1836.] 



Astronomical Science, §c. 



47 



III. — A cursory View of the present state of Astronomical Science, with 

 a summary oj Desiderata ; together with a Notice of the Astronomi- 

 cal Results at the Madras Observatory. — By T. G. Taylor, Esq. 

 H. E. I. C. Astronomer. 



Many, perhaps the greater part of, Europeans in India, are aware, 

 that, through the munificence of the Honorable East India Company, 

 an Observatory of some importance is supported at Madras, and some 

 few have probably learned that the result of the observations made at 

 the Madras Observatory, are from time to time published, and conse- 

 quently are available to the amateur Astronomer and the public at 

 large. 



That the Madras results have not been very generally noticed, is a 

 fact which cannot but obtrude itself on my attention, from the circum- 

 stance of my having lately been applied to by several individuals, 

 in various parts of India, enquiring— what is done at the Madras 

 Observatory ? — in what way can an amateur Astronomer render him- 

 self serviceable ? — and what, by Astronomers, at present are consi- 

 dered desiderata in the Science ? 



With a view of answering these enquiries, I have thought it would 

 be acceptable to state, as far as has come under my notice, and in as 

 brief a way as possible, the recent views and occupations of the several 

 Astronomers, who preside over the principal public and private Obser~ 

 vatories of Europe ; and, for myself, to claim a little further, and more 

 particular, attention, to results which have been derived from the Ma- 

 dras Observations. 



The pursuits of the Astronomer of the present day, it must be ob- 

 served, differ, in no slight degree, from those which very properly 

 belonged to him at no more distant date than the commencement of the 

 present century. At that period our knowledge of the motion of the 

 Moon and Planets, compared with the refinements which now obtain, 

 was but very rude and approximate ; inasmuch as errors in the place 

 of the Moon frequently amounted to 40 or 50 seconds of space, and 

 errors in the places of the Planets as frequently amounted to 30 or 40 

 seconds. It is to the observations made during a long continued period 

 at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, aided by the theory of Euler, 

 La Grange and La Place ; and the computative skill of Mayer, Mason, 

 Burg and Burckhardt, that the superior accuracy, we at present have 

 attained, is due. 



The nature and extent of this accuracy will be better understood from 

 the fact that, ten years ago, the Board of Longitude intimated that no 

 further improvement in the Lunar tables was expected or required — the 

 largest errors, to which they were then liable, never permitting an 

 error exceeding eight miles in the longitude ; and the places of the 



