Astronomical Society. 53 



has examined this catalogue with great care, and has discovered a 

 few errors, which seem to have escaped the diligence ot Us illustrious 



author. . ... , , 



When Lacaille had finished his observations and his catalogue, he 

 was at a loss for the means of publishing them ; since his own limited 

 income would not warrant the expense. He tried several modes of 

 doing this, and at last agreed with his bookseller to compute for him 

 an astronomical ephemeris for ten years, if he would print a sufficient 

 number of copies for distribution amongst his scientific friends and 

 correspondents. Such was the origin and cause of the Fundamenta 

 Astronoimce,—3. work which was not published for sale, and which 

 can therefore only be obtained accidentally from time to time as it 

 occasionally passes from the hands of those to whom it was originally 

 presented. It is consequently very rare ; and those who possess it 

 ought (as M. Delambre emphatically expresses it) to preserve it as a 

 precious relic. , . , 



As the catalogue has never yet been reprinted, in the extended and 

 perfect form in which it exists in that work, Mr. Baily conceived that 

 he should be rendering an acceptable service to astronomers in pre- 

 senting it to them, thus corrected, through the medium of this So- 

 ciety, accompanied with a comparison of the places of all the stars 

 visible in this latitude, with those given by Bradley; and a reference 

 to every observation of every star ; together with notes accompany, 

 ing the whole. Mr. Baily has also mentioned another motive which 

 induced him to examine the comparative merits of this catalogue at 

 the present time : since above one-third of the stars are so situated 

 that they cannot be observed in this latitude, on. account of their great 

 southern declination. These stars, therefore, he justly remarks, will 

 afford a favourable opportunity of comparison with the same stars as 

 observed by Sir Thomas Brisbane at his observatory at Paramatta ; 

 whose valuable and extensive observations are now in the course of 

 reduction at the public expense ; and thus enable us to determine, 

 with considerable precision, the annual variation of at least 136 prin- 

 cipal stars in the southern hemisphere. Mr. Baily closes his paper 

 with a few remarks on the scientific life of Lacaille. 



II. A letter from Mr. Dawes, dated April 23, 1831, of which the 

 following are extracts : — 



" I beg to call the attention of the Astronomical Society to an in- 

 teresting circumstance respecting the triple star ? Cancri. I am not 

 aware of any published observations relative to the positions of the 

 stars composing it, since those of Sir James South, made at Passy 

 in 182.T. Possibly, however, such may exist, and may render my pre- 

 sent communication unnecessary, or, at any rate, less interesting. 



"The evenings of the 19th and 20th of this montli proving favour- 

 able for delicate observations, 1 directed a five-feet achromatic tele- 

 scope to this object. This instrument was constructed for me last 

 year by Mr. Dollond ; and from the perfectly round, clean, and very 

 small discs with which it exhibits the fixed stars, it is peculiarly 

 adapted for the examination of very close and delicate objects. It is 

 mounted cnuatorially, with horary and declination circles, each of two 



feet 



