made with a view to investigate its Magnitude, See. 1 61 
it appeared to him. When I examined the slate, I found that 
he had exactly delineated the appearance I have described. 
In a letter to a very intelligent astronomical friend,* who 
has one of my 7-feet reflectors, I requested the favour of him 
to examine both the polar regions of Saturn, and to let me 
know whether he could perceive any difference in the appear- 
ance of their curvature; in answer to which I received, the 
23d of June, a letter inclosing a drawing, in which also the 
southern regions were marked as more protuberant, with a 
greater falling off close to the irregularity. My friend, with 
his usual precaution, called this an illusion ; and it will be 
seen by and by, that we shall have no occasion to ascribe 
this irregularity to a real want of due proportion, or settled 
figure of the polar regions of Saturn. 
June 22, 9 h 24/. I see the same curved appearance at the 
south pole of Saturn, which was observed the 16th. 
June 24. The air is very clear, and all the most critical 
phenomena are very distinctly to be seen ; the shadow of the 
ring towards the south upon the planet ; the shadow of the body 
towards the north-following side upon the ring ; the belts upon 
the body ; the division of the two rings ; and with the same 
distinctness, I also see the protuberance of the south pole. 
My seeing this appearance, at present, is a proof that it is 
not a physical irregularity or distortion of only some parti- 
cular spot on the polar regions ; for, in that case, it could not 
have been seen this evening, as from the rotation of the planet 
on its axis, which is io h 16', the space of the polar circle 
which is now exposed to our view, must have been very dif- 
ferent from what I saw the 16th and 22d. 
* Dr. Wilson of Hampstead, late Professor of Astronomy at Glasgow. 
MDCCCVIU. Y 
