126 
SECOND REPORT- 1832. 
acceleration of the Moon’s motion,—or that any single effort has 
been made like that which sent expeditions to Peru and to 
Lapland : But I will undertake to say, that in no similar period 
has greater progress been made in the increased number and 
excellence of observations ; in the accuracy of the methods of 
treating them ; in the examination and extension of theory; in 
the improvement of our powers, both instrumental and mathe¬ 
matical ; and, finally, in the diffusion of accurate knowledge, in 
the increase of the number of persons who are interested in 
the science, and in the facility of communication among Astro¬ 
nomers. 
I shall arrange my Report under the following principal heads: 
I. A short general history of institutions and periodical 
publications. 
II. An account of some of the instruments principally in use. 
III. A statement of the improvements in the catalogues of 
fundamental stars, including the discussions of the 
various corrections. 
IV. An account of the more extended star-catalogues, with 
the tables for facilitating the corrections. 
V. Notices upon the measures of double stars, the observa¬ 
tions of nebulae, &c. 
VI. An account of the principal observations, tables, &c. of 
the Sun and Moon, the old planets and their satellites. 
VII. History of the new planets and periodical comets : and 
of comets generally. 
VIII. Account of measures whose object is to determine the 
figure of the earth. 
IX. General history of physical theories. 
X. Comparison of the progress of Astronomy in England 
with that in other countries. 
XI. Suggestion of points to which it seems desirable that 
the attention of Astronomers should be directed. 
I. At the beginning of the century, the Observatory of Green¬ 
wich was the only one (I believe,) in which observations were 
made on any regular system. The thirty-six stars selected by 
Dr. Maskelyne, the Sun, and the Moon, were observed on the 
meridian with great regularity; the planets very rarely, and only 
at particular parts of their orbits; small stars, or stars not 
included in the thirty-six, were very seldom observed. A mass 
of observations was thus accumulating which, though confined 
in its object, surpassed in regularity and accuracy, and perhaps 
in general value, any other observations made at that time. 
The observations also were published in the form in which 
