The New York herald., 1874-12-07
the Earth which will turned toward Venus and
the Sun the cementof the transit

ted. inasmGch as the island is an excellent geo.
graphical station from when TO observe The tran
SIT. Lieutenant COMMANDER Ryan, United States
Navy, lakes party to Kerguelen Island, iati-
tude 1876 deg, longitude 70.1 deg. Lleutenant
phs Nayy aoes e M deg
Chatham Island, which lies east OF Australa,
IN lattude 4s.S deg. Longitude 1850 deg. deg
poses by. party under Professor smith, OF the
Coast survey. At Hobart Town, in Van Diemens
Professor Hardness. United States Navy, Will
superln tend the observations. All these locations
are mapped with precision on both OF the accom-
panyng diagrams. Every aclllty has been &C.
corded The expedlu0nary orces, the vessels oi the
navy have been placed at their disposal anu the
sum OF $1,000 has he appropriated W congress
TO deiray the expenses Incurred by the scientists.
But al these prepaf ations on the part OF Inc
American government form small traction Of
the gigantic efforts OF other astronomers through
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
has made ample provision Tor tue equipment OF
thirty separate expeGiu0ns, winch will be scat
tered over the vast regions OF Eastern Siberia and
the part OF Russia proper wnicn Is represented on
the maps Along tue borders OF the Black and
the Caspian seas those cold astrono mers OIL the
North will play perhaps the most important part
IN the grand work, Ior 1t Is cneny upon me
Iozen plains Ol that territory that bright SUBS
government OF the German Empire has sent OBJ
servers 70 Kerguelen Lana, the western border
Of New Zealand, Auckland. Persia. China and
Palestine
WORK OF THE ENGLISH ASTRONOMERS.
England IS TO have nine stations, under the con.
troll OF sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, ana
responsible through him TO the government. VI
these, TWO are IN Egypt, three In the sand wich
Islands, one IN kodrgue Island, one IN New lea-
land and two in kerRuelen Land. Another posi-
tiun will be occupied on Malritius Island Oy Lord
Lindsay, VINO has equipped an expedition At mis-
ex penSe and taAen ali the necessary appliances
from his private observatory at Donnecnt, near
Aberdeen, Scotland. forry-tnree cnronomeLers
CLOCKS keeping accurate ume) had been iauded
there at the latest wr,ng from tnat dis ant land.
A Connection mad also been established between
that station aud RodriQue Island. In Egypt spot
has been CHOSEN on the nils lying between Caro-
and the Red Sea- aud secondary station selected
were wen received by the knedlve ana numberess
bAsndws, whose Chief interest IN the strangers lay
in the prospect OF obtaining pipes and coffee from
them. position Will be occupied at Alexandria
Tor the sole purpose oi maintaining communlCa-
lions be tween tine other sta IONS and Greenwich.
At Honolulu hawail, and anotler Island (Atoo)
Inc observing parties have been intrusted TO the
care oi captain Tupman recent dispatches from
whom announced MS warm reception by the King
and members OF the Ministry. Ihe Captain was
domlclied IN house belonging to members Of the
Kings amily. ON the lsAnd Of kodrlgue, IN tue
SouLn lndlan Ocean, there are numerous lnhabl-
tanrs not ol higny civilized nature, but they
nave welcomed 10 their sounding shores the
shining brass poles and fragrant tobacco. There
being no anchorage round the place the instru-
Everything, however. v as Progressing wen there.
IL New ZeAland the lacliiues Tor communicating
Win England are very lew, and the mem-
bers have to content themselves with the estab-
hsnment OF a line OF telegraph to Wellington.
Tney Will likewise interchange courtesies with
the German corps situated at the extreme west
portion OF the island. The party when set sail
lUr kerguelen Land were doomed TO much disap-
polntment, Tor their snip broke doan ana they
were compeRed to await the arrival OF assistance
ali the way Tom England. They mad been fairly
started however, on the lSth OF September, but
they must have arrived later than the Americans,
who have consequently had choice Of positions
there.
THE FRENCH EXPEDITIONS.
Owing to the secrecy with winch the French
scientists conduct their operations little is known
about the novel methods wlicn tney intend to use,
but 1t Is well known that France has sent out
scienthc men To st. Paul's Island and Camp
ben's island barren wdernesses, IN the Indian
ocean, anu to feking ana the southern tract Of
New Zeaiand. One OF the French war steamers
arrived some time ago at sydney, New South
,sssy ms cases @ OF transit insrumenss rst InT Ior
some reason, they abandoned the idea
OF stopping either at New Caledonia or at tne
Marquesas Islands. Fieuras left shanghai Tor
Pekln last August, and he intended 10 make pro-
vision Tor parties at Yokohama and Saigon. The
expedltion to CampDelrs Island came very near
losing all their Astronomical equipments by fire,
whIcn broke out III the storeroOm OF the steamer
Jeudan. whiie sue was at Syoney, and lasted lor
tunatels saved. Mr Jansen, one OF tie Observers
is the same individual VINO broke out oi Paris In u
paoon during the siege OF 1870, In order to OBJ
serve an eclipse Oh the n wnlcn was visible In
Algeria. Two years previously ne had Witnessed,
under admirable circumstances, a solar eclipse IN
INDIA. The Academy oi France has taken every
possible precaullon 10 Insure success. Long
before the astronomers set san an OBJ
OF tie Luxembourg known as the .'Pepnlere.n
Tor the sole purpose oil making experiments In
taking photographs OF the SUMS image, with
view 10 good result on the transit day. AS soon
as the EXPERIMENTS were over the structure was
ruthlessiy pulled down. The amount expended
thus lar on the French observing parties reaches
800, 900 francs, and 1t Is probable that repre-
sentatlves OF France VIII make observations at
Shanghai, 1aniti, Che-Foo, Amsterdam Island,
Noumea and the Mcdonald Islan1s. Italy con-
tributes ner part turougn the innstrious Father
Secchi, who p opposes to make a wonderful appi-
ance oi his spectroscope In the determination Of
the points OF contact, as was expialned In the
HERALD OF the 30th oil November.
PREPARATORY LABoRs OF THE sCIENTIsTS.
When the expeditionary corps have landed on
the shores from winch they intend To view the
phenomenon the first thing to be done IL the So
lection OF position from which the vls.Dle
throughout the entire day. damp, sandy spot,
to dig good foundation Tor the instruments to
rest on. shelter from the prevailing winds 10
DESIRABLE as the least Quiverng OF the te iesc0pes
during tine eventul momens OF observation would
cause grave embarrassment. Three piers are con-
structed support OF the transit Instr rumens
ian apparatus Tor ascertaiuing the moment at
which q heavenly body passes the meridian), !,
the photographic machinery and the equa-
toral telescope. temporary observatory
IL erected, as Wen as hut in which
the photographs OF the planet are TO be
tacts ON the desert islands suitable apartments
must be constructed wherein the men OF science
can slumDer comfortably and feast as well as may
be, with jealous recoiections oil Delmonlco's. The
| chronometers are compared with the time Indi-
| Gated by the stars, AZ they wheel across the
meridian every night. The latitude OF the place
| virtually ITS distance from tue North Pole) In
found Dy determ the height OF the Polar Star,
or Dy observing the sun the same manner az
sea captains. though with far greater exactitude.
Tnen the angular distance OF the position east or
west from washington or Greenwich ats longi-
tude) is ascertalned In various ways. II, Tor