C 481 : 
XXVI, On the parallax of the fixed stars in right ascension. By 
John Pond, F.R.S. Astronomer Royal. 
Read May 28, 1818. 
In the Connoissance des Temps for the year 2808, Mr 
Delambre, in a memoir on the parallax of the fixed stars, in 
which he relates the supposed discovery of a very considerable 
parallax, by two celebrated Italian astronomers,* proposes 
that this investigation should be attempted in right ascension. 
I have often read this memoir with great attention, but 
have been prevented by accidental circumstances from 
carrying this suggestion into execution. The investigation 
has since that time become infinitely more difficult, from the 
narrow limits into which parallax has been restricted by 
more recent observations. 
When the subject first engaged my attention, I was con- 
stantly in expectation of the new instrument, and was 
unwilling to engage in a series of observations which would 
so soon be interrupted ; when this was erected, I was so much 
engaged in the other methods of investigation, that it was 
not possible to devote myself properly to this enquiry; it was 
only lately that it occurred to me to examine the observations 
as they stood on the transit book for other purposes ; and I 
find that, notwithstanding they have not been regularly 
made at the two opposite seasons most favourable for de- 
tecting a parallax, yet a sufficient number of observations 
may be collected to establish the same conclusion as that 
which I have given in my former paper. The stars, of which 
I have a sufficient number of observations for this investiga- 
• Piazzi and Calandrelli. 
