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24 astronoMTCXl papers. 



fignal. My Telefcope was placed clofc by the clock, and 

 I was to count its beats, and fet down my own time. 



Thefc Preliminaries being fettled, we prepared at two 

 o'clock to fit down to our fefped:ive Telefcopes ; or (I 



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of the Sun's great height, 



Refra6lor 





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As there was a large concourfe of the inhabitants of the 

 county, and many from the city, wc were apprehenfivc 

 that our fcheme for filence might be defeated, by fome of 

 them fpeaking, when they fhould fee any of the fignals 

 for the Gontads; and therefore we found it neceffary to 

 tell them that the fuccefs of our obfervation would depend 

 on their keeping a profound filence'till the Conta6ls were 

 over. And to do them juftice, during the 12' that enfued, 

 ther could not have been a more folemn paufe of filence 

 and expedation, if each individual had been waiting for 

 the fentence that was to give him life or death. So regular 

 and quiet was the whole, that, far from hearing a whifper^ 

 or word fpoken, I did not even hear the feet of the coun- 

 ters, who paffed behind me from the windows to the clock; 



and was fuprifed when I turned from my Telefcope to the 



clock, to find them all there before me, counting up their 

 feconds to an even number; as I imagined, from the deep 

 filence, that my affociates had yet feen nothing of Fenus. 

 As the Contacts are among the moft eflential articles re- 

 lative to this phi^nomenon, it is material, before we fet 

 down the times, to give a particular account of the manner 

 in which each obferver judged of them, and the circum- 

 ftances attending them. 



Mr. RITTENHOUSE's Account of the ContaQs. 



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At 2\ II^ 39'' per clock, the Revd. Mv. Barton of 

 Lancajler-i who affilled me at the Telefcope, on receiving 



my fignal,as had been agreed, inftantaneoully communicated 

 it to the counters at the window, by waving a handker- 

 chief; v;ho walking foftly to the clock, counting feconds 



as 



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