128 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



carried to the very Pole. 'Nor can tlie prospects of the 

 Swedish expedition be considered less promising, when 

 we remember that last year, though hampered by the 

 lateness of the season and other difficulties, they suc- 

 ceeded in approaching the Pole within a distance only 

 a few miles greater than that which separated Parry 

 from the Pole in 1829. 



Certainly England has reason to feat that before 

 the year 1870 has closed she will no longer be able to 

 claim that her flag has approached both Poles more 

 nearly than the flag of any other nation. There are 

 considerations which make the recent eupineness of 

 our country in the matter of arctic travel much to be 

 regretted. In the winter of 1874 there will occur one 

 of those interesting phenomena by which Nature oc- 

 casionally teaches men useful lessons respecting her 

 economy. We refer to the transit of Venus on De- 

 cember 8th in that year. One of the most effective 

 modes of observing this transit will require that a 

 party of scientific men should penetrate far within the 

 recesses of the desolate Antarctic Circle. "Where are 

 the trained arctic seamen to be found who will venture 

 upon this service ? Most of our noted arctic voyagers 

 have earned their rest ; and, as Commander Davis said 

 at a recent meeting of the Geographical Society, those 

 who go for the first time into the arctic or antarctic 

 solitudes are too much tried by the effects of the new 

 experience to be fit to undertake important scientific 



