460 Reviews, and Notices respecting New Books. 



tional scientific character. I feel therefore that my Report would be incom- 

 plete if I did not, in some degree, give mean3 for answering the questions, 

 What has England contributed to the progress of Astronomy ? and, How 

 have the knowledge and practice of Astronomy advanced generally in En- 

 gland ? 



" I fear that the answer to the first of these questions will not be very 

 satisfactory. While I allow that in some important parts of Astronomy we 

 have done much, I cannot conceal that in other parts, especially those which 

 cast a lustre on the conclusion of the last century, and those which are pe- 

 culiarly distinctive of the present century, we have done nothing. 



" A subject so complicated as Astronomy, may be divided in several dif- 

 ferent ways, and thus different comparisons may be made as to the progress 

 of its various parts. I shall here view the subject in two different manners, 

 and I will assert : — 



" First, That in those parts which depend principally on the assistance of 

 Governments or powerful bodies, requiring only method and judgement, with 

 very little science, in the persons employed, we have done much ; while in 

 those which depend exclusively on individuals, we have done little. 



" Secondly, That our principal progress has been made in the instrumen- 

 tal and mechanical parts, and in the lowest parts of Astronomy ; while to 

 the higher branches of the science we have not added anything. 



" I must of course refer generally to what has gone before for materials 

 to justify these assertions ; but I may here point out a few of the leading 

 facts which have induced me to bring forward these opinions. 



" With regard to the first, I can assert that we have contributed more than 

 all the rest of the world to furnish materials for ascertaining the figure of 

 the earth. This praise is to be divided, I suppose, between our Government 

 and the East India Company. Be that as it may, I conceive that nothing 

 which has been done by other nations can be put in competition with the 

 arcs of meridian and parallel in England, the great arc of meridian in India, 

 and the pendulum expeditions of Kater, Foster, Sabine, &c. To some of 

 the latter, objections have been made which are in my opinion groundless ; 

 but if they were ever so well founded, they would detract nothing from the 

 merit of originating these expeditions. But these expeditions, though they 

 require care and prudence in the persons who conduct them, demand very 

 little science. The vast improvement of chronometers is entirely due to 

 the encouragement offered by our Government. I may also assert that the 

 observatories depending on our Government are maintained with an extent 

 of establishment which few Governments would be willing to allow. And 

 in speaking of this, I cannot forbear alluding to one Institution, which I 

 hope some future reporter on Astronomy will be able to describe as having 

 been beneficial to the science. The Observatory at Cambridge was built, 

 not from any fund bequeathed of old for the purpose, nor with the assist- 

 ance of any other body, but partly by grant of the University as a corporate 

 body, when its funds were ill able to support such an expense, and partly by 

 the private subscription of its members. It was built and is to be furnished 

 on a plan which will enable it to stand in competition with any other at home 

 or abroad. Whatever may be its success, none is more creditable to the body 

 which founded it. — Now if we examine what has been done by individual 

 attempts, we shall find it small. We have discussed theories of refraction 

 and aberration, perhaps quite as much as our share in the science requires; 

 but we have done nothing in examining the past state of the heavens, or 

 making it subservient to a knowledge of their future state : the reduction of 

 Bradley's observations was left to a foreigner; the formation of Tables of 

 the Sun and Moon, from British observations, even when the theory was put 

 in a distinct shape, was left to foreigners; and, as if we had determined to 



