146 Geological Society: — 



a sound judgment, that the best determination of Proper Motions 

 which we possess are by Mr. Stone ; they are contained m vol. xxxiii. 

 of the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomieal Society, and are derived 

 from a comparison of Bradley's observations with the Greenwich 

 seven-year Catalogue for I860, giving an interval of 105 years, on 

 which the determinations rest. 



It is greatly to be desired that the Proper Motions of the Stars, 

 as now recorded in various catalogues, should be most scrupulously 

 examined, Stone's determination being taken as the basis. Among 

 the stars we have a remarkable class, viz. those having large Proper 

 Motions. Professor Xewcomb, in his ' Popular Astronomy,' refers 

 to the star 1830 Groombridge as the most remarkable of them, its 

 Proper Motion being more than seven seconds of arc per annum, 

 which, combined with its parallax, gives a real motion of two hundred 

 miles in a second of time. There are two stars said to have a 

 greater Proper Motion than this star, viz. 2151 Navis, w r hose 

 Proper Motion is 7"'9 per annum, and e Indi, 7"' 7. By giving 

 close and unremitting attention to these stars, light may be thrown 

 on the question as to whether they are members of a group passing 

 through our sidereal system with immense velocity. If Professor 

 Smyth's Catalogue contributes in any degree to elucidate our know- 

 ledge of stellar Proper Motions on a great scale in our sidereal 

 system, he has not done his work in vain. We greatly approve of 

 the plan he has adopted of leaving spaces for the insertion of ob- 

 servations from other sources, also of devoting a page to each star; 

 and we shall look with great interest for the appearance of the next 

 four hours of the Catalogue. 



XXI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 73.] 



May 8, 1878.— Henry Clifton Sorby, Esq., E.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



fPHE following communications were read : — 

 * 1. " On the Glacial Phenomena of the Long Island, or Outer 

 Hebrides." 2nd paper. By James Geikie, Esq., LL.D.,P.R.S., P.G.S. 

 In this paper the author gave some additional notes on the 

 glaciation of Lewis, and a detailed account of the glacial 

 phenomena of Harris and the other islands that form the 

 southern portion of the Outer Hebrides. Additional evidence was 

 adduced to show that Lewis has been glaciated from S.E. to jNT.TT.: 

 and the shelly boulder-clays and interglacial shell-beds of that part 

 of the Long Island were described in detail. Harris, North List, 

 Benbecula, South Uist, Barra, and the other islands that go to form 

 the chain of the " Long Island " were successively described under the 

 headings of Physical features, Geological structure, Glaciation, Till or 



