easy to foresee
what the result would be.

During the summer nothing was heard of the committee, and in the
autumn I made my first trip to Europe. On my return, in May, 1871,
I found that the committee had never even held a meeting, and that
it had been enlarged by the addition of a number of astronomers,
among them myself. But, before it went seriously to work, it was
superseded by another organization, to be described presently.

At that time astronomical photography was in its infancy. Enough had
been done by Rutherfurd to show that it might be made a valuable
adjunct to astronomical investigation. Might we not then photograph
Venus on the sun's disk, and by measurements of the plates obtain the
desired result, perhaps better than it could be obtained by any kind
of eye observation? This question had already suggested itself to
Professor Winlock, who, at the Cambridge Observatory, had designed
an instrument for taking the photographs. It consisted of a fixed
horizontal telescope, into which the rays of the sun were to be
thrown by a reflector. This kind of an instrument had its origin
in France, but it was first practically applied to photographing
the sun in this country. As whatever observations were to be made
would have to be done at governmental expense, an appropriation of
two thousand dollars was obtained from Congress for the expense of
some preliminary instruments and investigations.

Admiral Sands, superintendent of the observatory, now took an
active part in the official preparations. It was suggested to
him, on the part of the academy committee, that it would be well
to join hands with other organizations, so as to have the whole
affair carried on with unity and harmony. To this he assented.
The result was a provision that these and all other preparations for
observing the transit of Venus should be made under the direction
of a commission to be composed of the superintendent of the Naval
Observatory, the superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, the
president of the National Academy of Sciences, and two professors of
mathematics attached to the Naval Observatory. Under this provision
the commission was constituted as follows: Commodore B. F. Sands,
U. S. N., Professor Benjamin Peirce, Professor Joseph Henry, Professor
Simon Newcomb, Professor William Harkness.

The academy committee now surrendered its functions to the commission,
and the preparations were left entirely in the han