•60 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION A. 



In the grant of land given to him here, he is called Charles Luis 

 Ruinker. The Royal Astronomical Society gave him a Silver 

 Medal for his work on Encke's Comet, and in presenting it the 

 President said, I have peculiar satisfaction in presenting to Dr. 

 P. Karl Rumker, the Superintendent of the Parramatta Obser- 

 vatory. And when he was aj)pointed Astronomer at Parramatta 

 in 1827, by the Colonial Government, he is called Charles Luis 

 Rumker, the same in his grant of land. There cannot in any of 

 these cases be any question as to his identity. 



In proof of the early confidence, it may be mentioned that in 

 the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, (p. 308), Sir Thomas 

 published his observations made with the pendulum apparatus he 

 took to Parramatta, he swung it frequently before he left London, 

 and in all cases it was Rumker who was called in to work with 

 him, but we hear nothing then of Dunlop. At Parramatta, four 

 months after the observatoiy work began. Sir Thomas again got to 

 work at the pendulum, but called Dunlop and not Rumker, 

 and in these observations, which were published with those made 

 in London, Captain Henry Kater, who read the paper, says : 

 one series was made at Parramatta, by Mr. Dunlop, a gentleman 

 of whose zeal and scientific abilities Sir Thomas Brisbane expresses 

 himself in the highest terms. 



Of Rumker, so late as 17th January, 1823, Sir Thomas in a 

 paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Vol. x, p. 112), says 

 these results are exclusively by Mr. Rumker to whom it "is im- 

 possible for me to give adequate praise, either for zeal, assiduity 

 or intelligence." 



In the Introduction to the Parramatta Catalogue it is stated 

 that Rumker made the meridian observations, and from those 

 published by him in the Philosophical Transactions in 1829, it 

 appears that he also made special observations for latitude and 

 longitude, the dates given in these observations shew that he 

 continued observing there in the ordinary way until June 15, 1823, 

 and it is stated in the Introduction to the PaiTamatta Catalogue 

 that he left the Observatory on June 16, 1823. There is a gap 

 then of thirteen months in his observations, and nothing to shew 

 what he was doing, but page iv. of the Parramatta Catalogue says 

 he remained in the colony ; and his observations, I find, begin 

 again at " Stargard" on July 15th, 1824. (Pliilosophical Transac- 

 tions, 1823, Part III., p. 63.) It appears from the latitude and 

 longitude of this place, which he gives, that it was about 40 miles 

 north, and 20 miles west from Parramatta, and in the Royal 

 Astronomical Society's Memoirs (Vol. II. p. 284), he says : — 

 "' Stargard ' is the name I have given to my farm." It is evident, 

 therefore, that havingfallen out with Sir Thomas Brisbane, he retired 

 to his farm and remained there until the latter left the Colony, 

 making obsverations until December 20, 1825. On the 10th May, 

 1826, liis observations begin again in the Parramatta Observatory, 



