334 TRANSIT OF VENUS, 1874. EGYPT. 



defined at all. As I got good definition of stars with it, I examined the colored 

 glasses, and found that the center of each of them had been partially melted 

 with the Sun's rays at some previous period ;* consequently they destroyed 

 the image, so that I had to use a colored glass held in the hand for obser- 

 vation of contact. The colored glass of the double-image micrometer was 

 free from this defect. 



REPORT of Mr. HUNTER on his OBSERVATION of the EGRESS of VENUS, 



1874, DECEMBER 8. 



By 4 h . 30 m . on the morning of the 9th of December I was at my hut, and 

 had all the arrangements made long before sunrise, although the sky was 

 almost covered with cloud. A clear strip on the Eastern horizon gave me 

 the hope of seeing the Sun rise, but even this was covered over just a few 

 minutes before the Sun rose, so that I did not see the Sun at all until about 

 half an hour before contact, when I saw it only for a second. In about 

 10 minutes the Sun was again visible through cloud, and continued visible 

 until the end, although at times covered so densely with cloud that I had to 

 remove the colored glass in order to see it. The instant that it became 

 visible I commenced the measurement of the apparent diameter of Venus, 

 then the distances from the limb, until it was time to remove the double- 

 image micrometer and observe contact. The power used for this purpose 

 = 126, being a positive eye-piece with a glass prism in front of it, forming a 

 solar eye-piece. 



The formation of the ligament took place, without the slightest warning, 

 at about 5" (by rough estimation) from the apparent limb of the Sun the 

 cloud being then rather dense but good definition. That this was a well- 

 marked phenomenon is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Isaac Engleson, who 

 was observing with a telescope of mine outside my hut, and distant about 

 13 feet (we could not see each other), using a Solar chronometer, noted this 

 time 1 8< 25 later than I did. His time, reduced to local Sidereal, was 

 13 h . 26 m . 53 S -90, mine 13 h . 26 m . 52 s -65. At the time we both noted as 

 follows : Mr. Engleson : " I think I recorded it 2 s . or 3 s . late." S. H. : 

 " Might be a second or a second and a half late," as " I took a second glance 

 to assure myself that it was not an optical deception." Mr. Engleson had 

 no previous training on the Model coming out as a volunteer at his own 

 cost and took this as true contact. His time of formation of cusps is later 



* The instrument was in Mr. Hunter's possession for five months before he started for Egypt. 



