French medal commemorating the 1874 transit

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A medal was struck to commemorate the French expeditions to observe the transit in 1874. The medal shows Urania, the muse of astronomy, looking up to see the female figure of Venus meeting the Sun god Apollo on his chariot. The Latin inscription is "Quo distent spatio sidera juncta docent" -"by their meeting the stars reveal the distance which separates them". The reverse of the medal carries the inscription "Institut de France / Acad?mie des Sciences / Passage de V?nus sur le Soleil / 8-9 Decembre 1874"

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Object contributed by Huxley Scientific Press