48 



ASTRONOMICAL I'HKNUMEXA AXD PROGRESS. 



> of double meteor was that 

 by Schmidt at Athene. The naked eye 

 could Me only one object; but in the t. !- 

 cope two large meteor* could be seen travel- 

 ing in front of number of omall fireballs, each 

 of which WM followed by train. Dr. Galle 

 refer* to theee and other instance* to support 

 hi* view. He coMiden that hi* researches into 

 the phenomena presented br the meteors w hich 

 Ml at Poltosk on January 30, 1868, as a rain 

 of stonea, demonstrate that the meteor* were 

 separate Ion* before they reached the place of 

 so-called explosion, and that tin* place is only 

 the spot where a complete resistance to the 

 planetary Telocity and a partial rebound from 

 the impressed air take place, and whence the 

 meteor nil* with a velocity corresponding to 

 the law of terrestrial gravity. Haulingcr. from 

 certain physical feature* of fallen meteor-. !,.,! 

 already inferred the necessity <>f the theory 

 that the separate meteors bad followed distinct 

 path* through the air. Dr. Galle considers 

 that at present it may be regarded as still an 

 open question, whether meteorite* enter our 

 atmosphere, from outer space, already sepa- 

 rated so as to form a swarm, or whether, 

 shortly after entering and during their passage 

 through the air, they are reduced through tlie 

 effect* of heat into smaller fragments, which 

 the more or leas freshly broken appearance of 

 many fragment*, a* distinguished from the full 

 or partial over-crusting of others, seems to in- 

 dicate. He note* a* unusual, in the first ob- 

 erration by Dr. Reiraann, the < irrumstanco 

 that the two meteor* traveling in front were 

 smaller than the one wliich t'.. II. .,-.! them. 



Tkt Tramiit of r*tu. In Murrh, 1-7;'., 

 Coagrrt* appropriated the remaining f 

 000 of the estimated llfti.OOO, for expenses in 

 observing the transit of Venn*, Decem! 

 1874. The following official notice of the work 

 in thi* connection, thai far done by the United 

 State* Government, appears in a memoir pn1>- 

 Uabed by the Naval Observatory during the 

 y*r: 



Preparatory mumms tor this object were earlr 

 take*) bjr th. Obsemtory. At NwrnaM of the 

 ysftailsjt,Osareis appropriated, in 1871, th* 



< ' ...... .!;,, :,..; 



best fern**/ UMtraoMoU to b* used la the** obser- 

 TBfUSM. B)r MKlon t Of th n.r.l bill nuking tin. 

 aB*.ttatlua. a **Ml*shm in nfcmwe to thi, inn- 



' 



ttt 

 I 



*~ wsWasa Harks)***, 0. 8. K., were detailed 

 bersefl.MOsMJiln.nit. IB liaioh, mi, the 



?!i:'S?!!?L;g.j >dd j^r? b ' v 



Mf OOttfFMM til t h** j?mnt 



*<f4s,*o fcr the porohaM of 



instrument*, Jane 10, 1871. This cordial response 

 ngms was secured by the support of the Senate 

 Committee on Education, an able report from which 

 WM presented by the Hon. Mr. Sawyer; and by the 

 inriuenee in the House of Representative* of the 

 chairman " !<! ot Appropriation^, H"u. 



Mr. GarflelJ, with that of tlior Rcpreentativ,-s. 

 Aiuonjf thote who memorialixcd Congretui for thi* 

 object were the Connecticut Academy of Sciences, 

 the California Academy, the American rhiloophical 

 Society of I'hilaiirlphfa, the Chamber of Commerce 

 of San Francisco, and the University of California. 

 Under the appropriation already made, the 

 muaion have contracted for most of the nee 

 instruments, and are carrying forward the pri \ I 

 required experimental work for obiT\ iiitr thii- rure 

 and most important event. They have iued the 

 flr-t two papers of a aeries upon this su)>jr< t : 



No. I.,cpinpri>intr a oorreHjiondcncc with Mr. L. 

 M. Butherfura, of New York, and spaperon the Ap- 

 plication of Photography, by Prof. Newoomb. 



II. Chart* and fable* for facilitating Predio- 

 f the several Phase* of the T run-it : prepared 

 by Mr. Q. W. Hill, Aosintant in the Nautical Alma- 

 nac Office, under the direction of Prof. J. H. C. 

 Coffln, Superintendent of the Almanac. 



In reply to inquiries in regard to the plans of the 

 Commiaaion. Prof. Newcomb, as their secretary, has 

 replied In substance : That the principal reliance 'lur- 

 ing the observations of the transit will lie on photog- 

 raphy ; and that arrangements are being made for 

 equipping eight photographic station* four in the 

 Northern llv!iii-j>)iere in China. Japan, and probably 

 in the adjacent inland* ; and four in tlu- Southern 

 Hemisphere in New Zealand, Chatham Inland, Tas- 

 mania, and probably Kerguelen Island. Each station 

 will be provided with an astronomer, an assistant -as- 

 tronomer, and photographic assistants. The record 

 of the work of the Observatory otferej in the pi 

 ing memoir closes with thU reference to the transit 

 t V.-niis and to the natural relation to it held br the 

 Institution. It purposes to fulfill that share iii tlio 

 observations and in the results to bo deduced from 

 them which the astronomical world jii^' 

 of it. The daily-increa.-inir interest in this phenom- 

 enon and its agronomical importance may be yet 

 more appreciated by the general r. :i.l. r !>y attention 

 to the following p :i>m of a liixtint" 



writer on Antronomv^ Prof. R. (iriuit. Director of the 

 Koyal Observatory, Edinburgh : 'T?he appron< 

 transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882 are looked forward 

 to by astronomer* with intenxe interest. Steps have 

 already been taken by the principal nations of Eu- 

 rope to observe the transit of 1874 with the aid of all 

 the appliances of modern science. The transit of 

 1888 will be eminently favornhlt for obtrrvatinn in 

 Anttrifa. Between those two important phenomena 

 there will occur one of those oppositions of the planet 

 Mars which are peculiarly favorable for the same pur- 

 po. We have thus three phenomena the transit 

 i- in 1-M. the opposition of Mars in 1877, and 

 the tran.il <{ Venus in l*8-.> all fuvorablc for obtain- 

 ing a fresh determination of the value of the solar 

 parallax ; and it cannot be doubted that the various 

 effort* which they will call forth on the part of 

 astronomers will lead to a value of the important 

 eiwnsut still more trustworthy than any yet arrived 



It I* proposed to hold a meeting, of nil per- 

 sons who will tnko part in the work, nt Wash- 

 ington, in the upring of 174. An artificial 

 Venus i will be provided mnking transit over 

 an artificial snn, nt n distance of two miles, imd 

 tlm initriimcntintfiidi <] for observation of the 

 ramltraosil will l,e used on tliat orrnsion. 



Tfif t.'rfaf Trtrtrape nt \\'nhi,t<]tn. In 

 mhcr, ls-3, Mr. Alvan Clark & Sr.im 

 the mounting of the great rcfrui-tor 



