A SCIENTIFIC JESUIT'S LECTURE ON ASTRONOMY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 42, 15 February 1884, Page 27

A SCIENTIFIC JESUIT'S LECTURE ON ASTRONOMY.

The Nottingham (England) Daily Ghiardian says -.—Last week the Rev. S. J. Perry, S. J., F. R. S., F. R. A. S., the eminent astronomer and director of the Government Observatory at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, delivered, in the Mechanics' Institution, the first of a series of three lectures on " The Absolute Distances of the Heavenly Bodies and the Modern Methods used in their Accurate Determination." There was a tolerably large audience. The Bishop of Nottingham (Dr. Bagshawe), in introducing Father Perry, adverted to the fact that that gentleman had been three times appointed by the British Government to take charge of astronomical expeditions, the first to Spain to observe an eclipse of the sun ; the second to the Island of Desolation ; and the third to Madagascar, both for noting the phenomena of the transit of Venus in 1874 and 1882. The reverend lecturer, in a most able and lucid discourse extending over nearly two hours, said that he had been engaged in taking his share in attempting the solutioa of one of the greatest problems of astronomy, namely, the determination of the great celestial unit, and the importance of that could be judged from the fact that that unit had the same relative value to astronomers as the yard measure to the Briiisn public. The yard was the standard for all their measurements, and therefore the greatest possible care had been taken in its determi nation, and the unit for astronomy was the distance of the earth from the sun. Consequently, astronomers took the greatest possible interest in arriving at that with all accuracy. The civilized nalioas of the world availed themselves of the opportunities presented in 1874 and 1882 to settle the question by means of the transit of Venus, and expeditions at very great expense were despatched to all parts where the phenomena could be seen. He hoped to give accounts of those expeditions. He proceeded, by the aid of the oxy-hydrogen lantern, worked by Mr. G. E. Smith, to give much valuable ani pointed information of the sun, moon, and stars, with a view of showing the importance of the distance of the earth from the sun. Tais he computed at about 92,000,000 of milep, and argued that the observations taken at the transit o£ Venus in 1874 were tne most reliable. The Rev. Provost Harnett, in proposing a vote of thanks to Father "Perry, remarke i that Nottingham had an opportunity of seeing what a Jesuit could do, especially when they had heard so much against the priests of the Catholic Church in the course of that week in Nottingham. They were often told that as Catholics they were opposed to science and. progress, and Galileo was quoted against them as an instance that the Church had an antipathy to science, but he hoped that that course of lectures would show what a Catholic priest could do . The motion was seconded and cordially accepted.