36 
future and the present generation will before long make a 
laughing stock of us, and will talk about the superstitious 
bigotry of the astronomers of 1859. 
Note. — Captain Drayson has just published a second work upon the above 
subject, explaining in detail the third movement of the earth. As the 
Diagrams in this book cannot be published in the Society's papers, the 
readers are referred to Captain Drayson's book, which can be obtained from 
Jackson, Green's End, Woolwich. The Title is as follows : — " Great Britain 
has been and will be again within the Tropics : or, a simple solution of the 
following mysterious facts, namely, the Tropical remains in Hyperborean 
Eegions, the Sun standing still, the Moon staying, the Shadow returning 
Ten Degrees, the Ketrograde movement of the Satellites of Uranus, the 
Precession of the Equinox," &c, &c, &c. 
EXPLANATION of Plate I. 
Fig. 1 , shews the precession of the Equinoxes. 
1. Let E be the earth, and S the sun ; then the sun is at the 
first point of Aries ; if the earth go on revolving in the smaller 
orbit it will on the same day of the next year be again at E, and 
the sun will also again be at the first point of Aries. But if 
the orbit become enlarged to D D D the earth will fall short of 
E, or eventually to D and to T, so that the sun will be then at 
the first point of Pisces — and if this be on the 21st March, the 
equinoctial point will have receded, and properly speaking there 
is a recession of the equinoxes of 50" annually. 
2. The acceleration of the Moons mean time. In fig. 2, let S be 
the sun, E the earth, P the moon. Let the earth's orbit, as in 
fig. 3, be enlarged ; the earth after the same lapse of time will 
only reach the point E', whilst the moon during the same time 
will have performed the same number of revolutions and will 
have arrived at P', but in fact she will eclipse the earth before 
arriving at P', and therefore her motion will appear to have 
accelerated, independent of allowance for precession. 
