The New York herald., 1874-12-07

the most favorable circumstances The sky wear
ing azure hue and the bright lulalnary OIL the
Venus stole forward and was verging sun ward a
streaK Of cloud crdwled over the suns lace ana
passed azy oy, out got on. o. the way two WOO
contacts when Legentil next caught sight OF
It. At other places the nervous anxiety Of
the astronomers oyerpOwered them, some persons
lost their lives by accident, among others the ais
tinguished Father Cnappe. q, san Jose, during
messed the ingress OF Venus on the solar surface
the horrible snadowy band reappeared, olottlng
out the globular appearance OF the planet the
same as In 1851. 10 a speculator who loses for
tune IN a single hour, greater regret or cnagrin
cannot come tnan that which filed the breasts OF
the sad astronomers on tnat day.
RITTENHoUSE WAS so OVERCOME
during the Planets contact tnat ne tainted away
at the close OF his labors. the efforts ne made,
the Astronomer Royal sent him q congratua-
tory letter thanking him for has account
he declared, seemed excellent and COM
plete, and did honor TO tne gentlemen
VINO made them: and those VINO promotes m s,sn, the
the transit under tae most favorable conditions.
and it was the happy success with which his
efforts were crowned. rather than the heavy
responsibility resting on his shoulders that pros
traied him. 1t IS needless to repeat here what
that niIy years elapsed ailer tnis before ali the
estimates Of the observers were c0Ilocated, re-
vised. scrutinlzed and summed up. The American
the rise OF Napoleon ana the Devastating wars
that Iaged all over Europe gave men but little
time TO devote TO Astronomical pursuits. Fatal
lists and astrologers VIII probably iurn to account
the Iact that the same year III which our relations
to the heavenly boJies were nrst .approximated
usnered into the world the child OF fortune In
q peasant home Of Corsica, the man OF
destiny VINO to, ed with thrones and worshpped
the fiery sun OF Aus.eritz and tnat the place
where the methods o. observing tt ranslrs were first
devised was the Island OF 81. Helena The as
tronomer Encke. alter weighing all the arguments
a n
that the distance between the earth and the sun
was s5,z74,ooo miles, and this idea was nogged
into US IN our school days as though It were cor
rect. But IL won't do. The
SWEEPING STRIDES OF SCIENCE,
the Improvement Of the telescope, the invention
OF The photograph anu the spectroscope have
changed It; and the necessities OF commerce and
De and me- 0essSs
limits OF error. Accordingly. at the pres
ent moment, the greater nalf OF the earth
exhaust all the resources OF modern science and
human ingenuity IN accomplishing the giganiIc
task. OF all the expeditions that nave been set on
foot, perhaps none are more eiaborately equipped
or more handsomely subsidized than our own.
EXPLANATION OF THE MAPS.
Careful calculations nave show the parts OF the
ear from wnicn the transit viii be visible. Much
OF this vast region Is taken up by the Pacinc and
inS, anS me pUnnis IS q me S earn
vantage are either inaccessible or are on the high
seas-an extremely nad place ior making astro-
NUN srous Islands ana strips or con linen sum-
clently well located to admit OF observations
beng made with reasonable hopes OF success The
accompanying maps show the portions OF the
earth IRON whicn the transit can be seen, and the
locations aud uames Of tne respective stations OF
trates the nall Of Inc eartn which win be turned
toward the sun at the time when Venus will COM
mence her journey across the sun. The line
drawn from the top through the middle ana TO
the bottom OF the map crosses all the tracts wnere
1t VIII be noon oI the 9th Of december, when the
transit begins. II will then be nifty minutes past
eignt O'Clock In the evening OF the STU OF Deem
ber at New YORK. This apparent discrepancy OF
time results from the eartn's spinning around, SO
at another, and while 1t is evening IN
one part u Is morning at the opposite
OF the map II may be seen That when the transit
begins II Will De visible TO Australia large por-
tralia and Africa. To all those places lying along
the right hand, or eastern border OF this hem
ispnel e, the sun will ne just setting, and men IN
tbose regions, consequently VIII only see the be.
giuning vi the event. To those countries touching
the leIt hand, or western border oil the map, the
sun win be rising, and the whole transit will, OF
course, ne Visible to them. Alter four hours and
tnfee-quarters Venus viii be departing from the
sun, ana In the meantime the earth will have
turned about one-1 IN round on It's axis ana would
present to an observer at the sun the hemisphere
shown in map No. 2. At all places TO be found on
potn maps 'Ie wnole sound nans m n,bs si9,e; az
be invisible; along the left hand strip
OF map No. 2, only the close OF the transit can be
seen, and along the right nand portion OF map No.
only the beginning oil the phenomenon can De
SEEN Tne American stations are marked and
printed, appearing ON both diagrams, and al those
locations. OF course, the entire event may be wit
messed, weather permitting. Hence 1t may De
perceived tnat the Americans have three stations
in the northern and i've In the southern cmes OF
the globe. The south Pole of the world win be
presen ted to the sun, experiencing perpetual day,
while the North Pole Will be hidden from his
beams and snrouded In the middle OF night OF
SIX montns' duration. IL may De well to observe
that little before sunrise and little after sun
set the great luminary visible owing TO the re-
traction oil ms rays IN passing through our atmos-
pnere, and, consequently, the transit may be OBJ
served little Deyond the limits Indicated In the
diagrams.
THE AMERICAN OBSERVERS
are arranged as f0llows:-In eacn expedttionary
party there Is one chief astronomer, one or more
assistant astronomers, one CHIEF photographer
and Two assistants. These, win the conf
mandlng and assistant officers and seamen
OF the vessel, constitute party. Eight
OF such corps have sailed as iollows:-
the United states corvette, Captain Mat.
thews, conveyed Professor Hal's party TO Wladl.
wostok, IN SiDera--latItude 43.l deg. north,
landing there on the 7th OF September. The Kear.
sarge, Captain Harmony, carried Professor Wat
sons party TO Pekin, China--lattude 1913 deg.
north, longitude III deg. eastmwhicn h they
party are 10 work at Nagasaki, japan, In lat
itude 3275 deg. north, longitude 1901 deg.
east The southern positions are, OF course, IN
tude, counted from Green wich. The observers
destined to act 1T these places were conveyed
per United states steamer Swatara TO their
various destinations. AZ Crozets Island IN IN
accompanied by Captain Raymond, OF the Army
Engineer Corps. The LATITUDE OF tnis position IS
46.5 deg. and Longitude 523 deg. lntelligence
to Crozet's Island, however states that, owing TO
stormy weather and the utter absence OF spot
suitable Tor anchorage, the observers were unaole
TO 20 ashore there, and, consequent proceeded
n M a. "A n