Mr. Baily's volume of Catalogues of Stars. 539 



not in the power of any collective body to command : had it been 

 so, this useful labour would not have remained unperformed so long, 

 notorious as was the difficulty, not only of consulting, but even 

 of procuring, the catalogues in question. Nor must we forget, in 

 connexion with this work, the edition of Flamsteed's catalogue which 

 appeared a few years ago, in the life of that astronomer by Mr. Baily, 

 who has thus given new access to the contents, new life to the 

 history, new correctness to the matter, of all the most celebrated 

 star-catalogues, from the earliest epoch of systematically recorded 

 observation to the time when instrumental methods and corrections 

 began to assume their present form. To this we must add that he 

 has imposed new duties upon those who write and speak about the 

 history of astronomy ; errors and misconceptions inevitable in those 

 who could only procure accounts of several of these catalogues at 

 second-hand, are from this time unpardonable. 



During the past year nearly the whole of the terrestrial globe 

 (embracing the several continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 America) has been either gratified or alarmed at the appearance of 

 one of the most splendid and extraordinary comets that have ever 

 yet been placed on record. This comet does not seem to have been 

 noticed prior to the time of its perihelion passage (February 27), 

 but on the following day it was, in some places, seen nearly from 

 the time of sun-rise to sun- set, and even at mid- day with the naked 

 eye : a circumstance which affords the strongest proof of its great 

 splendour. For many subsequent days it was the object of uni- 

 versal attention and admiration ; and the numerous accounts of its 

 appearance and the various observations and remarks thereupon, 

 which have been received from all parts of the world, have already 

 been printed in the Monthly Notices of the Society. It seems to 

 have excited much consternation in some places, but was universally 

 remarked for its splendour, its velocity, and the great length of its 

 tail, during the whole time of its visible existence, but more espe- 

 cially about the time of its first appearance*. 



Another comet, but not visible to the naked eye, has also recently 

 made its appearance, and was first discovered by M. Faye at the 

 Royal Observatory at Paris. Although this comet is far inferior in 

 splendour to the one just mentioned, it is in another respect more 

 interesting to the astronomer, inasmuch as it appears to be one that 

 performs its revolution in little more than six years ; thus adding 

 another of those remarkable bodies whose periodical returns may 

 ultimately tend to throw some light on the wonderful system of the 

 universe \. 



In the annual Report of the Council in 1838, it was stated that 

 a Committee had been appointed by the British Association to wait 

 on the Government for the purpose of obtaining means to procure 

 the reduction of all the lunar observations made at the Royal Ob- 

 servatory at Greenwich. That application was made and cheerfully 



[* Notices of the papers on this Comet which have heen read before 

 the Royal Astronomical and Royal Societies will be found in the present 

 volume, p. 300.] 



[f See our present volume, pp. 519-522.] 



