236 Astronoviical Society. 



On the 1st Jan. 1821, he married Miss Mary Anne Hervey, eldest 

 daughter of the Rev. H. A. Hervey, vicar of Bridekirk, and embarked 

 on the 4th of May following. Mr. Fallows arrived at the Cape on 

 the 12th of August, 1821. 



His first undertaking was an approximate catalogue of 275 prin- 

 cipal stars, published in the Phil. Trans. 1824. From the descrip- 

 tion of the instruments employed, it will be seen that they were of a 

 very humble description^ vi/., a portable transit of only twenty inches 

 focal length, and a very indifferent altitude and azimuth instrument 

 by Ramsden, ill-divided, and unstable in its adjustments, being indeed 

 originally constructed as an equatorial. It is probable that tiie length 

 of time which must necessarily elapse between the design and com- 

 pletion of a first-rate Observatory, in a foreign station, was not fully 

 taken into account, either by the Government or the astronomer ; 

 otherwise the temporary instruments would, doubtless, have been of 

 a very different class. The plan of the Observatory was received by 

 Mr. Fallows in the latter part of 1825, and he immediately proceeded 

 to carry it into effect. A site was selected about three miles from 

 Cape Town, and Mr. Fallows lived in a tent on the spot, to deter- 

 mine the lines of the building, and to superintend the workmen. The 

 foundations were dug out before the clerk of the works arrived to 

 relieve him from this task. 



In the beginning of J 829, the transit and mural circle were fixed 

 in their places, and we might now have anticipated a season of en- 

 joyment for the Cape astronomer ; but, for some cause hitherto 

 unexplained, the circle, to which he had looked forward with pride and 

 exultation, proved for a long time a source of bitter uneasiness. 

 Some part of this must, doubtless, be attributed to the shattered 

 state of the observer's health ; but the fact, that "the index error of 

 two opposite microscopes was ever variable in different parts of the 

 instrument, while with three microscopes, at 120° distance from 

 each other, or with the whole six, the index error was nearly con- 

 stant," was sufficiently startling to harass a person of less sanguine 

 and zealous temper. Finally, Mr. Fallows was of opinion that some 

 permanent injury had been received by the circle and axis, from a 

 fall which the package received whilst it was removing from the hold 

 of the ship at the time of landing ; but that the mean of the six mi- 

 croscopes might be fully depended upon ; since high and low stars, 

 when observed directly and by reflexion, gave the same position of 

 the horizontal point. Before he had come to this conclusion, which 

 seems to have been some time in the middle of 1830, sickness de- 

 prived him of the services of his assistant, Capt. Ronald; and Mr. 

 Fallows was left, unaided, to do the best he might with a transit and 

 mural circle. He was relieved from this difficulty by the affection 

 and intelligence of Mrs. Fallows, who offered to undertake the circle 

 observations while he was engaged with the transit. A very little 

 instruction sufficed tO render her perfectly competent for this task ; 

 and the Cape astronomer had, like Heveiius, the pleasure of finding 

 his best assistant in the partner of his affections. Some of his letters, 

 written at this time, express a strong hope and confidence that he 



