1886.J 



President 's Address. 



381 



as those recommended by the Committee, they will doubtless assure 

 themselves in some way or other that those measures are in accord- 

 ance with the wishes of the Fellows at large before they are incor- 

 porated into the Statutes. 



But in connexion with this subject there is another suggestion 

 which I would venture to offer, and which I know has been thought 

 of by others. 



A good many years ago it was not unusual to elect to the Fellow- 

 ship men of distinguished eminence in departments other than 

 scientific. More recently a change was made in the Statutes whereby 

 Privy Councillors are enabled to become Fellows by a special method, 

 without interfering with the selection by the Council of fifteen from 

 among the candidates, whom they recommend to the Society for 

 election. This to a certain extent superseded the necessity of 

 appealing to other than scientific claims, and in some respects the 

 method had special advantages. Those who attained to a place on 

 Her Majesty's Privy Council were sure to be distinguished men, 

 whom we should be glad to welcome among us ; and by confining the 

 privilege of special election to these, with whose appointment the 

 Council had nothing to do, all invidious distinctions were prevented. 

 But the method has the disadvantage that it applies only to a 

 particular class of merit. A man, for instance, might be of quite first 

 rate eminence in poetry or literature, but that would not lead to a 

 seat on the Privy Council. Such a man could only be elected by being 

 placed on the selected list of fifteen. But it seems to me that there 

 is something not quite courteous either to the eminent man himself, 

 or to the scientific man who would have to be passed over to make 

 room for him, in thus putting him in competition with those who seek 

 admission on purely scientific grounds. I cannot help thinking that 

 it might be well if the Council had the power of recommending for 

 special election men of high distinction on other than scientific 

 grounds, whose connexion with us would on both sides be felt to be 

 an honour, and who, though not it may be themselves scientific, 

 might usefully assist us by their counsel. I do not think, it would be 

 difficult to devise means for providing that such a privilege should be 

 accorded only in case of very high eminence. 



The application of photography to the delineation of celestial 

 objects has of late years made rapid strides ; and, partly owing to the 

 improved sensitiveness of the plates, partly to greater exactness in 

 regulating the motions of equatorially mounted telescopes, it has been 

 found possible to photograph even minute stars. The question is 

 accordingly now seriously entertained whether we may not trust 

 to photography for the formation of star maps and star catalogues, 

 taking eye observations on a sufficient number of stars here and there 

 for reference, and trusting to differential measurements taken on the 



