Edwin Dunkin. 55 



work M. Faye. Other similar operations followed, one being the 

 determination in 1862 of the longitude of Valentia, in Ireland, in order 

 to complete the great arc of parallel from Valentia to the Volga, in 

 which work, for finding the local time at Valentia, Mr. Dunkin 

 employed an altazimuth, observing zenith distances of stars east and 

 west of the meridian. 



In 1845 Mr. Dunkin became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society; in 1868 he was elected a Member of Council, and was one 01 

 the Secretaries from 1871 until 1877. In 1884 he was chosen Presi- 

 dent, occupying the chair until 1886, and delivering the presidential 

 address in 1885, on award of the Gold Medal of the Society to Sir 

 William Huggins, for his spectroscopic researches on the motions and 

 constitutions of stars and comets, and again in 1886, on the presenta- 

 tion of medals to Professor Edward C. Pickering and Professor Charles 

 Pritchard, for their photometric work. Mr. Dunkin retired from the 

 Council of the Society in 1891, having been an active member thereof 

 for twenty-three years. At the time of removal of the Society from 

 Somerset House to the new apartments at Burlington House, in 1874, 

 the burden of work consequent thereon, aggravated as it was by the 

 death of the Assistant Secretary, fell mainly on Mr. Dunkin. During 

 his lengthy official career he contributed numerous papers to the 

 Society, as a practical astronomer being interested in questions such as 

 personal equation in observation, the probable errors of observation and 

 in results, and the proper motions of stars, a paper " On the Movement 

 of the Solar System in Space deduced from the Proper Motions of 

 1167 Stars" being his most important contribution ; also whilst holding 

 office as Secretary, the portion of the Annual Council Report dealing 

 with the progress of astronomy during the year grew in interest and 

 importance. Many notices of astronomers written by him for this 

 Report, with some others, were published in 1879 in a separate volume, 

 "Obituary Notices of Astronomers," which gives in a collected form 

 an appreciative account of the labours of many noted men. Mr. 

 Dunkin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876, and served 

 on the Council of that body from 1879 to 1881. From 1889 to 1891 

 he was President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, in which capacity 

 he delivered in 1890 and 1891, in his native town of Truro, presidential 

 addresses dealing with the progress of astronomy in modern times. 



The labour of continuous observing work is in a public observatory 

 somewhat arduous, and during the later period of his official life 

 Mr. Dunkin was entirely relieved therefrom and placed in charge of 

 the computing staff, although he still continued to be responsible for 

 certain instrumental adjustments and determination of instrumental 

 constants. In 1881, on the retirement of Sir George Airy from the 

 post of Astronomer Royal, his successor, Mr. Christie, recommended 

 Mr. Dunkin for the office of Chief Assistant, to which he was appointed 



