302 Royal Society. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Feb. 15 — Sir K. R. Vyvan, Bart. M.P., and Csesar Moreau, Esq., 

 were respectively admitted Fellows of the Society ; and the following 

 papers were read : 



South Polar Distances of Stars included within the tropic of 

 Capricorn; observed in the months of May and June 182'i ; re- 

 duced to their mean places for January 1823 : with other astrono- 

 mical observations: by C. Rumker, Esq. 



This paper consists of, 1. A Catalogue of the south polar distances 

 of about SOi stars in the Southern Hemisphere, arranged in a table 

 accompanied by columns containing their annual variations in 

 S. P. D. and their elements of aberration and nutation: 



2. A determination of the latitude of the observatory at Para- 

 matta, as deduced from circumpolar altitudes of (3 Argus, observed 

 with the repeating circle; and which determination differs about 15" 

 from that obtained from solstices and zodiacal stars : 



3. Observations of the summer solstice of 1822, with the mural 

 circle : 



4. Observations of the moon : 



5. Observations of the comet of 1824' in the Lion, with its ele- 

 ments; as also of another comet discovered by Sir Thos. Brisbane, 

 in the Lion, in the year 1825; and of another, designated as the 

 great comet of 1S25 : 



6. Observations of the opposition of Mars. 



7. Intervals between the transits of the moon and those of fixed 

 stars culminating nearly in the same parallel in the year 1826. 



8. Observations of an eclipse of the moon at Paramatta, May 21, 

 •1826. 



The author regards the accuracy of these observations as in- 

 ferior to that obtained by Jupiter's satellites. 



9. Observations of the Northern solstice of the sun with a re- 

 peating circle of Reichenbach, at Paramatta, in the year 1826. The 

 obliquity resulting from these observations differs only 0"'4 from 

 that stated in the Nautical Almanac. 



Remarks on a correction of the solar tables required by Mr. 

 South's observations; by G. B. Airey, Esq. F.R.S. and Lucasian 

 Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. 



The reading was begun of a paper On the mutual attraction of 

 the particles of magnetic bodies, and on the law of variation of 

 the magnetic forces generated by rotation; by S. H. Christie, Esq. 

 M.A. F.R.S. 



Feb. 22.— G. W. Taylor, Esq. M P., was admitted a Fellow of 

 the Society ; and the reading of Mr. Christie's paper was c6ncluded. 



The results described by Mr. Christie in a former paper, when a 

 copper disc was made to revolve under a magnetized needle, appear- 

 ing to him not likely to lead to an accurate knowledge of the law of 

 magnetic attraction developed during rotation, from the effect of 

 lateral attraction, he was induced to resume the inquiry, substitu- 

 ting a ring for the disc, expecting that as no lateral force would here 

 be called into action, the results would be more uniform; and in 

 this expectation he was not disappointed. One of the first phaeno- 



mena 



