232 
Notices of Boohs. 
suits instead of being 2", 5, amounts to 22,". In another series at Balna, there is 
a diffeience even in the same star, Lyra?, of 28 f , though observed within three 
days. But though this allowance for the error of the level, brings the observations 
nearer to what might a priori have been supposed the powers of such an instrument, 
there is still this difficulty. In a series of so many observations, how has it hap- 
pened that the error of the level should have amounted always so precisely to that 
quantity required to produce a perfect seeming accordance i Against such a com- 
pensation, depending on so arbitrary a correction, the chances are, as Mr. B. ob- 
serves, enormous. It was too, to say the least of it, “a singular oversight not to 
measure the divisions of the level.” 
To this expose we must add two facts more, which we think will astonish our 
readers in India. Mr. Babbage says, that at a visitation he made officially to the 
Rojal Observatory, he was an eye witness of the process of an observation, or other- 
wise never could have believed what he then ascertained, viz. that at that time no 
oi iginal observations made at the transit instrument were ever preserved!! ! It 
appears that the Astronomer Royal most justly appreciates the value of his own 
observations; of which, though a copy be not obtainable by an Astronomer from the 
Royal Society, at whose disposal they are placed, yet any number may be purchased 
as waste paper. These observations are printed at the expense of Government, in 
the most costly style of typographic luxury, on hot-pressed paper, with wide margins, 
&c. and are then given to the Astronomer Royal as a perquisite, 60 copies being re- 
tained by the Royal Society, tor distribution to the observatories and learned socie- ' 
ties ol the continent. Those sold by the Astronomer Royal are said to make capi - f 
al Bristol Board . I his does seem the most extraordinary method of making up 
the deficiency ot a public officer’s salary that we have ever .heard of, and we wonder 
the Astronomer himself does not suggest some other. 
A vei v interesting section of this work, is that entitled, On the frauds of observers. 
Ihese he ranges under the following heads : 1. Hoaxing^; 2. Forging; A. Trimming; 
a ,°k' n D" Fhe first is, perhaps, the most venial, as ultimatety no fraud is intend- 
ed ; the real object being only to excite a laugh. Mr. Babbage, however, well ob- 
serves, “ that the productions of nature are so various, that mere strangeness is very 
fat from sufficient to render doubtful the existence of any creature for which there 
is evidence ; so that, except in an extreme case, the hoax “ can only be regatded as 
a deception, without the accompaniment of wit.” Of the second, the nature of 
which is sufficiently obvious, from the name, there are fortunately few instances. 
One however is meationed of a Chevalior D'Angos having published observations 
of a new comet, which have been since proved by M. Enche to hare been invent- 
f. , . . a ,Tustalte t h e author made in his calculations having led to the detection. 
. ^ rimming consists in clipping off little bits here and there from those observa- 
tions which differ most in excess from the mean, and in sticking them on to those 
which aie too small, in order to obtain the character of a very close observer. 
‘The fraud is not so injurious (except to the character of the trimmer,) as cook- 
^ ec,lU ® e average given is still the same, whether trimmed or untrimmed. 
Cooking again is an art, the object of which being to establish the character of the 
obseiver for the utmost possible accuracy, be stickles at nothing which he thinks 
can conduce to this end. Of the many processes which have been resorted to, the 
following are the most common. He makes a multitude of observations, and out 
of these, selects for publication those which happen to agree best. Or in calculat- 
ing ns observations, be will use two or more formula;, so as to insure perfect 
acccn dance in the results. He may use different catalogues of stars — different tables 
of retraction, of specific gravities, of specific heats, &c. &c. so as always to have the 
t sired accoi dance in the results. Sometimes the constants of a formula, though dif- 
fering amongst themselves, wall not suit the observations in this case ; a cooked me an 
va ue is lequiied, which is easily managed, by a pretended discussion on the weight 
ue o eac i, to Bessel, to Gauss, to Laplace, &c.; this being properly adjusted, the 
mean comes out as it should do, and the cookery is complete. There is a good deal 
on tne improper influence which other bodies, such as the Royal College of Phy- 
sicians, ic Royal Institution, &c, exercise in the proceedings of the Royal 
ocie y, ut our space will allow of no more extracts. Mr. Babbage coneludes- 
52“ „ v ® ry mt eresting comparative view of the scientific characters of the late 
’ a ' y anc ^ Woollaston. This we shall give at length in our next nuin- 
