Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/210

 182 HISTORY OF THE [1870-80 nomer Royal pointed out that whereas Halley's method may have had the advantage over Delisle's at a time when it was not possible to determine longitude with great accuracy, this was not the case at the present time, and after comparison of probable errors of different combinations and consideration of local circumstances, he declined to recommend that an expedition be sent to Enderby Land (on the Antarctic circle in about the same longitude as Ker- guelen) on account of the severities the expedition would have to undergo, or to any station in the Antarctic Continent. He did not think it necessary to give up a selected station because a privately organised expedition would be near, and he was en- deavouring to establish a photographic station in India. On 1873 March 22 a statement of the general plan was made in the House of Commons. Mr. Proctor's comments on the Astronomer Royal's reply are to be found in the same issue (March) of the Monthly Notices. He pointed out further, that although the two naval authorities had (in 1868) considered it quite possible to occupy Possession Island for the necessary length of time for the transit of 1882, now that he proposed it for the transit of 1874 the opinions they then expressed were lightly regarded. He also contributed two other long papers on the general subject to the same number, and another in April, with the significant title " Note on the Approaching Transit of Venus, with special reference to the probability of absolute failure through the want of a due number of southern stations." He asserted that at Kerguelen Island, which had been selected, bad weather was almost a certainty, and that the three other chosen southern stations were very inferior. Two short papers by him on the transit, which it is not necessary to describe, appeared in the May number. At the meeting in June it was announced from the Chair that at the suggestion of the Board of Visitors, the Astronomer Royal had applied to Government for the means of organising parties of observers in the Southern Ocean, with the view of finding additional localities in the sub-Antarctic regions for observing the whole duration of the Transit of Venus. The precise effect of this seems to have been that the Challenger was to report on Heard or MacDonald's Island, about 300 miles south of Kerguelen's Island (longitude 70 E.), as a place of observation, whereas Mr. Proctor urged that there were several islands in the ocean south of New Zealand which would supply suitable stations, or that a landing might be made on the Antarctic Continent. A vigorous warfare of words was carried on in The Times on the subject between Admiral Richards, the Hydrographer, Mr. Denison, Mr. Proctor, and the author of an article in the Edinburgh Review. The line