48 



A nniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



tinning its labonrs, and has appointed its member, Mr. Stone, of the 

 Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, directing astronomer of the expedi- 

 tions ; and nnder him the selection of instruments, as well as the 

 training of the observers, will be made. 



With a view of making the observations ultimately as comparable as 

 possible, the Committee, at an early stage, put itself, through the Foreign 

 Office, into communication with the corresponding Commissions in 

 foreign countries, on the subjects of the instructions to be given to 

 the various observers ; and a draft set of instructions, drawn up for 

 this purpose, was circulated for comment and suggestion. 



Moved perhaps in some degree by this action, the Government of 

 France took advantage of the assemblage of scientific men collected in 

 Paris for the Electrical Congress and Exhibition, to summon a Con- 

 gress of Astronomers, having especially in view a consensus of arrange- 

 ments for the observation of the Transit. This Congress met in Paris 

 on the 5th of October, under the auspices of the Minister of Public 

 Instruction. M. Dumas was appointed President; MM. Foerster 

 and Weisse, Vice-Presidents ; MM. Tisserand and Hirsch, Secretaries. 

 The various countries of Europe were represented ; but it was a 

 matter of much regret that no representative from the United States 

 of America was present. Mr. Stone attended on behalf of the 

 British Committee. I must here express my regret at having been 

 unable to attend in person to support our Directing Astronomer, who 

 made the journey at much inconvenience to himself; but I should at 

 the same time add that my absence in no way diminished the effective- 

 ness of Mr. Stone's counsels, which proved of great service in pro- 

 moting a unanimity in the views finally adopted by the Congress. 



Two Committees were appointed (1) for the selection of stations ; 

 (2) for a discussion of methods of observation. 



As the British stations had been already chosen and did not admit 

 of material alteration, the first of these Committees did not directly 

 concern us. But, judging from the number of observations con- 

 templated to be made in South America by foreign expeditions, it 

 seems not impossible that the party which we had proposed for the 

 Falkland Islands might be advantageously transferred to some other 

 locality, so as to strengthen the parties requiring support, for example, 

 in Australia. 



As regards the discussion of methods, the draft instructions drawn 

 up by the British Committee, and especially the definition of contact 

 to be observed, strongly insisted upon by Mr. Stone, were in the main 

 adopted. The following are the principal points agreed upon : — 



With a view to uniformity of method of observation, it is 

 necessary that instruments of nearly the same aperture, 6 inches, 

 should be used, also that the observations of contact should be made 

 in a field of just sufficient brightness to allow of the clear separation 



