
ADDRESS. xlv 
part the traces of that internal action which has played so large a part in 
moulding the great outlines of the present configuration of its surface. It is 
understood that Lord Rosse himself participates in the wish that such an 
examination of the surface of the moon should be made, and, should the 
desire of the Association be expressed to that effect, is willing to undertake 
it in conjunction with one or two other gentlemen possessing the necessary 
physical and geological knowledge. It will be for the Members of the As- 
sociation to determine the form in which a Report on the “ Physical Features 
of the Moon compared with those of the Earth” may most appropriately be 
requested. 
In connection with Astronomy, I permit myself to notice the publica- 
tion, now in progress, of two works of considerable magnitude and value, 
because they do honour to the science and public spirit of the part of the 
United Kingdom in which we are assembled; I refer to the Markree 
Catalogue of Ecliptic Stars, and to the results of the Observations at the 
Armagh Observatory. The establishments from which these publications 
emanate belong to the class which owe their endowment and support to 
private munificence, but by the extent and character of the work they per- 
form entitle themselves to rank with the Institutions, which in this and 
other countries testify the liberality of a nation’s patronage. The Markree 
Observatory, which has already distinguished itself under the personal - 
superintendence of its founder, amongst other services by the discovery 
of one of the thirteen planets by which our knowledge of the solar do- 
main has been enriched in the last seventeen years,—will hereafter take 
its position amongst the establishments which have most largely contributed 
to the perfection of modern astronomy by its catalogue of the approximate 
places of all the stars in the ecliptic down to the twelfth magnitude inclusive ; 
by which catalogue the detection of any still undiscovered planetary bodies 
belonging to our system will be greatly facilitated. One volume has already 
been published in the year which has elapsed since our Ipswich Meeting, and 
"a second is in preparation, and both, by the aid of funds supplied from the 
annual grant now placed at the disposal of the Royal Society, to be applied 
- in the advancement of science. The publication of the results of the ob- 
servations of the Armagh Observatory, since it has been under the very able 
direction of Dr. Robinson, has been for some time a desideratum. At the 
instance of the Royal Irish Academy it was recommended by the Irish 
Executive, but without success. It is now being accomplished by aid 
_ from the same source as the Markree Catalogue. I have the more satis- 
faction in noticing these appropriations in favour of Irish science from funds 
designed for the general benefit of the United Kingdom, because they indicate 
_ the fairness and equality with which the distribution of those funds is ad- 
ministered: it is also I believe strictly in character with the prevailing 
principles which sanction public aid, that it should be given, when needed, to 
1852. d 
