48o Dr. Brinkley's remarks on 
On the absolute parallax of a Lyra: 
Mr. Pond commences his observations in July, and com- 
municates his results to the Royal Society, November 14 fol- 
lowing, six weeks before the winter maximum of parallax. 
He says, these observations indicate, in the most decided 
manner, that the parallax of « Lyras cannot exceed a very 
small fraction of a second. 
Let us consider the nature of this investigation. 
It consists in this. He measures the angular distance 
between the direct and reflected images of cc Lyrae, an arc 
exceeding 154 0 . The observations are necessarily made on 
different days. Let the circumstances of this process be 
contrasted with the observations of measuring, within the 
space of half an hour, the meridional angular distance less 
than 13 0 between y Draconis and a Lyrae. We have seen 
the discordances that have taken place between the results 
of a greater number of observations of this kind. 
We have seen that 159 observations, made with the mural 
circle in the interval between July and November 14, give a 
parallax of a Lyrae, exceeding that of y Draconis by ~ of the 
parallax I had found for a Lyras: 
Hence, then, on how slender a foundation rests the asser- 
tion of Mr: Pond, “ that these observations indicate, in the 
most decided manner, that the parallax of a Lyne cannot ex- 
ceed a very small fraction of a second ?** 
But, by confining ourselves to this interval, we lose the 
great advantage that might be expected to be derived from 
the winter observations near the maximum of parallax. Mr. 
Pond accounts for his having taken so short a period:— 
