'Black drop' effect during the 1769 Transit of Venus Size:L: 90 x 60cm In February 1873

In February 1873

The French may consider Britannia to be an unprotected female

Interior of St Clement Danes Church

and within three weeks the damage had caused the cable to fail

'Black drop' effect during the 1769 Transit of Venus Size:L: 90 x 60cm In February 1873Sketch showing the planet Venus at ingress on its passage across the face of the Sun. Detail from a letter by Samuel Horsley, giving an account of the Transit of Venus observed at Oxford, England, using an 18 inch reflecting telescope. The illustration appeared as plate 8 of the published paper 'Venus observed upon the Sun at Oxford, June 3, 1769', by Samuel Horsley, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 59 (1769) pp. 183 188.