Astronomical Sociely.—^Kole on the div'mwg Rod. 465 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF LOxVEON. 



June 9. Tliis was the last meeting for the present sessions, 

 and was very nuincronslv attended. A paper by Mr. F. Baily 

 was read, on the method of adjustinix a transit iiistrumt-nt by 

 observinj? the passage of two stars, differing consideral)h from 

 each other in declination: and a new Table was given, wliereby 

 the deviation of the instrnment and the error of the c!oik might 

 be readily determined without the trouble of com|;utation. Por- 

 table transit instruments are now made with grout neaftn'ss and 

 accuracy; and are a vahiable acquisition to eveiv oecoiioinical 

 observatory, and to such persons as are travelling with a view to 

 improre the connected sciences of astronomy and tocography. 

 Instruments of this kind are often fixed in situations which do 

 not command a view of the pole star: and under such circum- 

 stances, the table, above alluded to, is very desirable. Indeed 

 M. Delatnbre prefers this mode of adjusting a transit instrument, 

 to the observation of the circum-polar stars: he considers the 

 results as more correct, and obtainable in much less time. — 

 Sir H. Englefield requested permission to address the meeting, 

 and called their attention to the new bodies which have lately 

 been discovered, and which are supposed to be of a cometary 

 nature. He noticed the discoveries of Cassini and Siiorr, sup- 

 posed to be of new planets, which have not since been observed; 

 and wished some of the members who had time and iuchnatiou 

 for the purpose, would submit the observations of those two ce- 

 lebrated astronomers to the test of analysis, in order to determine 

 whether those bodies assimilated in their motions to those which 

 have been lately discovered. — The Society afterwards adjourned 

 till the 10th of November. 



LXXV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 



NOTE ON THE DIVINING ROD, EY DR. CHARLES BUTTON, 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, — In the last No. (14) of the Quarterly Re'i.'w, several 

 small mistakes have accidentallv crept into the short account re- 

 lating to the alleged property of the divining rod, for the discovery 

 of water, when used by certain persons. And as it must be de- 

 sirable that every work should i)e as correct as possible, I com- 

 municate for your consideration the following particulars relating 

 to the note in p|). .'ij-'i and \\1 A, concerning some sinaM inadver- 

 tencies that have occurred through forget fulness, or by mistakes 

 in reports passing through two or three different persons, as will 

 appear by comparing the note with the full account in the 4th 



Vol. 55. No. 2GG. June 1820. X x vol. 



