Royal Society. 461 



Brinkley's opinion was supported by that of other astrono- 

 mers. " These questions," added the illustrious President, 

 " are not matters of useless controversy, nor even of mere cu- 

 riosity; all the laws, all the phenomena of astronomy, are 

 more or less connected with them. The fixed stars are in 

 the system of the heavens, what land-marks or the extremities 

 of base lines are to measures upon the earth; and the correct- 

 ness and use of our calculations depend upon the supposition 

 of the permanency of their arrangements." 



" In waiting," he continued, " for new elucidations on this 

 subject, he could not but congratulate the Society on the existing 

 state of astronomy and the number of its cultivators, which 

 rendered it impossible that any great problem could Ion a re- 

 main unsolved. " Whilst such philosophers exist," he said, 

 "as Dr. Brinkleyat Dublin; M. Bessel at Kbnigsberg; Dr. 

 Schumacher at Altona ; Arago at Paris ; Olbers at Bremen ; 

 and Gauss and Hardinge at Gottingen ; the science cannot 

 but be progressive, its results cannot but become more per- 

 fect and more refined. The improving state of astronomy 

 abroad, and the increased perfection of instruments, ought," 

 said the. learned President, " to be subjects of congratulation 

 to us, not of jealousy or uneasiness — for the language of 

 science is universal : she is of no country ; her results are 

 for the whole human race; and belong not merely to the pre- 

 sent generation, but to posterity. And Astronomy above all 

 branches of human knowledge demands for its advancement 

 the co-operation of philosophers in the most remote parts of 

 the globe." — Amongst other instances of this truth, he o-ave 

 the fact, that the return of the Comet within a period of four 

 years, calculated by Encke, would not have been verified, but 

 for the observatory established by the liberality of Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane in New South Wales. 



After comparing the astronomy of ancient and modem na- 

 tions, and pointing out the improved state of this science as 

 one of the great characteristics of the present times, he con- 

 cluded by some observations upon its utility, and its effects in 

 enlightening and exalting the human mind. 



" By means of this science," added the learned President, 

 " the trackless ocean is safely navigated, and in unknown 

 seas the distance of the vessel from known land discovered : 

 all vague and superstitious notions respecting the heavenly 

 bodies, which in ancient times had such an effect upon the 

 destinies of nations and individuals, have vanished. Man, 

 acquainted with his real situation in the scale of the universe, 

 has learned likewise to appreciate more distinctly, his objects, 

 and the end of his creation, — a mere atom fixed upon a small 



point 



