A Short Account of the Observations of the Late Transit of Venus, Made in California, by Order of His Catholic Majesty; Communicated by His Excellency Prince Masserano, Ambassador from the Spanish Court, and F. R. S.

XLIX. A short Account of the Observations of the late Transit of Venus, made in California, by Order of his Catholic Majesty; communicated by his Excellency Prince Masserano, Ambassador from the Spanish Court, and F. R. S. Read Nov. 22, 1770. DON Vincent-Doz, Commander of a Spanish frigate, is just arrived at Madrid. He brought with him, and presented to the King, an account of his observation of the last Transit of Venus at California, whither he was sent last year for that purpose, being in substance as follows: The latitude of the Village of St. Joseph, eight leagues distant from Cape St. Lucar \[ \begin{align*} \text{a} & \quad / \quad 12 \\ 23 & \quad 5 \quad 15 \end{align*} \] The longitude from the meridian of Paris \[ \begin{align*} \text{b} & \quad / \quad 11 \\ 7 & \quad 28 \quad 17\frac{1}{2} \end{align*} \] The two internal contacts of the Planets were at \[ \begin{align*} \text{o} & \quad 17 \quad 25 \\ 5 & \quad 54 \quad 44\frac{1}{2} \end{align*} \] Hence, on the computation of Mons. Pingré, in his Memoir of the year 1767, the solar Parallax is \[ \begin{align*} \text{o} & \quad o \quad 8\frac{1}{4} \end{align*} \] And And the distance of the Sun from the Earth is greater than it was supposed to be $\frac{7}{3}$, or nearly 6,685,000 leagues. The corresponding observations will be necessary to resolve the problem more completely.