18C5.] President's Address. 503 



NOTES. 



NOTE A. 



The steps which have led to the procurement of a large reflecting 

 telescope for active employment in the southern hemisphere originated in 

 a resolution passed by the General Committee of the British Association 

 assembled at Birmingham in September 1849, during the Presidency of 

 the Rev. Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson. The resolution was as follows : 



" That an application be made to Her Majesty's Government to esta- 

 blish a reflector of not less than 3 feet in diameter at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and to make such additions to the staff of that observatory as may 

 be necessary for its effectual working ; and that the President be requested 

 to communicate with the Earl of Rosse and Sir J. Herschel, the Astronomer 

 Royal, Sir Thomas Brisbane, and Dr. Lloyd on the subject ; and to ob- 

 tain the concurrence in the application of the Royal and Astronomical 

 Societies of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal 

 Irish Academy." 



The communications thus directed having been made, the President 

 and Officers of the British Association received on the 9th of the No- 

 vember following (1849) a reply from the Council of the Royal Astrono- 

 mical Society, declining to cooperate with the British Association in re- 

 commending the establishment of a large reflector at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, on the ground that " a system of observations essentially meridional, 

 as those of the Cape Observatory now are, has very little in common with 

 a system of observations with a large reflector. The Council conceive that 

 the subjects and methods and difficulties of the last-mentioned observa- 

 tions absolutely require the entire energies of a superintendent fitted by 

 his talents and education to be the head of an observatory. They con- 

 sider therefore that the proposal in question amounts to nothing less than 

 the establishment of a new observatory, a measure which the Council [of 

 the Royal Astronomical Society] are not prepared to recommend." 



The reply of the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh was dated 

 December 10, 1849, and was as follows: "The Council [of the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh] are of opinion that it is not expedient at present to 

 take part in the proposed application to Government relative to the large 

 reflecting telescope, suggested to be sent to the Cape of Good Hope." 



No specific reply appears to have been received from the Royal Irish 

 Academy, it having been stated in a letter from Dr. Lloyd to the Rev. 

 Dr. Robinson, that " the Council of the Royal Irish Academy had de- 

 clined to enter upon the subject, as not being strictly within the province 

 of the Academy." 



