530 



nation in the form of water, minister strong support to the theory of 

 atomic combination. Without venturing to anticipate the future 

 destinies of the hypothesis of Dalton, it is sufficient for the fame of 

 its author to acknowledge the mighty impulse it has given to the 

 progress of chemical knowledge. 



Dr. Dalton died on the 27th of July last. 



Thomas Henderson, Professor of Practical Astronomy in the 

 University of Edinburgh, and Her Majesty's Astronomer for Scot- 

 land, was born at Dundee on the 28th of December 1798, and re- 

 ceived a competent classical and mathematical education at the excel- 

 lent public schools of that town. He was intended for t^ie legal pro- 

 fession, and at the age of fifteen was placed in the office of a solicitor 

 in Dundee, where he continued six years. During this period he 

 began, without Sinj other assistance than such as he could derive from 

 books, to devote his leisure time to the study of astronomy, and 

 being gifted with a quick apprehension and extraordinary powers of 

 memory, he very soon made himself acquainted with the practical 

 parts of the science, and acquired great dexterity in astronomical 

 computations. At the age of twenty-one he removed to Edinburgh, 

 for the purpose of completing his legal education, and some time 

 afterwards he was employed as private secretary to the Earl of Lau- 

 derdale. In Edinburgh his knowledge of astronomy procured him 

 the acquaintance of some of the most eminent professors and scien- 

 tific characters of that metropolis, whose encouragement no doubt 

 tended to stimulate his efforts and confirm his tastes ; and in the sm.all 

 observatory belonging to the Astronomical Institution he had an 

 opportunity of becoming acquainted with the use of instruments. 

 That he used his opportunities to good purpose is apparent from the 

 communications he now began to make to the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, both of observations made by him at Edinburgh and of 

 various useful calculations, relating chiefly to moon-culminating 

 stars, but extending also to other phenomena ; and at the anniver- 

 sary meeting of that body in 1 830 he received their thanks for " the 

 very valuable assistance which he had rendered to the cause of 

 astronomy in his various computations presented to the Society." 

 His connexion with Lord Lauderdale brought him occasionally to 

 London, where his contributions to the Astronoixiical Society secured 

 him a favourable reception from astronomers, and the high opinion 

 which had been formed of his talents was confirmed by personal in- 

 tercourse and observation of the extent and remarkable accuracy of 

 his astronomical knowledge. In October 1831 he was appointed to 

 succeed Mr. Fallows as astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Causes of a nature entirely personal led to his resignation of this 

 appointment at the end of about a year after he had entered on its 

 duties ; but though the time of his residence at the Cape was short, 

 it was most diligently employed, and sufficed for accumulating a 

 mass of important observations, from which he afterwards deduced 

 results of great value to astronomy. In August 1834 he was ap- 

 pointed, on the recommendation of the Royal xlstronomical Society 



