526 Royal Astronomical Society i Anniversary, 1844. 



he went to Palermo, and, under the care of the Canon De Cosmis, 

 his townsman, he devoted himself to the study of Greek and the 

 belles lettres. He then proceeded to study mathematics and the 

 physical sciences without the assistance of a master. Piazzi became 

 acquainted with him in the house of De Cosmis, and, surprised at 

 his progress, took him to the Observatory to perfect him in his fa- 

 vourite study, and has made favourable mention of him in the preface 

 to the Palermo Catalogue. In September 1798, he went to reside 

 entirely with Piazzi, and there occupied himself exclusively with as- 

 tronomy, so that, in 1800, he was appointed assistant at the Royal 

 Observatory, and assisted in completing Piazzi's great Catalogue 

 above-mentioned. 



During the years 1803, 4 and 5, he repeated the observations on 

 Maskelyne's 36 fundamental stars, which labour was published in 

 the Sixth Book of the Royal Observatory of Palermo. On these re- 

 sults Piazzi wished to found a new catalogue, but suffered so much 

 in his eyes in 1807, that he confided it to Cacciatore, and the work 

 was published in 1814 ; on which he was honoured with Lalande's 

 gold medal from the Royal Institute of France. 



In 1810 he had been elected general examiner of the Corpi 

 Facoltativi of Sicily, with the charge of instructing, in the higher 

 geodesy, the officers of the Topographical Office. In 1814 he was 

 declared honorary professor in the Royal University. In 1817, 

 Piazzi being called to Naples to direct the new Observatory there, 

 Cacciatore was promoted to the direction of the Royal Observatory 

 at Palermo. In 1819 accordingly, his observations and calculations 

 of the fine comet of that year were published in his name. 



But, in 1820, whilst he was assiduously prosecuting his researches 

 on the proper motion of the stars, and on the thermometric cause 

 of the observed difference of the obliquity of the ecliptic between 

 summer and winter, the revolution occurred ; when his house was 

 pillaged, as well as the library of the Observatory, although in the 

 Royal Palace ; so that he lost everything, even his manuscripts being 

 partly carried off or destroyed. In trying to save the Observatory 

 he with difficulty saved his life, being with the greatest indignity 

 thrust into prison. Yet in December of the same year he was de- 

 puted, as representative of Palermo, to the Parliament at Naples. 

 He was elected an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of 

 London, and was one of the 40 Associates of the Italian Society 

 established in Modena. He was general secretary of the Academy 

 of Sciences in Palermo, which he improved by introducing appro- 

 priate regulations. 



In 1810 he married Emmanuela Martini, by whom he had five 

 children. He had long felt a chronical affection of the brain, and 

 finally suffered so much from the cholera that he was obliged to give 

 up his astronomical labours, though he lingered until the 28th of 

 January, 1841, when at two in the morning he expired in the arms 

 of his wife and children. His son, Gaetano Cacciatore, is appointed 

 his successor in the Observatory*. 



* See further accounts of Niccolo Cacciatore in the Annali Civili of Sicily, 

 No. 49, for January and February 1841, page 72. 



