52 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



may best be published, especially the drawings of nebulae ; but there is no 

 doubt that this will soon be overcome. 



In my Address of 1869 I had the pleasure of announcing to the Society 

 the advanced state of the fine equatorially-mounted telescope, fitted more 

 especially for spectroscopic research (therefore rather for celestial physics 

 than for more strictly astronomical work), which, while it was to remain 

 the property of the Eoyal Society, was intended by the President and 

 Council to be placed in the able and zealous hands of Mr. Huggins, who 

 was preparing at his own expense a suitable building for its reception. 

 The necessary spectroscopic apparatus for use with it has not been long 

 completed; but some of our Fellows are aware that Mr. Huggins has been 

 already doing work with this fine instrument in his observations of the 

 spectrum of Uranus, and in his quite recent examination of the spectrum 

 of Encke's Comet, which he finds to agree with that of carbon, and to be 

 apparently identical with that of Comet II. 1868, of which a description 

 appears in the Phil. Trans, for 1868, p. 555. His other observations have 

 been hitherto mainly confirmatory of those he had previously obtained of 

 the spectra of the nebulae and stars; but he hopes for more definite results 

 regarding the approach or recession of stars, and in particular the rate of 

 the recession of Sirius. 



In my last Address I spoke with pleasure of the approaching completion 

 of the fine series of Pendulum Experiments extending throughout the 

 continent of India, from Cape Comorin to the high tablelands of the 

 Himalayas (to which it was further proposed to add two stations on the 

 homeward route, i. e. Aden, and a station near the " Bitter Lakes "). Of 

 this magnificent series, designed to comprise thirty Indian stations, twenty- 

 five Indian stations had then been completed by the skilled and inde- 

 fatigable exertions of Captain Basevi of the Boyal Engineers. Only five 

 more remained, one on the Indus, and four in the higher Himalayas ; but, 

 alas ! while engaged on these, Captain Basevi's health yielded to the com- 

 bined effects of arduous exertion, of climate, and finally of mountain 

 exposure. His last completed station (to the south of Leh, in lat. 33°) 

 was at an altitude of 15,500 feet. He then proceeded to one still higher, 

 closely approaching 17,000 feet, which was to be the last of all, and there 

 died. His character, services, and the sacrifice of his valuable life have 

 received a fitting tribute from his immediate chief, Colonel Walker, head of 

 the Trigonometrical Survey of India. "We may securely anticipate that, 

 under the superintending care of Colonel Walker, not only will the pro- 

 gramme of operations in India be carried out with entire satisfaction, but 

 also that effectual provision will be made for that repetition of the deter- 

 minations in England which is essential to the completion and full 

 assurance of the scientific results of Captain Basevi's labours in this great 

 undertaking. 



