[ 652 ] 



[JUNE, 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



April 1 1 . A paper, by Colonel Beaufoy, 

 was read, containing his observations of 

 eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, from 2d Ja- 

 nuary to 15th May 1826 ; together with some 

 observations of occultatious of stars by the 

 moon. 



A paper was also read " On the Longitude 

 of Madras, as deduced from Observations of 

 Eclipses of the first and second Satellites of 

 Jupiter, taken between the years 1817 and 

 1826. By John Goldingham, Esq., F.K.S.'' 



The eclipses stated in this paper are ninety- 

 six in number, being immersions and emer- 

 sions of the first and second satellites only. 

 Of these, eleven are directly comparable with 

 those of Colonel Beaufoy, made at Bushy 

 Heath, viz. eight of the first, and three of 

 the second ; and their mean result, which of 

 course is independent of the errors of the ta- 

 bles, is stated by Mr. Goldingham at 5*. 21'. 

 9'3", being the longitude of Madras, east of 

 Greenwich. The remainder, consisting of 

 thirty-four emersions and thirty-five immer- 

 sions of the first satellite, and twelve emer- 

 sions and four immersions of the second, are 

 not directly comparable with Colonel Beau- 

 foy's. Mr. Goldingham endeavours, however, 

 to render them so, or at least to eliminate 

 the errors of the tables, by determining the 

 latter from Colonel Beaufoy's observations 

 made nearly about the same time, and then 

 applying it to the results of a comparison of 

 his own with the Nautical Almanack as a 

 correction , and, in this way, deduces a con- 

 clusion agreeing almost exactly with the 

 foregoing. 



This is not the place to enter into any dis- 

 cussion on the legitimacy of the process pur- 

 sued by Mr. Goldingham for this purpose, or 

 of its general applicability in the present state 

 of the tables. The end of this abstract will 

 be better answered by presenting in one view 

 the results of these several classes of observa- 

 tions as obtained separately, by direct com- 

 parison with the Nautical Almanack, uncor- 

 rected by reference to Colonel Beau Toy's or 

 any other observations, which may be stated 

 as follows : 



Madras, east of Greenwich. 

 By thirty-four emersions of the 

 first satellite observed at 

 Madras, and compared with 

 the Nautical Almanack ... 5 21' 6-5" 



By thirty-five immersions of 

 ditto, similarly observed and 



compared 



5 21 12-4 



9-4 



By twelve emersions of the se- 

 cond satellite, similarly ob- 

 served and compared . . <5 21' 0-5* 



By four immersions of ditto .5 21 33-1 



Mean longitude ... 5 

 Difference of immer- 

 sions and emersions 



21 16-8 



Mean longitude of Madras ,5 2.1 



Difference of immersions 



and emersions ... 6-9 



32-6 



The latter series has, however, only the 

 weight of four double observations, and is 

 therefore DO way to be put in competition, 

 with the former, corroborated as it is to mir, 

 nute precision by the results of the compara- 

 tive observations ; so that, on the whole, we 

 may take 5. 21'. 9'35". as the true longi- 

 tude of the Madras observatory. 



Mr. Goldingham states the difference tT 

 longitudes between the observatory and Fort 

 St. George at 2'. 21". (of space), the latter 

 being to the east ; so that the longtitude of 

 Fort St. George, Madras, is 5*. 2 1'. 18-7". 



Immediately after the conclusion of the or- 

 dinary meeting of the society, a Special Ge- 

 neral Meeting was held, pursuant to a no- 

 tice to that effect, for the purpose of distri- 

 buting the honorary medals awarded by the 

 Council to Mr. Bailly, Mr. Stratford, and 

 Colonel Beaufoy a ceremony accompanied 

 by a most able and eloquent speech from the 

 president. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Anniversary Meetingof this Society took 

 place on Saturday ; the Marquess of Lansdown^ 

 President, in the chair. The meeting was 

 very numerously attended. Amongst other 

 distinguished supporters of thisestablishment, 

 we noticed Earls Spencer, Malmesbury, and 

 Carnarvon, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, 

 Marquess Carmarthen, Lord Auckland, Sir 

 Everard Home, Sir Robert Heron, M.P., 

 Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., Sir J. de Beauvoir, 

 Mr. Baring Wall,M.P.,<fec. &c. &c. The pre- 

 sident having adverted with much feeling and 

 effect to the vacancy occasioned by the la* 

 menteddeath of the late president, and his own 

 accession to that office, reported to the meeting 

 the progress of the society during thelast year ; 

 from which it appeared that the Museum 

 had been enriched by numerous and valuable 

 donations ; amongst the most conspicuous 

 of these was particularized a female ostrich 

 from his Majesty. The magnificent collec- 

 tion of the late Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, 

 consisting of mamalia, birds, reptiles, insects, 

 zoophytes, <fec., has also been transferred to 

 the society. The president further informed 

 the meeting, that the works in the Regent's 

 Park are rapidly advancing : the walks have 

 been laid out and partly executed, and some 

 pheasantries and aviaries, with sheds and en- 

 closures for some of the rarer animals be- 

 longing to-the society, are in active progress. 

 It is expected that the gardens wiil possess 



