518 Royal Astronomical Society. 



progress, under the auspices of the British Association. That work 

 is now nearly completed, and ready for the press, and will contain 

 above 8000 stars. To each star will be annexed not only the annual 

 precession, but also the secular variation of such precession, and the 

 proper motion when it can be ascertained. The usual constants for 

 determining the apparent positions of the stars at any required 

 epoch will also be given. This work cannot fail of being a valuable 

 addition to the resources of the astronomer. 



The Members may be interested in learning that the Standard Scale 

 of this Society has been reported to Her Majesty's Government, 

 as one of the best means of regaining an accurate determination of 

 the Standard Yard that was destroyed in the conflagration of the two 

 Houses of Parliament ; and that an indirect overture has been made for 

 the acquisition of it, should the Government eventually consider it 

 desirable. The Council apprehend that the Members would readily 

 accede to any arrangement in this respect, which would promote the 

 object that the Government has in view, and at the same time not 

 be injurious to the interests of the Society. 



The British Association having appointed a Committee to consider 

 the propriety of revising and re-arranging the constellations in the 

 heavens, Sir John Herschel has drawn up an interesting paper on this 

 subject, which has been read before the Society,. and printed in the 

 forthcoming volume of the Memoirs. As it was considered desirable 

 that an early and extensive circulation of his views on this subject 

 should take place, the Council ordered an additional number of 

 copies of this paper to be printed, which have been generally dis- 

 tributed, with a view of drawing the attention of astronomers to this 

 branch of the science. Sir John's revision has been confined to 

 the southern hemisphere, where the greatest confusion prevails in 

 the nomenclature of the stars and in the distribution of the con- 

 stellations ; and if the reform, which is here [suggested in the south, 

 should meet the approbation of astronomers, it may become a matter 

 of consideration, whether the principle may not be extended into the 

 northern hemisphere, which has been sadly confused by modern 

 innovations. 



Since the last Anniversary, Her Majesty's Government has put 

 the Society in possession of two rooms on the basement story of the 

 present building ; which have been cleaned out and appropriated for 

 the erection of any apparatus that may be required for pendulum ex- 

 periments, or for prosecuting any other investigations that may be 

 carried on in such apartments. 



It had long been a subject of regret that the immense magazine 

 of facts contained in the Annals of the Royal Observatory from the 

 time of Bradley's appointment, downwards, till a very recent epoch, 

 should remain in a great degree unavailable for astronomical use. 

 Our illustrious associate Bessel, in his Fundamenta Astronomies, cor- 

 rections to the solar tables, and finally by his Tabula Regiomontana;, 

 rendered this vast labyrinth permeable, and extracted and exhibited 

 in a finished shape much of its valuable contents. Some years ago, 

 the British Association proposed to the Government the reduction of 



