44 
Mr. Pond on the changes in the 
have been committed in stars, adjacent as to polar distance, 
but of opposite right ascensions ? I do not wish to press these 
remarks, in order to obtain greater confidence than they de- 
serve, for observations which can never be regarded with too 
much suspicion ; but the arguments I have used, appear to 
me to follow logically from the data before us, and strongly 
to indicate the probability that some cause purely astronomi- 
cal has, at least, some share in producing these unexpected 
deviations. 
3 - The third group, a Herculis, a Pegasi, and Regulus is 
still more remarkable, being comprehended with n two degrees 
of declination, and two of the stars, a Herculis and a. Pegasi* 
being within half a degree of each other. In this group 
a Pegasi is at least 3" south of its predicted place, whereas 
the other two stars have not deviated much more than o" ,5 to 
the south. 
4. « Orionis, a Serpentis, and Procyon, furnish an example 
equally striking, they being within less than 2 0 of declination 
from each other ; a. Serpentis is exactly in its predicted place, 
while ot Orionis and Procyon are each of them at least 2" to 
the south. 
5. Rigel, Spica Virginis, and Sirius, are not contained 
within so short an arc as the former groups, nor are their 
places so well determined, on account of their proximity to 
the horizon ; v but they afford another instance of the inequality 
of southern deviation, in stars having nearly the same polar 
distance, but opposite right ascensions. 
But leaving the considerations suggested by these groups 
of stars, let us examine more minutely the different hypo- 
theses that may be formed on the supposition, that the whole 
* The lunar nutation of a. Pegasi was nearly a minimum at each period. 
