August 24, 1883.] 



SCIENCH. 



219 



positions at any time, tlieir light ascensions 

 and declinations (or longitudes and latitudes) 

 being given. For this purpose 1 use disks of 

 cardboard, with small hooks attached by which 

 they may be readily fastened to the wires. It 

 is. besides, very convenient to use in the expla- 

 nation of many questions and topics that arise 

 in the course of the subject. A light rod or 

 wire attached to a standard serves as a hori- 

 zon when required. 



The apparatus grew out of the need felt of 

 something besides the celestial globe and the 

 usual means of illustration for use in the lec- 

 ture-room. The idea of it was suggested by a 

 description of something like it which some 

 one had seen ; but the description was so vague. 

 I am unable to say how nearl}- similar is this 

 design, or whether it is any improvement or not 

 on what may be used elsewhere. But I have 

 found it to serve a very good purpose in the 

 lecture-room, and think it may be serviceable 

 to other teachers. G. B. Meerimax. 



HELL'S OBSERVATIONS OF THE TRAN- 

 SIT OF VENUS IN 1769. 



Pkofkssor Newcomb has lately taken advantage 

 of a visit lo the Imperial observatory of Vienna to 

 make, with the consent and support of its director, 

 Prof. E. Weiss, an examination of Father Hell's 

 manuscript record, with reference to deciding on the 

 alleged falsification of these observations by llell 

 himself. The result of liis examination was so dif- 

 ferent from that generally accepted, that Professor 

 Newcomb prepared and presented to tlie Koyal 

 astronomical society a statement of the evidence and 

 his conclusions. The story of Hell's supposed tam- 

 pering with his observations of the transit, made at 

 Wardhus in 1709, is, in substance, that he delayed 

 publishing them so long as to give rise to the suspi- 

 cion of intending to alter them ; that he showed 

 them to no one until after he had received the 

 observations made at other stations; that a cloud 

 was thus thrown over their genuineness; that the 

 suspicions thus excited were confirmed in 18.3.") 

 through the discovery and publication by Littrow of 

 HelTs original manuscript journal, which its author 

 h.ad neglected to destroy; and that the examination 

 of this journal showed numerous cases of alteration 

 and er.asure of the original observed figures, includ- 

 ing the seconds of first interior contact, which had 

 been completely erased, and replaced by new numbers 

 inserted with different ink at some siibsequent time. 

 And the reason for all this was supposed to be, that 

 Hell desired to publish, not his true observations, but 

 results which should be in the best possible accord- 

 ance with the observations of others. More precise 

 statements on some points are these: the transit 

 occurred 1760, June 3; Hell's party sailed from Ward- 

 hus, June 27, but meeting with delays from adverse 



weather, and stopping to makcobsci'vations, they did 

 not reach Drontlu-im until .\iig. 30; after some stay 

 here and in Christiania, Copenhagen was reached 

 on Sept. 17; the ob.-ervations were communicated to 

 the Danish academy of sciences in November or 

 December; the printing commenced Dec. 13, and'on 

 Jan. 13, 1770, Hell received twenty printed copies. 

 Professor Newcomb remarks that he does not know 

 the original authority for the statement that Hell 

 was loudly called upon for his ob^ervations before 

 he would consent to their publication. 



The document which Professor Newcomb has 

 scrutinized is a thin manuscript volume in folio, con- 

 taining twenty-seven finely written pages, and nearly 

 as many blank ones, bearing the heading " Observa- 

 tiones Astronomicae et Caetera in Itinere litterario 

 Vienna Wardoehusium faetae. 1708. A. M. Hell." 

 This volume is assumed to be in Hell's own writing, 

 and to be his original journal of his observations. 

 Littrow apparently treats of it as the actual first 

 record of the observations, but to Professor New- 

 comb this seems very improbable. He concludes 

 that the writing of this journal was done at the 

 observing-station, probably at the close of each day's 

 work or each set of observations. What Hell sent to 

 press in December, 1709, was not a transcript of this 

 journal, but a more copious account, containing 

 eighty-one printed pages, wilh only an occasional 

 identity of language. But, with a single unimpor- 

 tant e.xception, the numbers are all printed with- 

 out change from the original manuscript journal, 

 whether corrected or uncorrecled in that journal. 

 It is very clear to Professor Newcomb that nearly all 

 the alterations were made at the station — two, at 

 least, before the ink got dry. And he further con- 

 cludes, that, whatever the .sources from tcliicli the cor- 

 rections were derited, the numbers a.s printed by Hell 

 tcere all but one or two obtuined at Wardliu.i. Going 

 into these maimscript corrections more in detail, it 

 seems quite clear to Professor Newcomb that the 

 alterations in the numbers representing the observa- 

 tions of first contact were made with the same ink as 

 the original; and he regards only one conclusion as 

 certain, — that the corrections were made at the time 

 of writing, and without the slightest intention of 

 giving any thing but the actually observed moment 

 when Venus was first seen. 



Coming now to the much disputed observations 

 of internal contact, the figures of seconds seem at 

 first sight to be corrected. Littrow says that the 

 paper bears marks of having been scraped, and that 

 the original figures of seconds had been carefully 

 erased, the ink, in consequence, spreading in the 

 paper. Professor Newcomb remarks, that one sees 

 at a glaitce that the latter statement is erroneous; 

 and he applies to the question of erasure the test of 

 viewing the paper by oblique sunlight, and proves the 

 texture of the surf.ice to be still uninjured. The evi- 

 dence thus leads to the certain conclusion, that no dif- 

 ferent figures from those now visible were ever wiitlen 

 there. If, then, they are in any way the result of 

 calculation from other observations, the place niust 

 have been left blank until Hell got back to Copen- 



