238 Astronomical Society. 



iiig in his predecessor's path, and with better health, and under bet? 

 ter auspices, may reap the rich harvest which Mr. Fallows could only 

 commence, is the confident wish and hope of those by vvhom his me- 

 rit, zeal, and modesty, are appreciated. 



Capt. Foster was well known to every scientific man in this country, 

 for his active services in the expedition under Capt. Parry to the 

 North Pole, and for his ardent zeal and great attention to accuracy 

 in every thing which he undertook for the promotion of science. 

 These and other excellent qualities which he possessed, led to his 

 more immediate promotion in the Navy, gained him the reward of 

 the Copley Medal from the Royal Society, and pointed him out as 

 a fit and proper person to conduct a scientific expedition, at that 

 time contemplated by the Government, towards the South ; and he 

 was soon after appointed to the command of the Chanticleer for that 

 purpose. 



The principal object of this expedition was to swing the pendulum 

 near the equator, and also at various places in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. With this view he was furnished by Government with two 

 of Kater's invariable pendulums. No. 10 and No. 11 ; and also by 

 this Society with two convertible pendulums of a new construction, 

 one of iron and the other of copper, as described in No. 13 of the 

 Monthly Notices, and alluded to in the Eighth Report. Capt. P^os- 

 ter, however, did not live to bring home the fruits of his own industry 

 and zeal ; for he was unfortunately drowned, near the close of his 

 voyage, whilst descending the river Chagres in a canoe, towards his 

 ship then lying at anchor. 



Capt. Foster has left behind him a vast mass of important in- 

 formation connected with the objects of his voyage. The original 

 copies of his pendulum experiments have been laid before the Council 

 of this Society by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a 

 request that they would consider the best mode of obtaining the 

 proper results, with a view to their being made public in the most 

 satisfactory manner. For the attainment of this object Mr. Baily 

 has kindly undertaken to superintend the computations, and to make 

 such further experiments on the pendulums in London, as may be 

 necessary to deduce the required results from the whole series of 

 Capt. Foster's experiments. Already these supplementary experi- 

 ments are completed ; and the computer has also made great pro- 

 gress in reducing the observations from the elements furnished by 

 Mr. Baily for that purpose : and when the whole is finished, a Re- 

 port will be drawn up on the subject. 



Capt. Foster's journal of his experiments is a model of his great 

 attention to accuracy and minuteness of detail. Every necessary 

 information is regularly entered in printed blank forms, with which 

 he had been previously provided (a method which cannot be too 

 strongly recommended in all similar cases) ; and there is conse- 

 quently no difficulty or doubt as to the full meaning and effect of 

 every figure that is introduced. The number of places at which Capt. 

 Foster swung the pendulum (including London and Greenwich) is 

 fourteen ; and subjoined is a list of these places, in the order in 



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