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LIUI.—A RECORD OF THE PROGRESS OF ASTRONOMY 
DURING THE YEAR 1879, sy J. L. E. DREYER, m.a., oF 
THE OBSERVATORY OF TRINITY CoLLEGE, DUBLIN. 
[Read March 15th, 1880.] 
In the following pages I shall endeavour to sketch the 
principal astronomical events of the past year, giving short 
accounts of the more important or interesting investigations 
which have been published during that period. For the year 1878 
such an account was written by Professor E. S. Holden, of the 
United States Naval Observatory, for the “ Annual Record of 
Science and Industry,” and as J have learned from him, that 
this publication has been discontinued, I have thought it might 
be of some use both to professional astronomers and to amateurs 
if a continuation of his record was kept up, giving summaries of 
work done in the various branches of astronomy, merely intended 
to draw attention to what has been done in them. It had at 
first been my intention to add to this review a bibliographical 
list of books and memoirs on astronomy published during 1879, 
but for various reasons I have left it out. It might be better 
to let such a list embrace a longer space of time than one 
year, and besides, the “ Bibliographie Générale,” the publication 
of which has recently been announced from the Brussels 
Observatory, is to include the year 1880. The present record 
does not, therefore, aim at any completeness, but only at giving 
brief accounts of a number of memoirs and papers which have 
appeared to me to possess more than a passing interest. 
1. Spherical Astronomy. 
At the March meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society Mr. 
Gill read a paper on a new method of determining astronomical 
refractions. He proposed to observe transits of pairs of stars at 
equal altitudes east and west in the prime vertical, whereby the 
true difference of R. A. being known the refraction would be 
determined at all altitudes. This method would be entirely free 
from systematic instrumental error. A station situated on the 
