i220 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. ir., No. 29. 



liagen, and made the necessary calculations, — an 

 hypothesis too fanciful for serious discussion. An- 

 other part of the record looks more suspicious, — a 

 line. ' f ulmen 9 32 48,' is not only an interlineation, 

 but is written in decidedly different ink from all the 

 original manuscript. The original journal, up to 

 the time that Hell left Wardhus, being all written 

 in one kind of ink, we conclude that the inser- 

 tion was made after he reached Copenhagen, and 

 after he had seen the observations of others. Two 

 hypotheses are before us as to how the insertion 

 was determined, — we may suppose that Hell, when 

 he found he had omitted what other observers con- 

 sidered an important phase, tried to remember how 

 long after the recorded contact he first saw the sun's 

 limb continuous, and wrote the result in his journal; 

 or we may suppose that he made a memorandum at 

 the time of the observation, but omitted to copy it 

 in the journal, either through inadvertence, or 

 because he deemed it too late for contact. AVhen he 

 found the phase important, he merely copied the 

 omitted record in his journal. The use of the queer 

 word ' fulmen,' which appears only in the manu- 

 script, seems to Professor Newcomb to give color to 

 the latter hypothesis. He can hardly conceive of 

 one using it deliberately, after six months, to express 

 the formation of the thread of light; whereas, at 

 the moment of observation, in the excitement and 

 hurry, it woirld be a very natural single word to des- 

 ignate the rapid increase of the effulgence of solar 

 light around the following limb of Venus, which fol- 

 lows true contact at ingress. It is a strong confirma- 

 tion of this view, that Mr. Stone, without apparently 

 having made any comparison with Plell's printed 

 observations, reached this same conclusion as to the 

 probable use of the word ' fulmen.' 



With regard to the egress of the planet, the times 

 of Hell's notes of the ' gutta nigra ' are each increased 

 by two seconds; but obviously this correction was 

 made at the time of writing. More serious is a cor- 

 rection of the time of observation by Sajnovics, the 

 companion and assistant of Hell. They, no doubt, 

 discussed their times; and, in consequence of such 

 discussion, Sajnovics concluded that his times were 

 late. In the exterior contacts, the only corrections 

 are such as were made at the time of writing, and 

 to which Professor Newcomb attaches no impor- 

 tance. 



Regarding certain collateral circumstances which 

 have been supposed to cast suspicion upon Hell's 

 intentions, not only does Professor Newcomb see no 

 suspicious delay in making known his observations 

 (for the whole paper, containing an account of his 

 instruments, observations, and results, including an 

 investigation of his quadrant and clocks, a discussion 

 of his latitude, longitude, and time, and a full state- 

 ment of his observations, was written, printed, and 

 ready for distribution, four months after his return 

 to Copenhagen), but it seems difficult for him to 

 suppose that Hell could have had time to make so 

 complete a reduction of the observations of others 

 as to be able to compare them with his own. Tliat 

 his observed times of the contacts were not pub- 



lished in advance, as were those of many other 

 observers, but appeared first in an official form wider 

 the imprint of the Academy of sciences, seems to 

 Professor Newcomb in accord with very proper feel- 

 ing, as the observations were made uiuler the au- 

 spices of the king of Denmark, and dedicated to him; 

 and furthermore, owing to the position of the station 

 being unknown, publication in advance could have 

 served no useful x^urpose. 



In his discussion. Professor Newcomb makes but 

 slight allusion to the absence of many circumstances 

 which might be expected to accompany manufactured 

 observations; but he has presented all the jjosltive 

 evidence within reach so fully as to enable every one 

 to draw his own independent conclusions. His own 

 conclusions are, — 



First, The belief that there was any suspicious 

 delay in the publication of Hell's observations, or 

 any thing in his course to give reasonable ground for 

 a suspicion that he intended to tamper with his 

 observations, is a pure myth. 



Second, Excepting the time of formation of the 

 thread of light at ingress; excepting, also, a discrep- 

 ancy of one second in the time of internal contact, 

 and a change of two seconds in one of Sajnovics's 

 times, — it is proved, not only negatively and pres'ump- 

 tively, but by positive evidence and beyond serious 

 doubt, that all the essential numbers of observation 

 given by Hell, whether relating to the transit, time, 

 or longitude, are printed as concluded upon and 

 written in his journal at Wardhus, before there was 

 any possibility of communication with other ob- 

 servers. 



Third, The addition of the time of the formation 

 of the thread of light was suggested by the accounts 

 of other observers; but the time itself is Hell's own, 

 obtained possibly from estimation and memory, hut 

 more probably fi-ora a memorandum made at the 

 time of observation, which he neglected to insert in 

 his journal. 



Fourth, The alterations in Sajnovics's time of 

 second internal contact were probably made, because 

 Sajnovics himself afterward concluded that his re- 

 corded time was too late; but it may be assumed, 

 that, in reaching this conclusion, he was influenced 

 by Hell's observati(ms. 



Professor Newcomb adds, respecting his own pro- 

 ceedings in investigating this subject, that, in com- 

 mencing the examination of Hell's journal, he had 

 no hope of doing more than deciding whether it was 

 or was not safe to use Hell's numbers as actual re- 

 sults of observations, and no thought of doubting 

 the commonly received view of the case. He soon 

 became perplexed to find himself differing entirely 

 from the conclusions .of Littrow. Before the latter 

 had found the manuscript, suspicion bad rested upon 

 Hell's truthfulness; so that when he looked into 

 the manuscript, and saw such extensive alteratiiuis, 

 the indictment seemed so clearly proven that Lit- 

 trow's only duty was to make the facts which proved 

 it; known to the world. He thus unconsciously 

 assumed the tone of a public prosecutor, and saw all 

 the circumstances from an accuser's point of view. - 



