1854.] 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



85 



are washed in cold water, then put in a tray containing a hot solution of 

 soap, and agitated for about two minutes. The soap ley is decanted off, 

 and the pin.? put into a bag with some fine sawdust and shaken, by which 

 means the coppered surface assumes a brilliant appearance. The 

 pins thus prepared may be tinned in the ordinary way, biit the oper- 

 ation can be ctfected much more rapidly than in the case of ordinary 

 brass pins. The articles made in this way are far more beautiful and 

 useful than those made in the ordinary way. This process is the more 

 deserving of attention at present, quite independent of the superior 

 quality of the pins, in consequence of the exceedingly high prices of 

 brass wire. — Bulletin de la Sociele d'Encouragemml, March 1853, p. 

 142. 



Tivcnty>foiirtli Meeting or tlic BritisU A.ssociatiou for tUo 

 Aflvanccnicnt of Science* 



LIVERPOOL, SEPTEMBER 20. 



The President's Addkess. 

 Gentlemen of the British Association, — When I first set myself 

 to the task of preparing to address you on the present occasion, my 

 impulse was to begin with an apology for appearing before yo\i in so 

 prominent a position — -for assuming apparently a station in the world 

 of science for which 1 had no pretensions. On second thoughts, how- 

 ever, it appeared better — more respectful in fact, having consented, 

 tliongh with unfeigned reluctance, to accept the office — to say no more 

 on that head, but to discharge its duties as best I might. This, how- 

 ever, I mast ask of you, not to expect from me what you have had 

 from many of my predecessors, a luminous review of the state of Phy- 

 sical Science — a recital of its various recent triumphs — -and suggestions 

 for their further extension : that I should, in the words of the poet, 

 though in a different sense, 



" Allure to brighter worlds, and point the way." 

 Though I have been no indifferent spectator of that rapid and triumph- 

 ant march of science, which, within the last fifty years, has been ex- 

 tending and enriching the old domains of knowledge, and planting, as 

 it were, new colonies in hitherto unexplored and untrodden regions, 

 yet I have been only a spectator — my avocations have been less with 

 the properties of matter than with the busy concerns of men ; and if I 

 attempted now to assume, for the first time, the philosophic garb, I 

 am afraid that the awkwardness of my gait would soon betray me. 

 There are, however, some points of high and general interest, which, 

 in a meeting like the present, cannot be entirely neglected, and in re- 

 gard to which the kindness of friends has supplied me with some matter 

 not unworthy of being submitted to your notice. How, for instance, in 

 the laud of Newton, and in the greatest seaport of the world, should I 

 neglect astronomy ? And here Professor Challis has been good enough 

 to furnish me with a statement of its present condition and recent pro- 

 gress, which with your permission, I will lay before you : — 

 "Notes on the Present State of Astronomy. 

 " MEMORANDUM BY PROF. CHALLIS. 

 " Since the meeting of the British Association last year, four planets 

 and four comets have been discovered. Three of the new planets were 

 found at Mr. Bishop's Observatory, two by Mr. Hind, and one by Mr. 

 Maith.' This last was also discovered the following night at the Ox- 

 ford Observatory — another of the many instances presented by 

 astronomy of independent discoveries made nearly simultaneously. 

 The fourth planet was found at the Observatory of Bilk, near 

 Dusseldorf, by Mr. R. Luther, an astronomer distinguished by 

 having already discovered two planets. Of the comets, one was 

 discovered at Berlin, two at Gottingen, and the fourth was seen very 

 generally with the naked eye at the end of last March. None of them 

 have been identified with preceding comets. The large number of 

 planets and comets discovered of late years, while it evinces the dili- 

 gence of astronomers, has, at the same time, brought additional labor- 

 ers into the field of astronomical science, and contributed materially to 

 its extension. The demand for observations created, by these discove- 

 ries has been met by renewed activity in existing observatories, and 

 has led to the establishment, by public or private means, of new ob- 

 servatories. For instance, an observatory was founded in the coui'se 

 of last year by a private individual at Olmutz, in .Moravia, and is now 

 actively at work on this class of observations. Various such instances 

 have occurred within a few years. In addition to the advantages just 



stated, the observations called for by the discoveiy of new bodies of 

 the solar system, have drawn attention to the state of stellar astronomy, 

 and been the means of improving this fundamental part of the science. 

