Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/206

 I 7 8 HISTORY OF THE [1870-80 It was certainly a matter for regret that a learned and reverend Professor holding office in the Society should have allowed his feelings to get the better of his manners." Some recriminatory letters which were sent to the Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society as sequel to these proceedings reveal the feeling that underlay their action. The first of these * was signed by John Browning, T. W. Burr, E. B. Denison, W. Noble, and R. A. Proctor, and in it they affirmed that Colonel Strange's circular had been issued with Mr. Lockyer's assistance, and implied that the attempt to eject them (the signatories) from the Council was a retort for the rejection of Colonel Strange's scheme for the establishment of a Solar Physical Observatory. To this, Colonel Strange replied by a letter, | in which he hinted that Mr. Proctor's name had been proposed as recipient of the medal in November by a clique of his personal friends on the Council, and for this reason he (Colonel Strange) was justified in proposing a reform of that body. Two further letters were sent to the Fellows, one by Mr. Proctor, the other by several other Fellows. { 2. 1873-1874 The observation of the Transit of Venus across the sun's disc, which was to happen in 1874 December, was the subject of some discussion among astronomers in the year 1873, and as it led to an incident in the history of our Society which reflected somewhat upon its officers, it may be well to consider here the circumstances relating to the phenomenon which caused the discussion. The event has already been alluded to as a matter of contention between Sir George Airy and Mr. Proctor, and several communica- tions on the subject by the latter will be found in volume 33 of the Monthly Notices. To realise the point at issue it may be useful to remind the reader that there are two distinct methods of using the Transit of Venus for finding the sun's distance. In one, Halley's method, two observers in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively, note the whole time of duration of the passage of Venus across the disc of the sun, and from the difference of these times of duration, or in other words, from the difference of length of the chords of the sun's disc described by Venus as seen from the two stations the sun's distance is computed. The time of duration is affected by the motion of the observer due to the earth's rotation during the interval between ingress and egress of the planet, which may be several hours. The increase or de- crease of the duration due to this cause, which makes the de- termination more accurate if it lengthens the difference of interval
 * Astron. Register, 11, 93. f Ibid., p. 95. J Ibid., pp. 120 and 122.