SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THE OBSERVATION OF THE 

 TRANSIT OF VENUS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By H. C. Eussell, Esq., B.A., Government "Astronomer. 



[_Read before the Royal Societi/y 11 January, 1875.] 



Netee before in tlie world's history did morning dawn on so 

 many waiting astronomers as it did on the 9th of December, 

 1874. They were all anxiously looking for an answer to the old 

 question, " to he, or not to 5e," and certainly none could have 

 expected a finer day than that Avhich dawned on the observers in 

 New South Wales ; from all stations, in return for the morning 

 clock signals, came the welcome intelligence that the morning 

 gave promise of a splendid day, and after hearty good wishes 

 had been given and received, we all turned to the final touches 

 which were necessary to complete our arrangements, and when 

 these were done, waited, not without an involuntary feeling, 

 which I will not call excitement, for that by common consent 

 had been banished, but rather an overpowering sense of respon- 

 sibility which every true worshipper of science must feel, when 

 he knows that the answer to half a century's questionings are 

 depending upon him ; not lessened because he feels he is the 

 observed of all observers, determined to do his best in the noble 

 cause of science ; and perhaps under all, not without a faint 

 Lope that his name and his work will appear ages hence in the 

 records of science, and be criticized under that blaze of knowledge 

 which the united efforts of the world's science shall produce. 



And here it may not be out of place to introduce a few words 

 about the selection of the New South "Wales stations. Por 

 ingress there vvas little choice, for, the sun being in the zenith of 

 a place near Eockhampton, the parallax was almost nothing 

 everywhere. At egi'ess, however, our circumstances would be 

 much improved in this respect, and the south-eastern point of 

 New South Wales would be one of the best points of observation 

 in Australia. In addition to this, there were two other conditions 

 to be borne in mind in making the selection, viz., weather, and 

 telegraphic convenience for determining longitude. 



I had for two years previously caused special meteorological 

 observations to be taken at various places - during the mouth of 

 December. These made it evident that the observers should not 



