8 



observation. On turning the telescope to Saturn, Mr. Hartnup was 

 struck with the exquisite beauty of the image. The new ring was 

 instantly detected, and the planet was cai'efuUy examined with powers 

 from 170 to 1100, with all of which the new ring w£is distinctly seen. 

 The bright ring, where it crosses the ball of the planet, was beautifully 

 defined, and the primary division was seen as a fine black line projected 

 on the face of the planet. The new ring, in colour and brightness, 

 resembled the dark limb of the moon. It was certainly much broader 

 than represented by Professor Bond and Mr. Dawes at the time of the 

 discovery, occupying full half, or from half to two-thirds of the space 

 between the inner edge of the inner bright ring and the ball of the 

 planet. 



Dr. Thomson called the attention of the Society to a series of 

 observations on the Pendulum Experiment, within 7° of the Equator, 

 lately published, which, together with the observations made at the 

 Sailors' Home, fully demonstrated the truth of Foucault's proposition. 

 Dr. Lamprey and Lieut. Schaw, officers in the army, had erected a 

 pendulum, very similar in its proportions to that erected at the Sailors' 

 Home by the Society. Its length was 66^ feet, the ball was of lead, 

 turned in a lathe, and weighed 30^ lbs., the suspending wire was 

 l-12th of an inch in thickness, and the mode of suspension was by 

 fibres of raw silk passing through an iron plate screwed to a beam. 

 The place was a Presbyterian church, at Colombo, in N. lat. 6" 56'. 

 The motion of the pendulum was from N. by E. to the opposite points, 

 or in the direction of the sun, as it ought to be in the northern hemi- 

 sphere. The mean angular variation per hour amounted to 1*87*', 

 while the calculated variation was 1-81*, giving an excess of 6-lOOths 

 of a degree per hour, an exceedingly trifling error. 



The following Paper was read, by H. P. Horner, Esq. — 



ON ARCHITECTUEAL CRITICISM. 

 The choice of a subject so immediately connected as Architectural 

 Criticism with my own avocations, for discussion before a Society such 

 as I now address, may seem to call for some apology, both on that 

 ground and on that of its somewhat exclusive interest ; and my excuse 

 must be, that I prefer, for many reasons, to appear before you as an 

 humble essayist in that path in which has hitherto lain my chief study ; 

 and that my subject, notwithstanding its professional bearing, has, I 

 think, certain phases of general interest which must appeal, more or 

 less, to every informed mind. 



