Astronomical Society. 389 



passing one, and merges in that of admiration of their zeal and en- 

 terprise, and of gratitude tor the information they have afforded us. 

 In testimony of that admiration and that gratitude, on the part of 

 this Society, towards Mr. Dunlop, I beg of you, Mr. South, to trans- 

 mit to him also, this our medal, and to accompany it with the assu- 

 rance that wheresoever his future fortunes may lead him — whether 

 in the land which has already witnessed his meritorious labours — to 

 complete and extend them, or in his native country, which is both able 

 and willing to appreciate his value, to put the finishing stroke to the 

 noble fabric he has been mainly instrumental in raising, by taking a 

 leading part in the less exciting, but not less useful or indispensable 

 work, of reducing the observations already made : — in either case he 

 will be attended by our best wishes for his prosperity and happiness, 

 and our confidence that science will continue to benefit by his exer- 

 tions. 



( The President having quitted the chair, was succeeded by Mu. South, 

 one of the Vice Presidents, who addressed the Meeting as follows: — ) 



Gentlemen, — Our excellent President in his Address has informed 

 you of the appropriation of two of your Gold Medals, since our last 

 Anniversary : — a third, however, has been decreed by your Council j 

 and when it is known that Miss Caroline Herschel is the individual 

 to whom it stands adjudged, it is not difficult to determine why the 

 President has avoided the slightest allusion to it. 



But that your Council has not selected one from the many of its 

 Members, infinitely more competent to do justice to the transcen- 

 dent merits of that illustrious lady, is most assuredly matter of. 

 regret. I must, therefore, throw myself upon your indulgence, 

 hoping that the goodness of the cause may in some measure com- 

 pensate for the inability of its advocate. 



The labours of Miss Herschel are so intimately connected with, 

 and are generally so dependent upon, those of her illustrious brother; 

 that an investigation of the latter is absolutely necessary ere we can 

 form the most remote idea of the extent of the former : but when it 

 is considered that Sir W. Herschel's contributions to Astronomical 

 Science occupy sixty-seven Memoirs, communicated from time to 

 time to the Royal Society, and embrace a period of forty years, it 

 will not be expected that I should enter into their discussion. To 

 the Philosophical Transactions, 1 must refer you, and shall content 

 myself with the hasty mention of some of her more immediate claims 

 to the distinction now conferred. To deliver an eulogy (however de- 

 served) upon his memory is not the purpose for which 1 am placed here. 



His first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, amounting 

 in number to one thousand, was made from observations with the 

 20-feet reflector, in the years 1783, -4, and -5. A second thousand 

 were furnished by means of the same instrument in 1785,-6,-7, and 

 -8 ; whilst the places of five hundred others were discovered between 

 1788 and 1802. But when we have thus enumerated the results ob- 

 tained in the course of sweeps with this instrument, and taken into 

 consideration the extent and variety of the other observations, which 



were 



