1875.] The Late Transit of Venus. 177 
unfortunate end to a campaign for which he had made very 
complete arrangements. As a member of his party, writing 
from Wellington, remarks, ‘“‘it certainly seemed not too 
much to expect that, towards evening of a summer day in 
December, one of the finest months in the year (in New 
Zealand), an hour’s clear sunshine might be vouchsafed to 
at least a considerable part of a colony somewhat larger than 
Great Britain and famed for the beauty of its climate. 
Unhappily, these hopes and expectations were crushed by a 
day of pitiless weather. All through the 8th, and till mid-day 
on the gth, from every quarter of both islands, telegrams 
conveying the same dismal tidings of mist and rain, cloud, 
gloom, and falling barometers, poured in on Major Palmer, 
the English chief, warning him that unless some sudden 
and unlooked for change should very soon take place, 
the careful plans to which he and his colleagues had for so 
long given their time and energies would prove to have been 
made invain. No change came, and failure was the result.” 
“To crown their trouble, the day after the transit was 
provokingly, almost mockingly, fine. Some excellent sun- 
photographs, which were taken at Burnham on that day, 
showed how carefully the dry plates had been prepared, and 
how successful this, the least certain branch of the work, 
would have been. That the choice of stations was judicious, 
and that all was done that could be done with the means at 
command, is the opinion expressed everywhere.” ‘This 
opinion will certainly be shared in England also; nor will 
astronomers be slow to accord to Major Palmer their fullest 
sympathy for his misfortune. As was remarked of Le Gentil’s 
failure in 1761, Major Palmer has “‘ experienced one of those 
mishaps which assume to the man of science all the propor- 
tions of a real misfortune—to have traversed so large a 
portion of the globe, to have endured all the weariness, all 
the privations, all the perils of a long sea- Boyan: and to 
have been able to effect nothing.” 
The Germans at the Auckland Islands, a station superior 
in value to any in New Zealand, achieved great success. 
Ingress, indeed, was obscured, ‘“‘ but ten minutes later the 
sun shone out, and, the sky remaining clear till the end of the 
transit, some 150 photographs, as well as the observation of 
egress, were obtained.” The French at Caledonia Island 
saw everything except the egress. No news has yet arrived 
from Campbell Island, where the French had a station. If 
success was achieved there also, then egress has been well 
provided for; though the failure in New Zealand remains 
scarcely less to be deplored, because of the special 
