“…Although the next transit does not occur for four years, the preliminary arrangements for its observation are already being made by the governments and scientific organizations of Europe. It is not likely that our government will be backward in furnishing the means to enable its astronomers to take part in this work. The principal dangers are, I apprehend, those of setting out with insufficient preparation, with unmatured plans of observation, and without a good system of cooperation among the several parties. For this reason I beg leave to call the attention of the Academy to a discussion of hte measures by which we may hope for an accurate result.”

“…I have endeavored to show that no valuable result is to be expected from hastily-organized and hurriedly-equipped expeditions; that every step in planning the observations requires careful consideration, and that in all the preparatory arrangements we should make haste very slowly. I make this presentation with the hope that the Academy will take such action on the matter as may seem proper and desirable.”

[Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 2, vol. 50, 1870, pp. 74-83. On the mode of observing the coming Transits of Venus. By Simon Newcomb. Read before the National Academy of Sciences, April 13, 1870.]

“The arrangements necessary to secure the successful observation of the transit of Venus, which will occur on December 8, 1874, have begun to receive the attention of the observatory.

“It is essential to the complete success of these observations that the various parties which may be sent out by the Government should make their observations on a uniform and carefully prepared plan.

“The Superintendent of the Observatory has been invited to become a member of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, appointed to devise such a plan. The functions of the Academy being purely advisory, and it being expected that the cooperation and assistance of the ablest astronomers of the country would be secured by this committee, the invitation was accepted.

“Although this committee has not yet met, certain experiments and trails with the apparatus and instruments of observation are necessary in any case. As many experiments and many alterations of apparatus, all requiring time and careful consideration, may be necessary, the small appropriation of $3,000, for instruments and apparatus, is called for.”

[Rep. Secr. Navy for 1870, p. 46.]

[The item in the Sundry Civil Act is as follows:

“For preparing instruments for observation of transit of Venus, two thousand dollars; Provided, That this and all other appropriations made for the observations of the transits of Venus shall be expended, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of a commission to be composed of the superintendent and two of the professors of mathematics of the navy attached to the Naval Observatory, the president of the National Academy of Sciences, and the superintendent of the coast survey, for which services they shall not receive any compensation.” Stat. At Large, vol. 16, 1871, p. 529, 41^st Congress, 3d Session, chap. 117, 1871.]

“At the last session of Congress an appropriation was made for the purchase of instruments for the proper observation of the transit of Venus in 1874, to be expended under the direction of a commission, to be composed of the Superintendent and two Professors of the Naval Observatory, the President of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. Professor Simon Newcomb, United States Navy, and William Harkness, United States Navy, were detailed as the two Professors of the Observatory, and, at a meeting of the commission [The first meeting of the Commission was held July 22, 1872], the Naval Observatory was authorized to take charge of the details of the Transit of Venus expedition. Experiments are being made and preparations are now in hand for completing contracts for the manufacture of the necessary instruments and planning the proper temporary observatories for the several stations to be occupied. This necessarily takes much of the time of the Professors, but as legitimate work of such an institution it is cheerfully and zealously performed.”

“As one of the preparations for the transit of Venus, in December 1874, maps and tables to facilitate predictions of the several phases of that phenomenon have been constructed by Mr. G. W. Hill, of this Office. Their publication has been assumed by this commission on this transit appointed by Congress, as one of their series of valuable papers relating to it.” Op. cit., p. 96.]

“It has been a part of the duty of this Department, under provisions of laws passed by Congress at its last three sessions, to organize expeditions for observing the transit of Venus, which occurs on December 8 of the present year. A plan of observation was very carefully matured by the commission created by Congress for that purpose in 1871, and the organization and arrangement of the parties were made to accord with that plan. The entire scientific corps of the expedition, numbering forty-two persons in all, spent several weeks at the Naval Observatory last spring in preliminary practice with the same instruments they were to use at the stations, thus becoming familiar with the difficult and delicate operations involved in the final observations. The five parties designed for the southern stations were embarked on the ship Swatara, Capt. Ralph Chandler, and sailed from New York June 8. So far as yet known the parties were all successfully landed at the selected stations, with the single exception of that on the Crozet Island. Here there is no anchorage, and the constant stormy weather which prevailed during the period which it was prudent for the ship to delay, prevented a landing. The possibility of this failure had been anticipated by the commission, and the Swatara had been directed to land the party at or near Melbourne, in the event of failure to land at the station first selected.

“The three northern parties were sent by the regular course of commercial conveyance to Nagasaki, which had been selected as one of the stations. The parties designed for Wladiwostok and Peking were taken thither from Nagasaki by naval ships.

“It not being prudent to attempt the return of all the southern parties by the Swatara, the Monongahela was sent out from the Brazilian station to convey the party from Kerguelan Island to Rio de Janeiro, whence they can return by regular lines of travel.”

[Rep. Secr. Navy for 1874, p. 16.]

“Under the specific action and direction of this commission, from time to time the requisite instruments have been selected and made; the parties have been constituted, the station adopted, and the work of preparation and instruction has been carefully matured and strictly executed.

“At the meeting of the 9^th of February, 1874, it was decided to invite Dr. Henry Draper, of New York, to take charge of the work of putting into successful execution the various operations necessary for photographing the transit of Venus by the methods decided upon by the commission, and of instructing the parties in those operations. Dr. Draper accepted this arduous duty, and performed it in a manner which commands the gratitude and respect of the commission. Dr. Draper declined to receive any compensation or reimbursement for his invaluable services and for his unavoidable personal expenses while traveling and residing in Washington, on the service of the commission.

“The system of practice was fully carried out, and the several parties destined for the observation of the transit of Venus in both hemispheres, left the United States fully qualified in all respects to perform their duties.

“Instructions for conducting the scientific operations of the parties were prepared by Professor Newcomb, printed, and freely distributed.”

[Rep. Secr. Navy for 1874, pp. 68-69.]

“Transit of Venus

“Professor Harkness has been principally occupied in fitting out the parties for observing the approaching Transit of Venus, and in reducing the zone observations made in Chili during the years 1850, 1851, and 1852, by the astronomical expedition to the southern hemisphere, under the late Capt. James M. Gilliss…

“Everything relating to the organization of the Transit of Venus parties is confided by law to the Transit of Venus Commission; but as most of the executive work has been done at the Observatory, it may be proper to refer to it here.

“The instruments used for the last Transit have been examined and repaired; all necessary changes have been made in them, and some new instruments have been purchased.

“At a very early stage of its deliberations the Commission decided to rely mainly upon the photographic method of observing, and, to ascertain the most suitable kind of emulsion, an extensive series of experiments was made by Mr. Joseph A. Rogers, who has also prepared all the emulsion needed for the various parties.

“The number of parties organization is the same as at the last Transit, namely, eight, of which four will remain in the United States, and the other four have already departed for the southern hemisphere.”

[Rep. Secr. Navy for 1882, vol. I, p. 117.]

“Transit of Venus

“The preparations for observing the coming transit of Venus have occupied the attention of the Transit of Venus Commission, of which the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory is the chairman.

“The method selected for the observation will be similar to that used in 1874, viz., by photography. A party will occupy each of the following stations: Cape of Good Hope; Santa Cruz, Patagonia; Santiago de Chile; New Zealand; San Antonio, Tex.; Cedar Keys, Fla.; Fort Selden, N. Mex.; and Washington, D. C.”

[Loc. cit., p. 110.]