COUNCIL FOR 1872. 
17 
From Mr. Pigott’s Observatory, traces of which may be seen 
in the garden of J. P. Mills, Esquire, in Bootham, a young 
Astronomer, John Groodricke, in 1782, discovered variations in 
the star Algol in the Constellation Medusa, for which the 
annual Gold Medal of the Eoyal Society was awarded him. In 
1796 he was elected F. E. S. He was only 18 when he made 
the discovery, and died at the early age of 32. 
The late Earl of Eosse, the Constructor of the gigantic 
Telescope, with a Speculum six feet in diameter, was born in 
York June 17th, 1800. At the second Meeting of the British 
Association in York, in 1844, Lord Eosse exhibited a model of 
his magnificent instrument, and gave interesting details of its 
construction, the difficulties overcome in the composition and 
the casting of the enormous speculum. 
In 1832, William Pearson, L. L. D., first Treasurer of the 
Eoyal Astronomical Society, presented to the Yorkshire Philo¬ 
sophical Society an Equatorial, a Transit Instrument, a Sidereal 
Time Clock by Barraud, London, and the Conical Eoof of our 
Observatory. This Eoof was constructed under the direction 
of the celebrated Smeaton, and had served as the roof of a 
summer-house in Dr. Pearson’s garden, at his Eectory of South 
Kilworth, in Leicestershire. 
In connection with the interests of Practical Astronomy, we 
may not omit the name of Mr. Thomas Cooke, F. E. A. S., our 
late honorary member, one of the leading opticians, if not the 
first of the time. His twenty-five-inch Eefractor, made by him, 
is a monument of persevering ingenuity and mechanical skill. 
York, thus distinguished in Astronomical Science, will not 
fail, we would hope, to maintain a place not unworthy of the 
past. 
The gross income of the Society for the past year has amounted 
to the sum of £1,423. 10s. 9d. Of this sum the receipts 
at the Gate have realised £273. 12s. 9d., being the largest 
amount received at the Gate since the year 1866. The total 
expenditure of the year has amounted to £1,379. 10s. 8d., 
leaving a balance in the Treasurer’s hands of £91. 16s. 3d., of 
which £44. Os. Id. is the surplus of this year. 
B 
