THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 289 



ploration, or even to winter there.* England, through 

 Cook and Koss ; Eussia, through Billingshausen, 



* I cannot refrain from touching here once again on the unfortunate 

 circumstances relative to the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882, be- 

 cause not only astronomy but geography must suffer seriously from 

 them. When we consider what was about to be undertaken for the 

 transit of 1882, and how small was the promise of astronomical results^ 

 even under the misapprehensions to which we have referred, we see how 

 much might have been secured (even before this present time) if the- 

 more abundant promise of the earlier transit had been recognised in 

 due time. In 1882 there are only two Antarctic stations to be thought 

 of for a moment, and at one of these the sun will be only four degrees 

 or so above the horizon at the moment when Venus enters on the sun's 

 face, while at the other the sun will only be seven degrees above the 

 horizon at that time. The least haze near the horizon, or the existence 

 of mountains of moderate elevation lying on the south of the selected 

 station (and it is suspected that lofty mountains exist in that direction), 

 would render the observations futile. In 1874, on the contrary, there 

 will be a high sun at three or four Antarctic stations, and every circum- 

 stance would tend to make the observations successful and useful. It 

 has even been said, by one well qualified to express an opinion to wit, 

 by Commander Davis, who accompanied Sir James Koss in his southern 

 voyages, and had himself landed at one of the stations suggested that 

 the meteorological chances of observing the transit would be greatly 

 more favourable in this Antarctic station than at Kerguelen's Land. 

 He considers, also, that there would be no difficulty whatever in again 

 effecting a landing at the same place, viz. on Possession Island, off the 

 coast of South Victoria, in latitude seventy-two degrees south ; and that, 

 with good huts, a party ' could pass the winter very comfortably, and 

 would have a pleasant prospect before them and plenty of penguins to 

 live on.' But to have secured the forwarding of such an expedition the 

 attention of Government should have been directed to the matter as- 

 long before the transit of 1874 as in the actual case the transit of 

 1882 was anticipated (that is, in 1865, or thereabouts). Unfortunately, 

 however, even at that very time, the mistake we have referred to led to 

 the reiterated assertion that the transit of 1882 was alone worth 

 observing at Antarctic stations; and again in 1868 the statement was 

 repeated, that the method for which Antarctic voyages would alone be 

 made 'fails totally for the transit of 1874' (Monthly Notices of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society, vol. xxix. p. 33). It is now admitted that 

 this was an over-hasty inference, but the admission comes too late. To 



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