TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 29 
rays, the upper one being the brighter and broader. The tail was directed precisely 
to x Urse Majoris, and was about 6° long at least, but the strong moonlight pro- 
bably obliterated the fainter portion.” 
Note taken Sept. 21. ‘‘Appearance pretty much as last night. The angle made by 
the line, which I have regarded as the north limit of the phase, with the axis of the 
tail, is not quite so small as 60°. About 75° is a more correct estimate. The tail 
was directed almost precisely to Polaris. Moonlight greatly diminished the effect, 
and took from the apparent length of the tail.” 
On the Results of the Measures of Gamma Virginis for the Epoch 1858, as 
determined by Admiral Smyth. By Joun Lux, LL.D., F.RS. 
I had the honour of presenting to Section A of this Association at Dublin, in 1857, 
the results of measurements of the double star y Virginis for the epoch1857,and I now 
have the gratification of presenting similar results of the position and distance of this 
important double star y Virginis, for its last apparition, as observed at the Hartwell 
Observatory, with corresponding results obtained at Greenwich by Prof. Airy, at Had- 
denham by Mr. Dawes, at Tarn Banks, by Mr. Fletcher, and at Wrottesley by My Lord 
Wrottesley. The discrepancies are certainly greater than might have been expected 
under the present easy state of the object, but on the whole a very satisfactory epoch 
is gained. Although stars had been telescopically observed in close juxtaposition as 
early as the middle of the seventeenth century, the firm settlement of the physical 
theory of double stars by observation and reasoning was reserved for Sir William 
Herschel, whose sustained and indefatigable researches from 1779 to 1820 form the 
broad basis of our present sidereal astronomy, Of the whole of the numerous ob- 
jects which compose his invaluable contributions to this crucial branch of knowledge, 
one of the most interesting and momentous is assuredly the star y Virginis, whose 
observed and computed places have generally been found. to agree within the limits 
assigned to probable errors of observation. This star now presents a system which 
affords, by actual changes both in angular velocity and distance—the former varying 
inversely as the square of the latter, with the elliptical orbital elements deducible 
therefrom—incontrovertible evidence of the physical connexion, of its constituent 
members. This binary star has been very assiduously watched by various astrono- 
mers, especially during the last thirty years; and the obtained results are converting 
probability into demonstration respecting its being subject to the same dynamical 
forces which govern our own system. Every advance tends to prove the universality 
of the Newtonian influence of attraction, obeying the Keplerian law of areas. Ina 
word, by warranting the conclusion of the inconceivable extent of the controlling 
agency of gravitation, it forms a wonderfully sublime truth in astronomical science. 
On a New Variable Star (R. Sagittarii), discovered with the 5-foot Smythian 
Telescope of the Hartwell House Observatory. By N. Pogson. (Com- 
municated by Joun Lee, LL.D., F.R.S.) 
On the limit of a rich and widely-spread group of stars, Professor Argelander of 
Bonn observed one of the 84 magnitude, in his zone No. 227, on the night of 
August 7th, 1849. Exactly seven years later, while carefully charting in the vicinity, 
I found the assigned position unoccupied; but entertaining no suspicion of vari- 
ability, supposed an erratum to exist in the published zone, and simply noted the 
star as “missing.”’ On July 3rd of the present year, while looking over my chart 
with the Smythian telescope (quite forgetful of the above-named circumstance), I 
was struck by finding a fine star nearly of the eighth magnitude not previously 
recorded ; a micrometer was immediately applied and some observations taken with 
the aid of a sidereal chronometer kindly lent me by the Royal Geographical Society; 
these however served only to establish its fixity, thereby proving that it was not one 
of the small planets, but most probably a new variable star. Subsequent compari- 
sons of its brightness with five stars in the same field of view, have since confirmed 
this conclusion. 
The uncertain state of the atmosphere from night to night, and other causes, com 
