212 Professor How on the Ethers and 



well ; and procured, before many years were over, above 50,00(1 

 observations. But the computation of these was a far longer 

 work : he laboured at it and died ; his wife, the partner of 

 his domestic cares and astronomical anxieties, died also ; they 

 were followed by his friend and adviser, the then Astronomer 

 Royal ; by his friend and helper, the then Superintendent of 

 the Nautical Almanac ; and by his clerk and assistant. These 

 all died before the Catalogue, passing into other hands, re- 

 ceived its final correction, and was published to the world, 

 wherein it has now been found to be so excellent and valuable 

 a contribution to astronomy. 



One more remark presses itself upon me. The extinction 

 of one star, 3000 years ago, led Hipparchus to the formation 

 of the first catalogue of stars. Captain Jacob now reports 55 

 as missing. Are not, then, the phenomena of our day as im- 

 portant as those of any other, and should they not equally in- 

 duce to the study of astronomy 1 C. P. S. 



Some Additional Experiments on the Ethers and Amides of 

 Meconic and Comenic Acids. By Henry How, Professor 

 of Natural History, King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia. 



The following pages contain an account of some researches 

 made for the purpose of rendering more complete the papers I 

 have already published on meconic and comenic acids. They 

 relate, in the first place, to the confirmation of some facts for- 

 merly announced, but which have been since disputed ; and 

 secondly, to descriptions of new methods for producing certain 

 compounds already described,and finally indicate the existence 

 of some entirely new substances, derived from the acid of 

 opium. 



In my investigation of meconic acid,* I described an acid 

 amide, which I termed meconamidic acid, and assigned to 

 it a complicated formula, having no analogy with that of any 

 known body. The want of simplicity and of this analogy in 

 my expression, has led to its being objected to by Messrs 

 Wurtz | and Gerhardt, J whose critical opinions are entitled 



* Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. xx., Part iii. f Ann. Ch. Phys. 38, 195. 



J Chimie Organique. 



