NOMENCLATURE OP THE STARS. 45 



70° S.P.D, down to the fifth magnitude, with their present actual magnitudes 

 as determined by a series of observations made expressly for that purpose ; 

 which catalogue is now in course of printing and publication by the Royal 

 Astronomical Society. With the magnitudes of this catalogue a chart has 

 been constructed, of which several copies have been made. These have been 

 employed for the purpose of grouping the stars in various ways (wfthout re- 

 gard to existing constellations), and with reference only to forming among 

 themselves the most compact and striking groups which their distribution in 

 the heavens admits, and which the correctness obtained in the magnitudes 

 has now for the first time rendered practicable. After trying many systems, 

 and arranging the groups in a great variety of ways, your Committee have at 

 length agreed on adopting, as the boundaries of the new regions into which 

 they propose distributing the soutliern stars, only arcs of meridians and par- 

 allels of declination for a given epoch ; thus including each region within a 

 quadrilateral rectangular figure, whose angular points being tabulated in right 

 ascension and declination, may be treated as artificial stars, and thus brought 

 up by the usual tables of precession to any other epoch, their situation among 

 the stars being unchanged. Thus it will become a mere matter of inspection 

 of a catalogue arranged for the original epoch (which they propose to be that 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society's forthcoming new Catalogue), which re- 

 gion any given star shall belong to. 



Proceeding then to assign more particularly the limits of the several regions, 

 they have succeeded in forming an arrangement in which (subject to such 

 revision and modifications as may arise between this and their final report) 

 they feel disposed to rest. Meanwhile, however, as it is of great importance 

 that whatever system they may finally adopt should have the sanction of the 

 astronomical world in general, it has been thought advisable in the first in- 

 stance to lay before the public an outline of the general plan, together with 

 a reduced sketch of the proposed regions (subject to such revision), with a 

 view to making more generally known its principles, and assembling around 

 it, in the event of its approval, that body of support and assent, of which, as 

 an innovation, it must stand in need. This has accordingly been done in a 

 paper read by one of the members of your Committee to the Astronomical 

 Society, and (witli the catalogue above-mentioned) now in course of publica- 

 tion. This being largely distributed among astronomers by the printing an 

 extra number of copies, will, it is expected, lead to the final maturation and 

 reception of the plan. [It was hoped that the printing of this paper, and the 

 accompanying engraving, would be far enough advanced to have enabled 

 copies to be distributed at the present Meeting of the Association ; but this 

 not being the case, proof-sheets of the paper and of the reduced skeleton 

 chart are, at all events, annexed to this Report for inspection and perusal by 

 such members as may wish it.] 



As respects the nomenclature of the new regions, the Committee are at 

 present engaged in considering it ; but some principles, Avhich will probably 

 influence their recommendation when the subject is sufficiently advanced for 

 that step, are stated in the paper already alluded to, which will appear in the 

 forthcoming volume of the Transactions of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



But the same necessity (grounded on the incorrectness of magnitudes as 

 laid down in all existing charts) exists for a revision of the northern as well 

 as southern stars in this respect. It therefore becomes worthy of considera- 

 tion whether a similar plan may not advantageously be carried into execution 

 in both hemispheres ; and as, at all events, the actual state of the celestial 

 charts in both is such as to admit of great improvement from an assemblage 

 of mpre correct photometric data, a general review of all the stars down to 



