Proceedings of the British Association. 553 



is fairly written out and ready for press. The total number of stars re- 

 duced and catalogued, is about 10,000,— the sum of 105£. remaining 

 of the original grant unappropriated; which the Committee recommend 

 to be applied (with such additional grant as may be needed) to the 

 printing and publication of the catalogue, without which, it is evident, 

 that little or no benefit can result to Astronomical Science from the 

 work so accomplished. With the catalogue, and forming an introduc- 

 tion to it, an account of the process pursued in the reductions, the 

 constants used, and all other matter needful for a complete under- 

 standing of the work, ought also to be printed, and should it be the 

 pleasure of the Association to order the publication, will be furnished by 

 Mr. Henderson. The estimated cost of the publication so recommend- 

 ed, may be roughly stated at about 250/. for printing, paper, &c. of 

 500 copies of the catalogue and introduction. 



J. F. W. Herschel. 

 The President observed, that the discussion and publication of these 

 Observations upon the stars of the southern hemisphere, originally 

 made by M. de Lacaille, now possessed an increased interest in conse- 

 quence of the recent observations of Sir John Herschel, prosecuted 

 at precisely the same locality, thus furnishing two series of observations 

 upon the same stars at epochs separated by a very considerable interval 

 of time. 



Col. Sabine read the Report of the Committee for the translation and 

 publication of Foreign Scientific Memoirs. 



Since the last meeting of the British Association the Committee have 

 obtained and published in the ninth number of Taylor's Foreign Sci- 

 entific Journal, translations of the two following works; viz. — Gauss, 

 General Propositions relating to Attractive and Repulsive Forces, acting 

 in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance;' Dove 1 On the Law of 

 Storms.' — These translations were presented to the Committee by 

 Lieut.-Col. Sabine, and as no illustrations were requisite, it has not 

 been necessary to expend any portion of the grant placed at the dispo- 

 sal of the Committee. 



' On the existence of a New Neutral Point, and two Secondary 

 Neutral Points,' by Sir David Brewster. — After noticing the two neutral 

 points (points where there is no polarization of light) of MM. Arago 

 and Babinet, Sir D. Brewster said he had discovered a third. He also 

 mentioned amongst some general results of observations continued for a 

 long time, that instead of the point of maximum polarization being 

 always, as supposed, at 90° from the sun, he had found it more frequent- 

 ly 88° from the sun. He also described a polarimeter or polariscope, 



4 B 



