Introduction 
sistent, in some instances to the extent of having- the proper motion star moving in the direction 
of three different quadrants. 
When, as usually happens, the measures of small stars in the field give a more or less differ¬ 
ent movement from that taken from the star catalogues, it would be manifestly absurd, and in 
effect begging the whole question, to ascribe the difference to the proper motion of the faint star. 
There is at this time no relevant evidence of any character that any really faint star, not asso¬ 
ciated and moving with a larger star, has any sensible proper motion at all. Of course this does 
not necessarily refer to all telescopic stars visible in small apertures. Occasionally a star as 
faint as the eleventh magnitude has been found with a small motion, but these instances are 
rarer that one would expect. For many years I have been hunting for a faint star with some 
certain proper motion, but so far without success; and the observations of others to this time 
give only negative results. It goes without saying that every star in the heavens, down to the 
limit of the largest aperture, must have some proper motion as well as parallax; and it is equally 
obvious that the one is as negligible as the other in all observations of relative positions with any 
astronomical instrument now in use. Possibly the present series of measures, when followed up 
a half century or more from this time, may show that some one of the small stars now measured 
has a real and substantial movement in space. I sincerely hope this may be the result of further 
investigations, but it will require careful and long-continued measures with the micrometer, and 
perhaps extended to other near faint stars not yet observed, to establish and confirm the sus¬ 
pected movement. Photography will doubtless contribute to this end, but the exposures will 
necessarily have to be much longer than those given to the plates of the several Astrographic 
Catalogues in order to reach the desired lower magnitudes. It should be remembered, in dealing 
with magnitudes from these catalogues, and with photographic results generally, that the values 
given make the stars from one-half to more than a whole magnitude fainter than the usual visual 
estimates of experienced observers. 
All the star places given are for 1880 unless otherwise stated. For the greater conve¬ 
nience of those who will use the observations hereafter, at the telescope or in the library, the 
original places as given in the General Catalogue of Double Stars have been retained, and the 
stars in Part I reduced to the same epoch. The total number of measures in the present work is 
about 9500. 
S. W. B. 
