202 Address of the Aslronomical Society of London, 



Owing to the great perfection which the construction of opti- 

 cal instruments has attained in England, and the taste for sci- 

 entific research universally prevalent, there have arisen in various 

 parts of the kingdom a number of private and public observa- 

 tories, in which the celestial phajnomena are watched, and re- 

 gistered vvith assiduity and accuracy, by men whose leisure and 

 talents peculiarlv adapt them for such pursuits : while others, 

 with a less splendid estahhshnient, but by the sacrifice of more 

 valuable time, pursue the same end with equal zeal and perse- 

 verance. Considerable collections of valuable observations have 

 thus originated ; by far the greater part of which, however, owing 

 to the expense and difficulty of publication and various other 

 causes, must inevitably perish, or at least remain buried in ob- 

 scurity, and be lost to all useful purposes ; unless collected and 

 brought together by the establishment of a common centre of 

 communication and classification, to which they may respectively 

 be imparted. 



This great desideratum, it is presumed, will be attained by a 

 Society founded on the model of other scientific institutions, havr 

 ing for one of its objects the. formation of a collection or deposit 

 of manuscri])t observations, &c. open at all times to inspection ; 

 to which the industrious observer may consign the result of his 

 labours, with the certainty of their finding a place, among the 

 materials of knov/ledge so amassed, exactly proportioned to their 

 intrinsic value. At the same time it will thus be rendered prac- 

 ticable to form a connected series from a mass of detached and 

 incomplete fragments ; and the society will render a valuable 

 service to science, by publishing, from time to time, from this 

 collection, such communications or digests as seem calculated, 

 bv their nature and accuracy, either to supply deficiencies, or to 

 afford useful materials to the theoretical astronomer. 



It will also be an object worthv of the society, to promote an 

 pxamination of the heavens in minute detail ; by parcelling them 

 put, in portions of a very moderate extent, among those mem- 

 bers who may find leisure and inclination to direct their atteur 

 tion more peculiarly and constantly to such portions (selection 

 being made as to those which may best accord with the situation 

 of their observatories and their own general convenience); there- 

 by to ascertain tiie places, and if possible the proper motions, of 

 ^11 the objects, large or mmute, which may fall within their re- 

 spective limits ; and to pass them continually in review, so that 

 no new celestial body oi a cometary or planetary nature, travers- 

 ing their boundaries, may escape detection. For, amongst the 

 vast multitude of similar objects which are scattered over the wide 

 expanse of the heavens, and which equally soUcit and distract the 



attention 



