650 Chronicles of Science. [Oct., 



II. ASTEONOMY. 



(Including the Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society.} 



Attention has been again directed to the value which will accrue to 

 Astronomical Science by an Arctic expedition to the Southern Pole, 

 in preparation for the astronomical observations which will have to be 

 undertaken in the year 1882, on the transit of Venus, the most favour- 

 able of all phenomena for solution of the noble problem of determin- 

 ing the sun's distance from the earth, provided that proper stations 

 for the observation can be found. The Astronomer Royal has written 

 a letter to Sir E. I. Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, in which, referring to the late discussions at the Geographical 

 Society in reference to a proposal for an expedition towards the 

 North Pole, the author states that though there is no single point of 

 great importance to be obtained, there are a number of co-ordinate 

 objects whose aggregate would be valuable. Professor Airy then 

 suggests that the field is open for another proposal, which would give 

 opportunity for the determination of various results, corresponding in 

 kind and in importance to those of the proposed northern expedition, 

 though in a different locality, and would also give information on a 

 point of great importance to Astronomy, which must be sought within 

 a few years, and which it is desirable to obtain as early as possible. 



In our last volume we gave several extracts from an elaborate paper 

 by the Astronomer Royal, in which he very carefully discussed the 

 circumstances of the coming transit, in reference to the selection of 

 observation-stations. For the northern stations there will be no diffi- 

 culty ; they will be on the Atlantic seaboard of North America, or at 

 Bermuda ; all very favourable and very accessible. For the southern 

 stations the selection is not so easy ; the observation must be made on 

 the Antarctic Continent ; if proper localities can be found there, and 

 if the circumstances of weather, &c, are favourable, the determination 

 will be excellent ; if those favourable circumstances do not hold, no 

 use whatever can be made of the transit. 



The Astronomical object of a Southern expedition has already 

 been sufficiently explained in these Chronicles. In the event of such 

 an expedition being undertaken, the precise determinations which 

 have been indicated as bearing on the astronomical question must 

 (from the nature of the case) take precedence of all others. But there 

 would be no difficulty in combining with them any other inquiries, of 

 Geography, Geology, Hydrography, Magnetism, Meteorology, Natural 

 History, or any other subject for which the localities are suitable. 



The author concludes his letter by requesting that Sir R. I. Mur- 

 chison will communicate these remarks to the Royal Geographical 

 Society, and take the sense of the Society on the question, whether 

 it is not desirable, if other scientific bodies should co-operate, that a 

 representation be made by the Royal Geographical Society to her 

 Majesty's government on the advantage of making such a reconnais- 

 sance of the Southern Continent as has been proposed ; primarily in 

 the interest of Astronomy (referring to his official responsibility for 



