THE MAKERSTOUN OBSERVATIONS. 15 



in every matter likely to advance the cause that you have had so much at heart, 

 and which were likely to enable me to perform those duties devolving upon 

 me with satisfaction and comfort to myself, — it is for these, and many similar 

 kindnesses, that I have to offer you my most grateful and most hearty 

 thanks. 



You have acknowledged, in the first part of the Makerstoun Observations, 

 the assistance which you derived from the advice of Professor J. D. Forbes as to 

 the formation and continuance of the Makerstoun Observatory, and I have to 

 acknowledge my obhgations to him in a more extensive way. As his pupil I am 

 indebted to him for his valuable instructions, and especially for that love of strict 

 science which he has sought with so much success to diffuse among his students 

 in the University of our Scottish metropolis, whether by his prelections or by his 

 example, through those original and laborious scientific investigations which he 

 has prosecuted so successfully. In some of the latter of these I had the pleasure 

 and good fortune to assist him, benefiting as I hope I did, by that cautious and 

 careful spirit which distinguishes his researches. Besides many other kindnesses, 

 I owe to his recommendation your selection of me for the care of your observa- 

 tory : since then, I have been in constant communication with him, either as 

 my friend and adviser, or in his capacity as secretary of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, in whose Transactions the work of your observatory has appeared. 



To the Rev. Dr H. Lloyd, the excellent President of the Royal Irish Aca- 

 demy, I also owe my best acknowledgments. It was to him that the observatory 

 owed its first scheme of observation, and much attention and examination of the 

 earliest observations. I have also been indebted to him in frequent communica- 

 tions, and, above all, to his published papers on the instruments and processes of 

 ol3servatory work, without the use of which my own progress, and that of most 

 of the Directors of our Colonial Observatories, would have been difficult and 

 painful labour. 



Mr Airy, the Astronomer Royal, I have before thanked for the instruction 

 which I received in the Greenwich Observatory before undertaking the charge of 

 yours ; but I have also to thank him for the readiness and willingness with which 

 he has invariably thrown open to me any matter connected with the observations 

 at Greenwich, which I may have desired for comparison with our own. 



I have already noticed the valuable grant of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 towards the printing of the volumes of Observations. I may also notice that 

 copies of the volumes of Makerstoun Observations have been forwarded by the 

 Royal Society to the institutions and individuals, given in the Addendum to this 

 Report, in addition to those entitled to receive them as portions of the Edinburgh 

 Transactions. 



Permit me to conclude by expressing my hope that these labours, to which 



