125 
stance which acted on the mirror and produced a dulness that 
was not removed till after three hours’ additional work. Lord 
Rosse warned them that the figure must be imperfect, and 
wished to repolish; but they overruled this proposal, and it 
was replaced in the tube next day. 
On examining it by diaphragm and discs, it was found 
that, as he anticipated, the edge was not quite perfect. All 
its zones showed & Urse Majoris very well with 560; but the 
exterior six inches manifested, when the star was thrown out 
of focus, that though of the same focal length, this portion was 
irregular. Few other double stars were observed, as most of 
the lucid interval from the 4th to the 13th of March was de- 
voted to nebule, and after that it again became cloudy; but 
enough were seen to satisfy them that the instrument possessed 
a very high defining power. This, indeed, was evident from 
the admirable exhibition of Regulus, seen on March 5th, neat 
and round, without appendages or flare. Gamma Leonis, & 
Virginis, 2 Come, and Gamma Virginis, were also well 
shewn with powers of 400 to 800 on an unfavourable night ; 
and the companions of » Urse, and 245 of Struvé’s second 
Catalogue, which appear in the Slough and Pulkova teles- 
copes as of the eleventh and tenth magnitudes, seem in this 
large stars. 
Of planetary bodies, none were visible except D’Arrest’s 
Comet and the Moon. The former, when viewed March 
10th, presented nothing remarkable: the brighter portion, to- 
wards the centre, shewed no abrupt change of light which 
might indicate a solid nucleus; there was no resolvable ap- 
pearance in the Coma, and the very minute stars with which 
that part of the sky was dotted, were visible almost to its very 
centre. Only one view of the moon was obtained, March 20th, 
and it was shared with them by several visitors, who, when 
once in possession of the telescope, were by no means disposed 
to make way for the astronomers. The fascination of the 
sight is, indeed, such, that one can scarcely withdraw the eye: 
