160 



Dr. Bache announced the death of Condy Raguet, Esq. a 

 member of the Society, which took place on the 22d of March, 

 at the age of 58; and on motion, Mr. C. C. Biddle was ap- 

 pointed to prepare an obituary notice of the deceased. 



Prof. Kendall made an oral communication in relation to 

 Encke's comet. 



He stated that he had succeeded in finding the comet with the 

 nine feet Fraunhofer equatorial of the High School Observatory, on 

 the evenings of the 27th, 28th and 31st of March, and 1st of April; 

 being the only clear evenings since the arrival of Prof. Encke's 

 Ephemeris. The place of the comet in the Ephemeris, according to 

 the observations made at the Observatory of the High School, is cor- 

 rect within 20" of space. On the 27th, it appeared at first at 7, 

 P. M., precisely in the centre of the field of view; the equatorial 

 having been at sunset adjusted by the Ephemeris, and subjected to 

 the motion of the clockwork. On all the evenings except the 31st, 

 its position and distance from a known star or stars in the field, were 

 measured by the Fraunhofer Filarmicrometer. On the 31st, this 

 method was impracticable, and differences of right ascension and de- 

 clination were observed and measured with reference to a star from 

 Bessel's Zone Observations, preceding the comet by two minutes of 

 time. The comet appeared as a conspicuous nebula, 32" in diameter, 

 condensed toward the centre, without nucleus and without tail, on 

 the 27th and 28th; but on the 31st of March and 1st of April, it ex- 

 hibited a faint tail, extending about 7' of space, in position, 55° 

 N. E. from the declination circle, and gradually widening towards 

 the extremity. Prof. Kendall intended, while the comet remained 

 visible, to continue his observations, and, when carefully reduced, to 

 communicate them to the Society. He took occasion to acknowledge 

 the assistance of Messrs. Patterson, Walker and Dick. 



Dr. Hare related some experiments, showing that the vapour 

 of nascent steam, generated by the hydro-oxygen flame, was 

 not productive of electricity. 



He observed that, before his late voyage to Europe, he had made 

 some experiments in order to ascertain whether any electricity was 

 given out by the flame of the hydro-oxygen blowpipe, or by the 

 elements of water during their conversion into steam. 



The unexpected electrical results, previously ascertained respecting 

 high steam, naturally gave importance to this inquiry, the result of 



