51 1 The King of Ondes Observatory/ at Lucknow. [June, 



No arrangement has yet been made for publishing our Astronomical 

 observations, and it has always appeared to me that unless we had a 

 printing press on the spot so that it might be done under my own in- 

 spection and revision, it would be difficult to get them printed in India, 

 since it is not to be supposed that people capable of the task would be 

 found attached to the printing establishments in Calcutta, while if there 

 were, the expense would probably be greater than in England, where it 

 could be done much better. The practice in the Royal Observatories 

 of England and larger public ones, as Cambridge and Edinburgh, is to 

 publish yearly, and it is considered important that the crude observations 

 should be given in detail in order that the means of verification may at 

 all times be at hand, and as I believe the Lucknow observations will be 

 found equal to any that are made, it may be desirable that ours should 

 be published in the same form. It has, however occurred to me that if a 

 copy of our crude observations, with all the details necessary in case of 

 need for the verification of our computations, were made over to the 

 Royal Astronomical Society, in whose custody they would always be 

 available, that then there would be no absolute need of publishing more 

 than our results, which might appear from time to time in their memoirs. 

 I have accordingly placed myself in communication with the Secretary, 

 who is also one of the most influential members of the Society, and have 

 lately been favored with his opinion, and find that he coincides with me 

 in thinking that this mode of publication would have all the advantages 

 that I propose, while the saving of expense would be great. I am also 

 told that on the proposition being formally made, I need have little 

 doubt but it will be accepted by the Society, but that according to an 

 established rule, which has in no instance been departed from, the 

 printing must be done at the King's expense. 



I do not apprehend that the king would refuse to pay the cost, which 

 could not be very heavy, but it will be proper before taking further steps, 

 to ascertain whether this course would be acceptable to his Majesty, or 

 whether he would not prefer to expend a much larger sum in order that 

 the volumes might appear solely in his name. 



My establishment being more efficient for making observations than 

 for reducing them, our computations are still very much in arrears, but 

 we have entered upon a portion of the reductions for 1844, and I hope 

 before the end of the year to have made great progress with them. I 



