Roj/al Astro7wmieal Soeiett/. 52! 



pathy, gentlemen, I shall be able to preserve the spirit and temper 

 which I so much admire; — to hand that torch to my successor 

 burning as brightly as it has hitherto done. And there is one con- 

 sideration which will make me look with an especial satisfac- 

 tion upon such a result. I have not myself the great honour of being 

 one of the members of the Society who are connected with it by an 

 early interest in its fortunes, and by long participation in its labours. 

 I may consider myself as only belonging to its second generation. 

 Now if there be a critical and a perilous time in the progress of a volun- 

 tary association like ours, it is when its administration passes out of 

 the hands of its founders into those of their successors. It is like that 

 important and trying epoch when the youth quits the paternal roof. I 

 will say however, gentlemen, for myself and for my fellow- officers, 

 some of whom are in the same condition, that our best cares shall not 

 be wanting that the Society may suffer as little as possible by this 

 change. And among our grounds for hope and trust, the main one 

 is this : that though the offices of the Society may be in younger 

 hands, the parental cares of its founders are not withdrawn. We 

 have to discharge our office with the aid and counsel of those ex- 

 cellent persons to whom the prosperity of the Society up to the pre- 

 sent time has been owing. Surrounded by such men, knowing their 

 generous and ready sympathy for the attempts and exertions of their 

 followers and disciples, I feel a cheerful confidence in the future des- 

 tinies of the Geological Society ; and a persuasion that it will not 

 only preserve but extend its influence as a bond of scientific and 

 social union among its members. 



ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



March 9, 1838*. — The following communications were read: — 



I. Immersion of \ Cancri at Moon's dark limb, March 6, 1838. 

 By R. Snow, Esq. Corrected sidereal time, 13^ H'" 54». 



II. Extract of a letter from Sir John Herschel to the President, 

 giving an account of a remarkable increase of magnitude of the star 

 -q in the constellation Argo, observed by him at the Cape, Decem- 

 ber 16-17, 1837. 



** I have just observed a very remarkable phaenomenon, the deve- 

 lopment of which I am watching with much interest. It respects 

 the nebulous star r] in the constellation Argo, No. 1281 of the 

 Catalogue of the Astronomical Society, marked in that catalogue 

 as of the second magnitude. As such, or rather as intermediate 

 between the first and second, as a very large star of the second mag- 

 nitude, or a very small one of the first, I have always hitherto ob- 

 served it, having, in some cases, equgJized it with Fomalhaut ; in 

 others placed it intermediate between a and /3 Crucis, nearly equal 

 with the latter, &c.; nor have I at any time had reason to suppose 

 its magnitude variable. Tonight, however, being at work on my 

 classification of the southern stars in order of their magnitudes, I 



* Wc shall notice the communications made at previous meetings at an- 

 other oppurtunity. 



