106 



Introduction to the Seventh Section 



I have taken up, in these tables, even those stars by which 

 i cannot be advantageously determined : when applying the 

 method of least squares, this may be done without danger, and 

 the very excellence of this method consists in the possibility 

 of profiting by even the smallest addition towards obtaining 

 an accurate result: but only where it is possible* correctly 



* Examples might be given where this method has been erroneously 

 applied by neglecting circumstances, which would considerably have in- 

 creased the probable errors ; all objections which have been made to this 

 method, do not apply to the method itself, but to the difficulty of correctly 

 determining the probable error. to 



