xvi President's Address 



next transit of Venus, which occurs in December, 1882, but 

 the doubtful success which attended upon many of the 

 arrangements made for the transit of 1874 renders it pro- 

 bable that much more limited preparations will be made for 

 the coming one. The photographic results, from which so 

 much was hoped, turned out a disappointment throughout, 

 and it is doubtful if this method of observation will be 

 adopted again. It has also been found that the value of 

 the observations obtained at many places were largely 

 decreased from uncertainty as to their precise longitudes. 

 The Astronomer-Royal of England, in his last report to the 

 Board of Visitors, says — " We are naturally looking to the 

 transit of 1882, and the general impression appears to be 

 that it will be best to confine our observations to simple 

 telescopic observations or micrometer observations at ingress 

 and egress, if possible, at places where longitudes are 

 known." 



All matters concerning the physical condition of the 

 moon are usually of popular as well as of scientific interest, 

 and any information which will throw light on the question 

 whether our satellite is absolutely dead, or whether signs 

 of residual activity can still be observed, is always received 

 with attention and interest. It is not unusual to hear of 

 supposed changes still going on in the moon, of the 

 " activity of a crater," of a lunar land-slip, and so on; but, 

 as a rule, such reports are generally found to originate in 

 the protean aspects the lunar craters and other features 

 present under changing illumination. An instance, however, 

 has occurred lately, and to which I have already referred in 

 public print, that appears to be a veritable case of change ; 

 and several experienced observers bear testimony to the 

 appearance of a new crater-like spot in the vicinity of the 

 small but well-known crater Hyginus, near the centre of 

 the moon's surface, as seen by us, where no such crater or 

 spot was noted before. I saw the object on the sunrise 

 terminator, when it could be most favourably observed, on 

 the evening of the 24th instant, and it appeared as an 



