2G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



for a long time after no ring was seen round the planet. 

 About an hour and a half alter ingress, however, a dark rino-, 

 not so black as the planet, and about 8" or 10" broad, was 

 seen, the sky being then quite clear." 



Mr. Talmage, of Leyton, observed a luminous ring about 

 Mercury, which was very well defined. lie had, however, 

 only a few seconds of clear weather. In this country it was 

 extensively observed, and many photographs were made. 

 These are now being measured at the Naval Observatory, 

 Washington. 



Professor Langley, at Pittsburgh, observed the transit of 

 Mercury under favorable conditions. The planet was seen 

 outside the sun about half a minute before first contact, the 

 whole disk being seen. Haze prevented similar observations 

 at egress. No bright point or annulus was seen. The dark- 

 est part of the planet was the centre, the edges being less 

 gray, but the planet was certainly not black. Photometric 

 measures of the absolute amount of light from Mercury were 

 attempted, but Professor Langley interprets the results as 

 measures of the minimum effect to be assigned to the earth's 

 atmosphere in inflecting the solar light. 



The observations of contact published up to the present 

 time agree closely with the predicted times based on Lever- 

 rier's tables, the general accuracy of which is thus supported. 



TRANSIT OF VENUS AND SOLAR PARALLAX. 



The publication of the results of the French Transit-of- Ve- 

 nus reductions has been delayed through the illness of the 

 editor, M. Puiseaux. The results of the eye observations have 

 been deduced, however, and harmonize well, being between 

 8.82" and 8.88" from pairs of stations, and the general result 

 will not be far from 8.85". The difference between this and 

 the English result, 8.77", is marked. The French photograph- 

 ic results are not yet published. 



A somewhat unexpected result is obtained by the reduc- 

 tions of the British observations on the last transit of Venus. 

 The data used are the eye observations (telescopic) in Egypt, 

 Honolulu, New Zealand, Rodriguez, and Kerguelen. The 

 photographic observations, of course, were not combined with 

 these, and there arc also eye observations taken in India and 

 Australia that may be utilized; but it is not believed that any 



