Review of Science and Industry, 
A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 
SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 
VOL VII. FEBRUARY, 1884. NO. 10. 
ASTRONOMY. 
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS IN NEW ZEALAND. 
PROF. H. S. PRITCHETT. 
A year has elapsed since the last transit of Venus, and as yet no definite 
announcement has been made of the results of the work of the different parties 
sent out by our Government. This delay is unavoidable in the discussion of 
such a large amount of data as was contained in the observations of the transit 
of 1882. At the time of observj^tion it was generally understood that individual 
observers would make no independent publications of their observations. At 
this time, however, it will not be out of place to speak in general terms of the 
work of the parties and the probable results. 
The United States sent into the field eight parties, four*to the northern and 
four to the southern hemisphere. These parties were equipped in a very differ- 
ent manner from those of any other nation. The American parties not only 
observed contacts but they were provided with the apparatus and chemicals for 
obtaining pictures by the use of the horizontal photoheliograph. 
Photography was first employed in observations of the transit of Venus in 
1874. At that time the astronomers, both of Europe and America, were very 
hopeful of obtaining exceedingly accurate results from the photographic method. 
There was a radical difference of opinion, however, as to the form of instrument 
to be employed. The Europeans used a photoheliograph made after the Kew 
vii-37 
