GREAT REFRACTING TELESCOPE AT ELCHIES, IN MORAYSHIRE. 397 



Had these several able and learned astronomers observed in the pure, trans- 

 parent, and definition-favouring air of the upper parts of the Peak of Teneriflfe, or 

 a similar air in any other part of the world, — I feel sure they would not have 

 racked all men with anxieties, and covered the nature of this star with the 

 confusion arising from such impossible numerical quantities. 



(12.) g HERCULIS, R.A. 17'^ 18^ 56% and D. + 37' 16' 35", January 1, 1862. 



Com- 

 ponents. 



Magni- 

 tude. 



Colour. 





Position. 



Distance. . 



Date. 



Autliority. 



A 

 B 



... 







AB 300 21 



// 

 2-97 



1779-66 



HI. 



A 

















B 



... 







AB 306 



3-97 



1822-4 



a. 



A 



4 



Greenish white 













B 



51 



4 



Greener 





AB 307 13 



3-60 



1830-35 



2. 



A 



Bluish white... 







B 



5-5 



Pale emerald... 







AB 308 54 {w 9) 



3-7 (w9) 



1839-74 



Cycle. 



A 





Yellow 









• 





B 





Deeper yellow 









1844-4 



Sestini. 



A 

 B 



... 



Greyish 



Greenish 









1850-5 



Spec. Hart. 



A 

















B 



... 







AB 310 30 (w 7) 



3-5 (w 4) 



1853-39 



Spec. Hart. 



A 

 B 





White (1) 



Bluish (1) ... 









1856-58 



Guajara. 

 Elchies. 



A 

 B 



4(1) 

 6(1) 



Whitish yellow 

 Yellowish grey 



(2) 

 (2) 



AB 310 38 {w 1) 



3-62 {w 0-8) 



1862-72 



In Magnitude, steady. 



In Colour, variable ; A varying from white to bluish, greenish, and yellow ; 

 while B varies from bluish to green, grey, and yellow. 



In Position and Distance, "binary" character is confirmed ; yet so slow a 

 binary, that it had long been looked on as relatively fixed, and therefore optical, 

 when micrometer measures were alone looked to. Had, however, the B. A. C. 

 proper motion test been applied, the true result might have been deduced much 

 earlier ; for that shows how the stars should have decreased, instead of increased, 

 their angle of position, and by so much as 18° in thirty years, had they been 

 optically connected only. 



J 