 The following are a few words on the existing state of stellar astro- 

 nomy, so far as regards catalogues of stars. Subsequently to the for- 

 mation of the older catalogues of bright stars, astronomers turned 

 their attention to observations in zones, or otherwise of smaller stars, 

 to the ninth magnitude inclu,sive. Lalande, Lacaille, Bessel, Argelan- 

 der, and Lament are the chief laboui'ers in this class of observations. 

 But these observations, unreduced and uncatalogued, are comparatively 

 of little value. The British Association did great service to astrono- 

 mers, by reducing into catalogues the observations of Lalande and La- 

 caille. A catalogue of part of Bessel's Zones has been published at St. 

 Petersburg, and a catalogue of part of Argelander's at Vienna. La- 

 ment's Zones have also been reduced in part by himself. The catalogue 

 of 8377 stars, published by the British Association in 1845, is founded 

 mainly on the older catalogues, but contains, also, stars to the seventh 

 magnitude inclusive, observed once only by Lalande or Lacaille. The 

 places of the stars in this catalogue are, consequently, not uniformly 

 trustworthy ; but as the authorities for the places are indicated, the 

 astronomer is not misled by this circumstance. The above are the ca- 

 talogues which are principally used in the observations of the small 

 planets and of comets. This class of observations must generally be 

 made by means of stars as fixed points of reference. The observer 

 selects a star from a catalogua, either for the purpose of finding the 

 moving body, or for comparing its position with that of the star ; but, 

 from the imperfection of the catalogue, it sometimes happens that no 

 star is found in the place indicated by it, and in most cases, unless the 

 star's place has been determined by repeated meridian observations, it 

 is not sufficiently accurate for final reference of the position of the pla- 

 net or comet. In catalogues reduced from zone observations the star's 

 right ascension generally depends on a single transit across a single 

 wire, and its declination on a single bisection. This being the case, 

 astronomers have begun to feel the necessity of using the catalogue 

 places of stars provisionally, in reducing their obsers-ations, and of ob- 

 taining afterwards accurate places by meridian observations. It will 

 be seen by this statement that by the observations of the small plauets 

 and of comets, materials are gradually accumulating for the formation 

 of a more accurate and more extensive catalogue of stars than any 

 hitherto published. The British Association would add greatly to the 

 benefits it has already conferred on astronomical science, by promoting 

 the publication, when sufficient materials can be collected, of a general 

 catalogue of all stars to the ninth magnitude inclusive, which have 

 been repeatedly observed with meridian instruments. The modern 

 sources at present available for such a work are the reduced and pub- 

 lished observations of the Greenwich, Pulkowa, Edinburgh, Oxford, 

 and Cambridge Observatories, and the recently completed catalogue of 

 12,000 stars observed and reduced by the indefatigable astronomer of 

 Hamburgh, Mr. Charles Rumker, together with numerous incidental 

 determinations of the places of comparison stars in the Aslronomische 

 Naehrichten. To complete the present account of the state of stellar 

 astronomy, mention should be made of two volumes recently published 

 by Mr Cooper, containing the approximate places arranged in order of 

 right ascension of 30,186 elliptic stars from the ninth to the twelfth 

 magnitude, of which only a very small number had been previously 

 observed. The observations were made with the Markree Equatorial, 

 and have been printed at the expense of her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment. The determination of differences of longitude by galvanicsignals 

 is an astronomical matter of great practical importance. This method, 

 employed first in America, was introduced into England by the Astro- 

 nomer Royal, and has been applied to the determination in succession 

 of the differences of longitude between the Greenwich Observatory and 

 the observatories of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brussels, and i'aris. 

 In the first and last instances results have been published which prove 

 the perfect success and accuracy of the method. Mr. Airy, on recently 

 announcing in the public papers the completion of the operation be- 

 tween the Greenwich and.I'aris Observatories, justly remarks that such 

 an experiment could not have been made without the assistance atl'orded 

 by commercial enterprise, and that commercial enterprise is in turn 

 honored by the aid thus rendered to science. In the summer of last 

 year. Professor Encke, following the example set in England, deter- 

 mined successfully by galvanic sigintls the difference of longitude be- 

 tween Berlin and Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Galvanism has also been 

 applied to astronomical purposes iu other ways. The method of ob- 

 serving transits by the intervention of a galvanic circuit, just put in 

 practice in .\merica, in which only sight and touch are employed, and 

 counting is not required, is now in operation at the Greenwich Ob.scr- 



