Abstract
THE French Ministry of Public Instruction has issued the Procès-verbaux of the International Conference on the approaching Transit of Venus, held at Paris from the 5th to the 13th of October last. Representatives of fourteen nationalities were present at the Conference, but regret was expressed that the United States had no delegate present Russia; also was unrepresented, but it has been understood that the Government of that country do not propose to organise expeditions beyond the limits of the Empire, or perhaps to undertake observations elsewhere than at the fixed observatories. M. Jules Ferry, then Minister of Public Instruction and the Fine Arts, was present at the opening meeting of the Conference on October 5, and stated its objects; he was named honorary president by acclamation, and on his proposition the meeting proceeded to the election of the acting-officers, which resulted in the choice of M. Dumas, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, as president; Prof. Fœrster, director of the Observatory of Berlin, and Prof. Weiss, director of the Observatory of Vienna, as vice-presidents; with M. Hirsch, of the Observatory of Neuchâtel, delegate from the Swiss Republic, and M. Tisserand, the proposed chief of a French expedition to Martinique, as secretaries. M. Dumas pointed out that the expeditions in 1874 were organised by the various nations without any general previous understanding, each acting independently, adding that the necessity of cooperation in the arrangements of different countries for the observation of the approaching phenomenon is now generally admitted. He directed special attention to the desirability of coming to some definite conclusion as to the employment or otherwise of photography on the occasion. In the discussion which followed Prof. Fœrster announced that the German Commission had resolved not to employ photography in 1882, and Mr. E. J. Stone, the Radcliffe Observer, directing astronomer of the British Commission, which he represented at the Conference, mentioned that it was not seriously intended to introduce photography in the expeditions of 1882, remarking that the French results from this method were not encouraging, and the American results had not been published in time to allow of due discussion before the British Commission was called upon to advise the Government on the best methods of observing the transit.
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The Transit of Venus in 1882 . Nature 25, 242–243 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025242a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025242a0