1826-] Astronomical Society. 459 



vered to your friend and fellow-labourer Mr. Herschel, The 

 ardent zeal which you have always evinced in the cause of 

 astronomy, the patience and perseverance which you have 

 shown in conducting so many and so valuable observations, of 

 no ordinary kind, and the skill and accuracy which you have 

 displayed in those delicate measurements, are subjects that are 

 duly estimated by this Society. Possessed of a princely col- 

 lection of instruments, of exquisite workmanship and consi- 

 derable magnitude, such as have never yet fallen to the lot of 

 a private individual, you have not suffered them to remain idle 

 in your hands, but have set an example to the world how much 

 may be done by a single person, animated with zeal in the 

 cause of science. Scarcely indeed have those labors issued 

 from the press, for which this Society is now assembled to 

 congratulate you, than they have been followed by a commu- 

 nication of others (now lying on the table) rivalling them in 

 magnitude and importance; extending your examination to 460 

 additional stars (many of which are neio), and confirming in a 

 satisfactory manner the remarkable changes which had been 

 noticed in your previous review. The subject which you have 

 thus commenced with so much success, with so much benefit 

 to science and so much honor to yourself, is as vast as it is 

 important. The number of double and triple stars seems to 

 increase with the attention that is paid to them : and already 

 their amount is sufficient to appal an ordinary observer. Boldly 

 pursuing the path of science your energy has, however, in- 

 creased with your difficulty ; so that few of these singular 

 bodies have escaped your patience and penetration : and the 

 Society hope and trust that the same talents will be exerted in 

 a further prosecution of the subject. There is no doubt but 

 that a careful examination and re-examination of these remark- 

 able bodies will tend to throw some new and interesting light 

 on the system of the universe : and it must ever be a pride and 

 satisfaction to you to reflect that you have been instrumental 

 in advancing the boundaries of this department of science, 

 and that your own name will always stand conspicuous in the 

 history of these discoveries." 



[The President afterwards presented the Medal, in a similar 

 manner, to Mr. Herschel, as proxy for Professor Struve, and 

 addressed him as follows :] " Assure M. Struve of the lively 

 interest which we take in all that is passing at the Observatory 

 of Dorpat : that we admire the patience, the exertions and the 

 address, with which he has overcome the difficulties he has had 

 to encounter, in the progress of his discoveries : and that we 

 look forward with confidence to a continuance of the same 

 brilliant career in the cause of astronomy. Furnished, as he 

 now is, with one of Fraunhofer's colossal telescopes, and thus 



