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for, and which answered his purpose so perfectly as to leave 
nothing to be desired in the way of improvement. 
As he has met with many persons inconvenienced by a 
defect of vision similar to his own, he considered the fore- 
going plan of constructing glasses for remedying it worthy to 
be put on record in the Proceedings of this society. 
Mr. Baxendell read the following extracts of a letter from 
Mr. Heelis, F.R.A.S., dated St. George’s Channel, October 
23rd, 1863: — 
On the 17th Obtober, while running between Cape de 
Gatte and Malaga in long. 2° 49' W., lat. 36° 19* P 
N., the captain and I were observing the planet Venus, 
which was visible to the naked eye and showed her crescent 
beautifully in one of the ship’s signal telescopes, when the 
quarter-master at the con suddenly, at 10 45 a.m., called 
my attention to an object in the sky, I looked up and 
saw a meteor nearly, I should think, twice as bright as 
Venus, and apparently consisting of two nuclei, with a 
bright streak joining them, the whole about a degree in 
length, passing rapidly across the sky in a due easterly 
direction. It disappeared at an angle of 40° from the horizon, 
measured by the captain’s sextant, which happened to be 
on deck. The sky was cloudless and very clear. From 
inquiries from the quarter-master, it appears that he, while 
looking aloft for Venus, first saw it about 10° or 15° S. 
of the zenith, and the duration of the apparition was as 
nearly as I could judge about fifteen seconds. On the two 
preceding nights we had had many magnificent meteors; and 
on our passage across the bay, on the 21st and 22nd instant, 
have since seen several more, notwithstanding the moonlight. 
At the time of the appearance of the meteor we Avere nearly 
abreast of the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada, which Avas 
covered with snoAv. The Avind and sea were both calm. 
Venus was observed every day until the 19th, on which day 
