Royal Astronomical Society. l^l 



and the proportion between the resistances of the electro-magnetic 

 coils and those of the other parts of the circuit, must, in order to 

 produce the maximum effect with the least expenditure of power, be 

 varied to suit each particular case. 



In the concluding part of the paper the author points out several 

 other and very different methods of effecting the same purpose ; and 

 in particular one in which Faraday's magneto-electi'ic currents are 

 employed, instead of the current produced by a voltaic battery : he 

 also describes a modification of the sympathetic instrument, calcu- 

 lated to enable it to act at great distances with a weaker electric cur- 

 rent than if it were constructed on the plan first described. 



ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



February 14, 1840. Annual Meeting. 



Extracts from the Report of the Council, 

 " Twenty years have now elapsed since this Society was in- 

 stituted : during which period, the advances in Astronomy, both 

 theoretical and practical, must be evident to the most ordinary 

 observer. For, not only have public and private observatories been 

 multiplied beyond an);- former example, but a great impulse has, 

 generally, been given to every department of the science. There is 

 now scarcely a single branch of astronomy that is not pursued in 

 detail by one or other of the many active astronomers of the pre- 

 sent day ; whether requiring the laborious exertions of the ob- 

 servatory, or the equally arduous investigations of the closet. In 

 the construction and manipulation of instruments also, great and 

 important improvements have been made, which have introduced a 

 system of accuracy and minuteness unprecedented in former times. 

 If this Society has not, indeed, been the originator of this happy 

 state of things, it has at least cordially assisted in the impulse : and 

 let us hope that the next twenty years will be distinguished by 

 similar exertions, and crowned with equal success. 



" Amongst the losses by death, during the past year, the Council 

 have to announce the decease of his Majesty the King of Denmark, 

 one of the honorary members of the Society, and a great patron of 

 the science of Astronomy. In the year 1832, his Majesty founded 

 a gold medal, for the first discovery of a telescopic comet not 

 previously known ; and in November 1835, the conditions on which 

 the medal was to be awarded were read at the meeting of this 

 Society, and published in the Monthly Notices. It is somewhat 

 remarkable, that from that period till within a few hours of his 

 Majesty's decease, when the recent comet was observed by M. 

 Galle at Berlin, no discovery of the kind had been made ; although, 

 some years previously, a considerable number of comets had made 

 their appearance : and his Majesty's liberal intention had, conse- 

 quently, been nearly frustrated. It will be gratifying to the Society 

 to know that his Majesty's successor, the present King of Denmark, 

 J8 also a patron of our science ; and it is, therefore, with much 



