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and, having named the name of Bessel, to offer a passing tribute to his 
memory. He, who but afew months since occupied the foremost place 
in the ranks of living Astronomers, is now no more! He died on the 
day which followed the last meeting and Anniversary of this Body; and 
those among us who had the happiness to form his acquaintance, during 
his short visit to England, and to the British Association, four years 
ago, will be able to sympathize with his personal friends, no less than 
with the world of science, in deploring his loss. 
“ Of the Astronomical and Optical labours of the Earl of Rosse, and 
of his great reflector—the marvel of astronomical science—it is needless 
for me to speak. No one who was present when the account of its con- 
struction, and of its first achievements, was given in this room by Dr. 
Robinson, can readily forget it; and for others, the printed notice of 
that account, in the last Number of our Proceedings, will give the fullest 
information we yet possess respecting it. Even from this statement of 
its earliest trials, it is manifest that the astronomical history of the 
nebule will, ere long, be re-made; and it must be satisfactory to us 
to know, that the noble artist has arranged a plan of systematic obser- 
vation, directed to these remote and mysterious portions of the universe, 
which promises to reveal all that can be known, until a still higher 
optical power (if such be practically possible) shall be applied to their 
examination. The imagination is bewildered when it seeks to grasp 
the possible future, which may be opened to this and other depart- 
ments of Astronomical Science by the application of such means: I 
will mention but one amongst the many anticipations which press for 
utterance. The observations of Bessel have detected proper motions 
in the fixed stars, Sirius and Procyon, which appear to establish the 
existence of invisible companions, of vast magnitude, about which 
they revolve. Is the invisibility of these great bodies re/ative only? 
and if so, may it not be dispelled before the optical power which Lord 
Rosse has brought to bear upon the Heavens ? 
“¢ Astronomy, however,’ to use the words of one whose philosophic 
mind, and varied and profound acquirements, well entitle him to 
legislate for science, ‘is only one out of many sciences, which can be 
advanced by a combined system of observation and calculation, car- 
ried on uiinterruptedy. * * * * * * ®* ina utilitarian point 
