Astronomical Society. 299 



John Wright Hulme, Esq. ; by James Robert Gowen, Esq., 

 F.H.S. — An account of a method of obtaining very early crops 

 of the grape and fig ; by the President. 



March 15. — The following papers were read : On the culti- 

 vation of the Neapolitan violet ; by Mr. Thomas Ashworth, 

 corresponding member of the Society. — Description of apeach- 

 house, and mode of training practised in it; bv Mr. William 

 Beattie, F.H.S. 



April 5. — His Majest}' the King of France and His Impe- 

 rial Highness the Archduke John of Austria were elected Fel- 

 lows of the Society. — The silver medal was presented to John 

 Dickson, Esq., of Rio Janeiro, corresponding member of the 

 Society, for various important services rendered by him to 

 the Society by the transmission of plants, and by assistance 

 afforded to its collectors, &c. — The following papers were 

 read : The result of exjjeriments with lime, used in improv- 

 ing the fruit-tree borders of an old garden ; by Mr. William 

 Balfour, corresponding member of the Society. 



April 19. — His Royal Highness Frederic William Crown- 

 Prince of Prussia was selected a Fellow of the Society; and 

 Rainaud Louis Desfontaines, M.D., Professor of Botany in 

 the Museum of Natural History at Paris, was elected a fo- 

 reign member in the room of M. Andre Thouin, deceased. — 

 The following paper was read : On the cultivation of the pine- 

 apple; by Mr. William Greenshields, C.M.H.S. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



April 8. — A paper was read " On the results of computa- 

 tions on astronomical observations made at Paramatta, in New 

 South V\'ales, under the direction of Sir Thomas Brisbane, 

 K.C.B. ; and the application tliereof to investigate the exact- 

 ness of observations made in the northern hemisphere. By 

 the Rev. John Brinkley, D.D. F.R.S. &c." Anxious to throw 

 some new light on the subject of the discordance between the 

 north polar distances of the principal fixed stars, as determined 

 by Continental and English astronomers, Dr. Brinkley wrote 

 to Sir Thomas Brisbane, to request His Excellency to make 

 some observations at Paramatta. Sir Thomas immediately 

 commenced the important labour; — and on a series of three 

 months' observations, from November 1823 to February 1824', 

 communicated to this Society as well as to Dr. Brinkley, the 

 Doctor has founded the computations and comparisons which 

 are communicated in this paper. 



The sum of the })olar disUiuces of a star observed in the 



two hemispheres ought to be exactly 1 80° if both are correctly 



observed. Also, on the hypothesis that the mean refraction 



P p 2 is 



