ON THE VISIBILITY OF VENUS — CAMERON. 157 



when Venus was 26° out from the sun. It would be absurd to 

 accept this as anything like a limit of visibility for this position. 

 The observation was made at mid-day, and it was a purely ran- 

 dom one to boot — not a bit of preparation had been made for it. 

 Venus was then so bright as to be readily seen by a couple of 

 friends who were prepared a minute before to swear that it 

 was utterly impossible to see her with the naked eye at such 

 a time. The date was May 19, 1889. 



M. Bruguiere saw her two days earlier, on May 1 7, and his 

 was probably also a midday observation. After the next inferior 

 conjunction on December 4, 1890, he cut his own record down 

 two days by seeing her on December 18 when she was 14 days 

 out. I don't know at what time of the day this observation was 

 made, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that it too was 

 a noon one. 



Nothing less than 18 days j^et, and perhaps it may be thought 

 that it was too rash to pooh-pooh that interval as unnecessarily 

 large for this position. The mere absence of observations made 

 at uncomfortably early hours would not, however, pi'ove that 

 they could not be made ; but it fortunately happens that there 

 is no need to urge this plea. December 13, 1890, was the ninth 

 day after the last inferior conjunction. Half an hour befor-e 

 sunrise on that morning Venus was seen with the naked eye by 

 Miss Katharine Travis, of Hampton, N. B. The elongation was 

 then 15°, the phase if,„ and the brilliancy 28. This is the best 

 observation I know of after inferior conjunction. I hope some 

 of our early-rising star-gazers will better it after the next one on 

 July 9 this year. 



Much l^-etter has been done at the more convenient season 

 before inferior conjunction. But not by me. My best observa- 

 tion of this kind was made 8 days before the conjunction of 

 April 80, 1889, on the evening of the 22nd. The elongation was 

 nearly 14^*^, the phase ,^ and the brilliancy 28. Every evening 

 after that until conjunction was cloudy or foggy ; indeed, that 

 evening was cloudy too, and it was only through a break in the 

 clouds that she managed to let herself be seen for a minute or 



