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New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6571, 8 December 1882, Page 4

The people of Auckland, scientific and unscientific alike, were exceedicgly f'rati fied that the weather yeaterday S i> favourable for observing tile transit of Aenus. "Very considerable expen.e has been incurred in connection with the. United States expedition which took c " n its post at the l3omain, and with oth p expeditions throughout Zealand and it would have been much to be regretted, if a few clouds had rendered all tins u*e less. It is not the first time that a --'rJat and general interest has been felt itfihis important event. At the transit of 1709 there were several observers in Glasgow' and ihey published a request in the u cg , 1 papers that on the afternoon of the daV ail tires in tha houses should be extinguished. So great was the interest in astronomy at the time, that the request was complied with over the whole city and the air was left clear for the observers ] That was a sublime enthusiasm. Good obseivation3 were specially desirable on thi3 occasion. The phenomenon does not occur again for over 121 years, so that*" for several generations, mankind wiU have no other means for dealing with the great questions involved beyond the results obtained yesterday. Then again, the observations of the transit cf 187-t were miserabiy inadequate. In Kew Z.aland there was disappointment almost everywhere, clouds intervening at nearly all the stations. The most successful party at that time was that of Professor Peters, in the lake country of and it is worth remaik that one of the most imperfect observations yet recorded asbeing made yesterday in 2C fc w Zealand was that at Clyde, in Otago Lake district, by Dr Hector. That gentleman has the best acquaintance with 2\ew Zealand, and chose his station as the place where, at early leorning, there was least chance of the horizon bein? clouded. Luck was against him, how" ever. In 1874, science had added greatly to the resources available in 1790. The observing instruments and the timekeeping instruments were more perfect and photography and electricity were powerful assistants not available to astronomers of an earlier date. But withal the results were disappointing The photographs were so contradictory that nothing could be made of them. So imperfect were the photographs that the British Government abandoned photography altogether on this occasion, thus turuwing away what was thought to be one of the great ai-is which science has aifo.-ded since 17b9. The Americans h»ve, however, stuck to photography, and it seems likely that the results may prove their wisdom. But this time, things ought to be muc ; > better than in 1814. By the trausits of "V en us occurring I in pairs, we have now the same observers as at that date, with all the experience gained 011 that occasion. We have certainly hud better fortune in 2s ew Zealand and Australia, so that we may coiuider that, yesterday these colonies made a valuable contribution to science.