ON ASTRONOMY. 121 



mnnicated to Mr. James Short, of London, and, with others, were 

 published in the transactions of the Royal Society for 1764. From 

 the discussion of seventeen observations made at different places Mr. 

 Short found the parallax to be 8". 6. 



The same observations were discussed by Mr. Thomas Ilornsby, 

 professor of astronomy at Oxford. His result is 9/'7, more than 1" 

 greater than Short's. Pingre's computations gave 10". 1. Rumouski, 

 8". 3. On account of such large discrepancies these results were not 

 very satisfactory. 



But another transit was to occur June 3, 1769 ; and renewed and 

 more extended preparations were made to secure the best possible 

 observations. Scientific societies and enlightened governments united 

 their efforts to establish stations in distant parts of the earth most 

 favorable for observation. 



Besides the observations of Dr. Maskelyne at the Greenwich 

 observatory, and many others in England, the Royal Society, with the 

 aid of the government, sent out the famous expedition of Capt. Cook 

 to the South Seas, where the transit was observed by Mr. Green, the 

 astronomer, by Captain Cook, and Dr. Solander, the botanist of the 

 expedition. 



Another commission, consisting of Messrs. Wales and Dymond, was 

 sent to Hudson's Bay ; while Mason and Dixon, who had observed 

 the transit of 1761 at the Cape of Good Hope, observed this in 

 Ireland. And still another, under the direction of Mr. Call, was sent 

 to Madras. 



The French Academy sent Pingre to St. Domingo, and the Abbe 

 Chappe to California, both of whom had observed the preceding 

 transit^ the former in the Indian ocean, the latter in Siberia. Chappe 

 made his observation at the village of St. Joseph, in California, and, 

 lingering a short time to complete some observations for the longitude 

 of the place, was seized with an epidemic and died on the 1st of 

 August following. His observations were preserved and sent to Paris 

 by one of his assistants. 



The Academy of St. Petersburg took the most enlightened interest 

 in the event, and sent astronomers to three different stations in Lap- 

 land, to one on the banks of the Lena, to another on the shores of 

 the Caspian, and to several places in the interior of Asia. 



The King of Denmark sent Father Hell, professor of astronomy in 

 Vienna, to Wardhus, at the northern extremity of Norway. Lanman 

 went to Cajanebourg, in Finland. 



In this country the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, 

 under the lead of Dr. Rittenliouse, took the most active and conspicu- 

 ous part in this f^nterprise, which united the astronomical labors of 

 all countries. As the time for preparation drew near tlie society 

 appointed commissions to make observations in the three separate 

 places : one at Norriston, (now Norristown,) the residence of Ritten- 

 liouse, seventeen miles northwest of Philadelphia; one in Philadelphia, 

 and one near Cape Henlopcn. Dr. Rittenhouse had the principal cliarge 

 of the first station, Dr. Evving of the second, and Mr. Biddle of the 

 third. The liveliest interest was felt in the subject. The day was 

 remarkably fine, and the observers were able to get excellent observa- 

 tions. 



