Miscellanies. 373 



48. Stars missing. — ^The Greenwich Observations for 1837, (re- 

 cently published in a large quarto volume,) contains the following list 

 of stars which have been repeatedly sought for at the Observatory, 

 but of which no traces are now discoverable. In the Astronomical 

 Society's Catalogue, the stars Nos. 337, 805, and 2460 ; the stars L 

 and c', observed at Carabi'idge with Halley's comet ; (Camb. Obs. 

 1835 ;) and the following stars observed by Sir John Herschel with 

 Halley's comet, (Ast. Soc. Mem. Vol. X,) A. R. lOh. 12m. 10s., N. 

 P.D. 99° IT; A.R. 15h. 38m. 31s., N. P. D. 119° 30'; A. R. 15h. 

 41m. 4s., N.P. D. 119° 16 (?) ; and A.R. 15h. 42ra. 39s., N.P.D. 

 119° 6. Thus ten small stars, at least, have disappeared from the 

 places which they once occupied in the heavens. — Railway Mag-- 

 June, 1839. 



49. Double Stars. — It is a curious fact that has often been noticed 

 as indicating one common cause for the motions of the planets about 

 the sun, and about their own axes, that except the satellites of Her- 

 schel, they all move one way. The comets, however, seem to obey 

 no law, as they are found moving in almost all possible directions. 

 Professor Madler, of Berlin, was led to inquire whether a uniformity 

 in the motions of certain fixed stars about others, might not exist, like 

 that among the planets. The result is, that out of 51 cases, 34 are 

 in favor of it and 17 against it. — Ibid. 



50. Five or more rings around Saturn. — On the night of May 29, 

 1838, the astronomers of the Roman College, using their large and 

 excellent telescope (of Cauchoix's manufacture) thought they saw 

 several new divisions in the rings of Saturn. Careful examination 

 on the 7th of June following, rendered perfectly certain the existence 

 of four distinct rings around that planet. M. Decuppis was invited 

 to assist in the observations, and on the night of June 18, he distinct- 

 ly saw the four rings. On attentive examination he imagined that he 

 saw a new division in the interior ring, A higher power was applied, 

 and it was then evident to all the observers that there were five rings. 

 A fifth division was indistinctly traced, dividing the third ring ; reck- 

 oning from the planet. This division was again seen June 27 and 

 July 10, and more clearly than at first. Micrometrical measurements 

 of the planet, rings, &:c. were several times taken, and are given in 

 the table below. 



M. Decuppis adds, that they saw with perfect dis^tinctness and cer- 

 tainty, the seven satellites of Saturn, two of which have probably 

 never been hitherto seen except by Herschel. 



A law similar to that detected by Bode among the planets, obtains 

 among these satellites ; their distances from Saturn being represented 



