Royal Astronomical Society. 303 



II. Meridian Observations of the Moon and Moon-culminating 

 Stars, made at Hamburg during the years 1838 and 1839. By 

 C. Humker, Esq. Communicated by Dr, Lee. 



III. Elements of the Comet of Mauvais. By M. Gotze. Com- 

 municated by Dr. Lee. These elements will be found in the 

 Monthly Notices, vol. vi. p. 68. 



IV. Observations of the Comet of Encke, made at the Royal 

 Observatory of the Cape of Good Hope in May 1842. Communir 

 cated by Thomas Maclear, Esq. See Monthly Notices, as above. 



V. An Account of the Erection of the Herschel Obelisk at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, accompanied by the Report of Colonel Lewis, 

 and a Plan of the same. By Thomas Maclear, Esq. 



At the last meeting of the Committee appointed to superintend 

 the erection of the Herschel Obelisk, held on the 2nd of March, 

 1842, it was resolved that a plan of the same, together with that 

 part of Colonel Lewis's Report which refers to its construction and 

 erection at Feldhausen, should be forwarded by Mr. Maclear to 

 the Royal Astronomical Society of London, with a request of the 

 Committee that the same might be published in the Memoirs of the 

 Society. 



Mr. Maclear's engagements did not give him the requisite leisure 

 for complying with the request of the Committee, and for collecting 

 the additional information respecting the history of the obelisk, till 

 the end of the year 1843. 



The following is an abstract of the explanation furnished by 

 him :— 



Sir John Herschel, during his residence at the Cape, was Pre- 

 sident of the South African Literary and Scientific Institution. 

 When he was about to leave the colony, the members expressed a 

 desire to present him with some token of remembrance ; and, at a 

 full meeting, a few days before his departure, a gold medal was 

 presented, with the impress of the institution on one side and a 

 suitable inscription on the reverse. The feelings excited on that 

 interesting occasion strongly evinced how much the members re- 

 gretted the loss of their president and their admiration of one 

 whose talents place him so far above ordinary men, and whose prii- 

 vate life was a pattern of every domestic virtue. 



The sum subscribed having exceeded the expense of the medal, 

 another subscription-list was opened with the intention of raising a 

 fund for the purpose of placing a substantial structure on the site of 

 the 20-feet reflector in the garden of Sir John's late residence at 

 Feldhausen. The proposal was accordingly laid before Sir George 

 Napier, who entered warmly into the project, and placed his name 

 at the head of the hst annexed to a handsome subscription. In the 

 course of a few days the sum subscribed amounted to 190/. 



At a general meeting, held on the 28th of November, 1838, the 

 erection of the obelisk was finally determined on ; and a committee 

 was appointed to carry its erection into effect. 



A fruitless attempt to procure a granite column at the Cape, of 

 proper workmanship and within the resources of the Committee, 

 led to the adoption of a suggestion, that one of Craigleith stone. 



