THE TRANSIT OF VENUS. 723 



sian Governments, that it might be observed from widely-distant quar- 

 ters of the globe. These went to Cape Wardhus, Kola, Cajanebnrg, 

 Otaheite, Fort Prince of "Wales on the northwest of Hudson's Bay, St. 

 Joseph and Santa Anna in California. The ingress of the planet was 

 seen at almost all the observatories of Europe, the egress at Peters- 

 burg, Yakutsk, Uanilla, Batavia, Pekin, and Orenburg. 



One of the principal observers, and perhaps the astronomer whose 

 published observations were most highly valued, was David Patten- 

 house. He, too, became an astronomer in boyhood, and used to calcu- 

 late eclipses on the fences and on his plough-beam, when he stopped to 

 rest in the field. 



He, too, expectantly awaited the phenomenon, studying the theo- 

 ries and deductions that it involved by day and dreaming of them by 

 night. He was assigned by the American Philosophical Society to 

 Norriton, Pennsylvania, as his place of observation. 



Bittenhouse possessed a highly-imaginative and sensitive nature ; 

 and when he saw, on the calm June day, the planet like a shadow, 

 creeping, as it were, slowly along the edge of the solar disk, he became 

 for some moments unconscious, overawed by the sublimity of the 

 vision. 



The transit of Venus, in 1874, occurs after an interval of one hun- 

 dred and five and a half years. 



TRANSITS. 



1639, December 4th (ST. S.) ) mjL 

 1761, June 5th S a J " ' 



1761, June 5th } Q 



_ ' , } 8 years. 



1769, June 3d ) J 



1769, June 3d | , AK1 



-.>,. -rs , ^ , ? 10i years. 



1874, December 8th S J 



Venus, being the second planet from the sun, and the larger of the 

 two inferior planets having their orbits within that of the earth, ap- 

 pears to the earth the most luminous of all the planetary stars, her 

 light at the period of her greatest splendor being so intense as to cast 

 a shadow. She is seen in her full orbit beauty in regions under the 

 equator at the period of her greatest elongation. Her telescopic ap- 

 pearance is interesting, lofty mountains breaking her luminous circle. 

 During her transits her atmosphere is distinctly visible. 



Extensive preparations are making, in England and on the Conti- 

 nent, for observing the transit in 1874 and 1882, which will afford the 

 means of the most careful and accurate results. 



