e way that the actual Venus would be seen.
This was observed over and over until, as was supposed, the observers
had gotten into good practice.

In order to insure the full understanding of the photographic
apparatus, the instruments were mounted and the parties practiced
setting them up and going through the processes of photographing the
sun. To carry out this arrangement with success, it was advisable to
have an expert in astronomical photography to take charge of the work.
Dr. Henry Draper of New York was invited for this purpose, and gave
his services to the commission for several weeks.

This transit was not visible in the United States. It did not begin
until after the sun had set in San Francisco, and it was over before
the rising sun next morning had reached western Europe. All the
parties had therefore to be sent to the other side of the globe.
Three northern stations were occupied,--in China, Japan, and Siberia;
and five southern ones, at various points on the islands of the
Pacific and Indian oceans. This unequal division was suggested
by the fact that the chances of fair weather were much less in the
southern hemisphere than in the northern.

The southern parties were taken to their destinations in the
U. S. S. Swatara, Captain Ralph Chandler, U. S. N., commanding.
In astronomical observations all work is at the mercy of the elements.
Clear weather was, of course, a necessity to success at any station.
In the present case the weather was on the whole unpropitious.
While there was not a complete failure at any one station, the number
or value of the observations was more or less impaired at all.
Where the sky was nearly cloudless, the air was thick and hazy.
This was especially the case at Nagasaki and Pekin, where from
meteorological observations which the commission had collected through
our consuls, the best of weather was confidently expected. What made
this result more tantalizing was that the very pains we had taken to
collect the data proved, by chance, to have made the choice worse.
For some time it was deliberated whether the Japanese station should
be in Nagasaki or Yokohama. Consultation with the best authorities
and a study of the records showed that, while Yokohama was a favorable
spot, the chances were somewhat better at Nagasaki. So to Nagasaki
the party was sent. But when the transit came, while the sky was
of the best at Yokohama, it was far from being so at Nagasaki.

Something