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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
practical difficulties attending it.” Of tlie first part of this passage little 
need be said ; it is aptly described by a contemporary as worthy of a squabble 
in some village school, and coming as it does from one who is known to 
entertain angry feelings towards Mr. Proctor, it should be regarded as simply 
beneath contempt. But the statement that the present plan is a realisation 
of an old proposal by the Astronomer Boyal requires to be met, because we 
have ourselves more than once in these summaries indicated the true state 
of aflairs in this matter. It is the fact then that the only proposal ever 
made for Antarctic expeditions by the Astronomer Iio}'al related to the 
transit of 1882, and he expressed his opinion as positively as words could 
express it, that no such expeditions would be of use for the transit of 1874. 
Of the very method which is now proposed to be employed in 1874, Sir G. 
Airy said that it fails totally ” in the earlier transit ; and so late as last 
Pebruary (see a letter dated February 28 in the ^‘Monthly Notices” for 
March last) he definitely ‘^declined to sanction” Antarctic expeditions. 
The statement of our contemporary is in fact altogether untrue from begin- 
ning to end. Even the setting aside of the Astronomer lioyal’s proposed 
expeditions was due to Mr. Proctor’s distinct protest against sending ships 
■ on so dangerous a voyage when the prospects of success (in 1882) were so 
minute. 
Appeal to America in the matter of the approaching Transit. — At the 
instance of a distinguished European astronomer (Prof. Adams we believe), 
Mr. Proctor has addressed to the Americans an urgent appeal to undertake 
the work (we may now say to join in the work) of finding and providing 
for an adequate number of Antarctic or sub-Antarctic stations. 
American Preparations for the approaching Transit. — The following is 
-extracted from a letter addressed by Bear- Admiral Sands, of America, to the 
Astronomer Boyal on the subject of the American preparations for observing 
the transit of 1874 : — The favourable Northern stations will all be selected 
on the coast of China, Japan and Siberia • one probably at Wladiwostok 
(Lat. 43° 7' ; Long. 8h. 48m.) * one at or near Yokohama ; one near Pekin, 
or between Pekin and the coast ; and the fourth somewhere in Japan, China, 
or the adjacent islands. In the Southern hemisphere satisfactory stations 
are much more difficult to find. Our choice seems to be confined to 
Kerguelen Land, Tasmania, Southern New Zealand, and Auckland or 
■Chatham Island, subject to the consent of the British Government. The 
most favourable of these stations is probably Kerguelen Land, which you 
mention among those you purpose to occupy yourself, and which I believe 
the Germans also intend to occupy. It is a delicate question whether there 
are not very grave objections to having so many stations together, the 
•answer to which must mainly depend on whether similar methods of obser- 
vations are to be employed by the different parties. The force of the 
•objection is greatly diminished by the circumstance that our method of 
photographing is not to be employed by any other nation. Still the coni- 
,parative inaccessibility of that point allows me to speak with little confidence 
of our ability to occupy it. In addition to these photographic stations, it is 
our wish to comply with your desire that we should occupv" a contact 
station in the Pacific. Here we prefer one of the Sandwich Islands, as 
distant as possible from the point which }'^ou may select. The objection to 
