164 



M A r I-I E iVI A T I C A L and 



B4 



*^ 



But fcarce anj.of the European obiervers, in the folloW' 

 ing lift, had the Sun above 8''" highat the external contad; 

 and, at the internal contaa, in France and Sweden, ha 

 ■was fcarce 2" above the horizon, and even at Greenwich 

 not quite f- This circumftance therefore, and the form 

 Venus put on, hanging to the Sun's limb by a fort of pro^ 

 tuberant ligament, muft have rendered it very dilFiCult to 

 pronounce the moment of the internal contad. 



vm 



over 



> 



More 



thewdiole duration of the ingrefs., or time between 



the contads, given by the European obfervers, being near 

 i' longer than it was obferved in America, when it ought 

 rather to have been fhortcr, tends further to fhew that the 

 true internal contad muft have been paft, before they faw 

 the Sun's light compleatcd, round the dark body of the 

 planet. 



And here, as Dr. Ualkj ^ exprelTes it, " Since Venus, 

 like her fex, is exceeding; coy, and deigns but in certain f 



^ 



ages, to come before the eyes of men, divefted of her bor 

 rowed drefs;*' an American, who has the leaft of the 

 rit of an aftronomer in him, cannot help lamenting for his. 

 brother-aftronoraers in Europe—men of fame and great 

 abilities — that they were condemned, amid horizontal va- 

 pors, only to a tranfient glimpfe of this rare phainomenon 

 CfpeBaculum mterciflrononiua huge noUhJjmmm) ; and that 



they could not have fliared with us fome part, at leaft of 

 that luxury gazing, which we enjoyed here. 



However, notwithftanding thefe unfavourable circum- 

 ftances, the parallax of the Sim, as deduced from the bcft 

 obfcrvations of the tranfit 1 761, will be greately confirmed 

 by the following comparifons of the American and Euro- 

 pean obfcrvations of 1769; cfpecially thofe of the exter- 

 nal contads, which on this occafion, perhaps, are only to 

 be relied on. For a difturbance or alteration firft arifmg 

 on the Sun's limb, and that at a greater altitude, was cer- 



tain! 



1 



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