186 
SECOND REPORT -1862, 
has been done in England within the last five years than in the 
preceding century; and this not only with regard to the addi¬ 
tions actually made by Englishmen to the stock of results drawn 
from that science, but also with respect to the number of per¬ 
sons who understand its principles, and who at some future 
time may be expected to contribute to its progress. In the 
University with which I am best acquainted, the study of this 
subject has made great advances. Of the amount and excel¬ 
lence of our geodetic measures and pendulum experiments, 
and of our discussions of refraction and aberration, I have 
already spoken. In accuracy of examination and correction of 
instrumental errors, perhaps something has been gained. In 
the extension of our star catalogues, much more has been done 
within a few years than in the whole previous time which fol¬ 
lowed Bradley’s death. In the observation of planets, and the 
regular comparison of observations with Tables, (the first essen¬ 
tial step to the improvement of the latter,) it is hoped that a 
great advance has been made. The observation of occultations 
and eclipses has extended; the exhibition of the results also, 
both for terrestrial and celestial determinations, has increased; 
and the regular publication of them in the Memoirs of the 
Astronomical Society , saves from oblivion the past and insures 
more completely the observation of the future. In the obser¬ 
vation of double stars very much has been done. In all this I see 
grounds for exultation at “ the advance of science in England.” 
And when I remark the growing intermixture of physical with 
observing science, I indulge in the hope that the character as 
well as the extent of our Astronomy is improving, and that the 
time is approaching when a person will not in England be con¬ 
sidered a great astronomer because he can observe a transit or 
measure a zenith-distance correctly. 
XI. In conclusion, I shall suggest a few points to which it 
seems desirable that some attention should be directed. In 
this part however, more than in any other, the judgement of an 
individual must be considered fallible. 
1. After all that has been done in respect to refraction, I sup¬ 
pose that there is no subject of such continual application, in 
the theory of which so many difficulties occur, and in whose 
application there are so many discrepancies. It seems not impro¬ 
bable that some of the latter may depend upon anomalies in the 
indications of the thermometer, owing perhaps to the effects of ra¬ 
diation, the nature of which till lately has been little understood, 
and scarcely recognised among astronomers. In some of Mr. 
Fallows’s pendulum experiments it appeared to account for many 
