINGTON, May 7. A review of the prep- 

 arations which different nations are making, including 

 our own, for observing the coming transit of Venus, 

 will be found somewhat gratifying to our national 

 vanity. England has selected five stations to 

 wnich she will send parties. She has now the 

 ship Challenger inspecting inlands in advantageous lo- 

 cations iu the South Indian Ocean. There will probably 

 be two stations iu the Sandwich Islands, ona of which 

 will be at Woahoo, for the purpose of observing acceler- 

 ated ingress (that is, for taking observations at a station 

 which, from its geographical position, will be among the 

 first where the approach of the planet to the sun's disk 

 is visible), and two others at Kerguclen and Ron- 

 riguc.z Islands, for retarded ingress (that is, 

 for observations from a station among the 

 last from which the approach can be perceived) ; 

 another at Auckland for accelerated egress, and a flt'th 

 at Alexandria tor retarded egress (those stations being 

 among the first and last where the departure of the 

 planet from the sun can be observed) ; the two parties 

 at the Sandwich Islands being considered as occupying 

 one station. 



The estimates submitted by the Astronomer Royal 

 were. for tne Woahoo detachment, $12,500; for Rodriguez 

 and Kerguelen's, lo,<~00 eacli : Auckland, $5,000, and 

 Alexandria, $3,760; making a total of $41,2CO. A grant of 



$52',500 was made In May, 1869. Troughton and Slnims 

 make the instruments, and Dent the clocks for all the 

 parties. The Cambridge Observatory leu! two. and Mr. 

 Do la Hue one, of the tclrsciiprs to be used. One (if the 

 eqnatorials was the one formerly used by Admiral 

 Smythe. 



ENGLISH METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS. 



The buildings for the Instruments ani substantial 

 structures, stout wooden framework covered with 

 weather boarding, and roofed with zinc and rooting felt 

 Each instrument has a separate building, t hose for the 

 transit instruments being 10 feet square, with walls six 

 feet high. The alt-azimuth huts are nine feet hexagonal, 

 with a hexagonal dome on circular frames, with six 

 rollers, to permit their being turned with the open- 

 ing in the roof to any part of the heavens. 

 The buildings are made portable by being constructed 

 in sections, which are connected together by bolts and 

 nuts. For the transit instruments massive Portland 

 stone piers will be provided, with foundation slabs. For 

 the alt-azimuth, stone pier caps only will bo sent out, 

 leaving the piers to be provided on the spot. The 

 sources of their personnel are the officers of the Royal 

 Artillery, the students of the Naval College, and some 

 orivate individuals who are- now undergoing a prelimi- 

 nary drill at Greenwich. Photographic observations 

 will be made at Peshawar iu Northern India, aud Lord 

 Lindsay has equipped a party at his own expense to 

 observe the transit from the Island of Mauritius. 



There was a bplief current among astronomers 

 that photography could not be used where the photo- 

 graphs were afterward to be subjected to such rigorous 

 measurements as are necessary to give us a more accu- 

 rate value of the solar parallax than we now possess; 

 or iu the words of our own Mr. Rutherfurd, " The photo- 

 graph of the sun will have a greater or less diameter by 

 many seconds of arc, according to the energy of 

 the rays which have produced the image; and 

 this discrepancy may be produced by a change 

 in the aperture, in the length of the time of exposure, 

 in the transparency of the atmosphere, in the hour of 

 the day, or iu the sensibility of the chemicals." Accord- 

 ingly, the position of Venus on the sun's disk must not 

 be measured from the limb of the sun, but from its 

 center; and it is now found that the probable error of 

 measuring the position of Venus, as given by Prof. 

 Hall, will be about twelve-hundredths of a single second 

 of arc, which is about the one-fourteen-hundredth of the 

 whole diameter of the sun, which is certainly within the 

 probable error of an observation, by the eye, of a contact. 



As soon as it became evident that photography would 

 be an important auxiliary, England ordered of Mr. Dull- 

 meyer five photo-heliograph", built under the direction 

 of Mr. De la Rue. whose object-glasses, four inches in 

 diameter, give an image of the suo about half an iach. 

 which is afterward enlarged to four inches in diameter. 

 The whole apparatus, unlike the American photographic 

 apparatus, is moved by clock-work, aud mounted m the 

 usual equatorial style ; and for the purpose of defr.iyiusr 

 the expenses of the photographic apparatus $25,000 addi- 

 tional has been appropriated. 



RUSSIAN, FRENCH, AND GERMAN PREPARATION'S. 



Russia will occupy twenty-seven sutions. stretching 

 across her Siberian possessions, about 10'J miles apart, 

 from Kanischatka and from the Black Sea. T.I.-, equip- 

 ments of the individual parties will not be as complete 

 as either the English or American, aud it is the design 

 todeteruiinethegoosraphic.il position of the stations 

 bv the geographical survey, which will u.so a line of 

 telegraph through Siberia to Nicoiaevak, to uelcriniuo 



