Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 319 



exhibited as extending from the centre of the latter not having been 

 however visible to the naked eye. These stellate crystals> varying from 

 l£ to 2 lines in extreme diameter, continued to fall for nearly half 

 an hour, and as they retained their form for a considerable time, 

 proved highly interesting and attractive. I much regretted that I 

 was so circumstanced as to be unable to ascertain the state of the 

 barometer and thermometer; the wind, however, was northerly with 

 a point of east. Snow continued to fall until the coach reached 

 Shrewsbury ; and in passing through Wales the next day, which 

 was remarkably fine, I observed that it had fallen there in every 

 direction. Arriving in Ireland on the 24th, I remarked that the snow 

 had also extended to that country, the Wicklow and Dublin moun- 

 tains being covered with it. 



In anticipation of it being thought singular that I have not before 

 recorded the fall of these ice- crystals, it may be stated that I delayed 

 in the hope that some one better circumstanced for precise inves- 

 tigation had noticed the occurrence, and would have written on the 

 subject of it. In expectation of this I have looked over the various 

 British periodicals since published, and nothing having appeared 

 concerning it, I presume it to be better that even the present im- 

 perfect account should be recorded than none at all. 



Wm. Thompson. 



obituary : — professor harding. 



We have to record the death of Professor Harding of the Uni- 

 versity Gottingen, an eminent astronomer, whose name will go down 

 to posterity with the important discovery of the planet Juno, which 

 it was his good fortune to make in 1804. He was descended from 

 a highly respectable English Catholic family. One of his ancestors 

 left England on account of his religion, and settled in Germany, 

 where the family afterwards became Protestants. He was born at 

 Lauenburg, the principal town of the then Hanoverian, now Danish 

 duchy of Lauenburg, and was originally intended for the church ; 

 but after his academical studies, he became tutor to the son of the 

 celebrated astronomer Schroter, and this circumstance led him to 

 the study of practical astronomy, to which he afterwards exclusively 

 devoted his whole life. After having been several years astrono- 

 mical assistant to Schroter, he accepted in 1805 a Professorship of 

 Astronomy at Gottingen, which he retained till his death. 



Professor Harding was a most active and industrious practical 

 astronomer, whose observations have, in no small degree, enlarged 

 our knowledge of the heavenly bodies. He rendered a very im- 

 portant service to astronomy by compiling accurate maps of those 

 parts of the heavens in which planets may be expected to appear. 

 The perseverance and careful attention with which he mastered the 

 heavens during several years in the prosecution of this work, were 

 rewarded by the brilliant discovery above alluded to. He was a 

 very amiable man, whose loss is much deplored by his numerous 

 friends and colleagues in the university. The grief at the loss of 

 his daughter, an only child, 14 years old, who died last year, ter- 

 minated his days on the 31st of August last, at the age of about 

 70 years. 



