The Present State of our Knowledge of Stellar Motion. 149 



metria ISTova. These were soon after observed by Hender- 

 son at Edinburgh, and by the Pulkova astronomers. They 

 are much needed for field work in latitude and longitude. I 

 have myself often missed accurate modern places for them, 

 and hope to see them soon catalogued. The Edinburgh cat- 

 alogue of Henderson is excellent in general plan, but is yet 

 unfinished. The astronomer who shall put it together from 

 the yearly volumes of 1834 to 1844 inclusive, will accomplish 

 a considerable service at comparatively trifling cost. And 

 these places begin to be old enough to serve as an old cata- 

 logue. The great Pulkova work of the same character is 

 vigorously in progress, and will be soon completed. 



The old catalogues, then, which need re-reduction or com- 

 pilation, are these, with their epochs: 



Piazzi, much the largest of all 1800 



IMayer 1756 



Groombridge (revision) 1810 



Struve, circumpolar 1815 



Pond (revision and recalculation) 1830 



Bessel, zodiacal 1830 



Miscellaneous latitude stars , . 1785-1830 



Edinburgh (compilation) 1840 



Of new star catalogues to be mads I think the most im- 

 portant, next to the great zones several times mentioned, 

 which are now nearly done for the northern hemisphere, is 

 an accurate reobservation of all stars to the seventh magni- 

 tude inclusive, which are not now well known. 



For the region south of the celestial equator there need be 

 little solicitude in this matter, as the powerful observatories 

 of the Cape, Melbourne and Cordoba have probably so 

 nearly filled the gaps left at northern stations, that we can 

 afford to wait till the results to date are completely published 

 for the two latter ones. And the extension to the Tropic of 

 Capricorn of the northern zones will show what farther is 

 acking. 



North of the equator, the stars of the first four magni- 

 tudes are nearly all Pulkova fundamentals, and thus well 

 known, even where occasionally neglected at other places. 

 Those of the fifth and sixth magnitudes have either been, or 



