1860-70] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 
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was one that called for great performance ; and the part played 
by the men in responsible positions was worthy of the heritage. 
Airy and Adams were the most marked men, and the Royal 
Observatory stood out pre-eminent in contributing solutions of 
questions of high importance in the Science, whilst De la Rue, 
Carrington, Huggins, and Lockyer were breaking new ground 
that was to yield splendid harvest in later years. 
In the accounts of the meetings one gathers something of the 
personality of the conspicuous men : Airy, a dominating figure, 
unbending and gruff ; Adams, clear-minded, quiet, and helpful; 
Pritchard, lively and sympathetic ; Lee, stately and courteous ; 
Carrington, impetuous ; Huggins, careful and judicial; and 
De la Rue, a man of order and energy, on cordial terms with 
everyone. 
Of the growing prosperity of the Society there were many 
indubitable signs. In the middle of the decade the Council 
prefaced their Annual Report as follows ( M.N. , 26 , 101) :— 
The Council cannot recollect any former occasion on which 
there has been better ground for congratulation to the Royal Astro 
nomical Society than at the close of the past year. Looking back 
wards ten years, they find the number of the contributing members 
has increased by nearly thirty per cent. The attendance at the 
Evening Meetings has more than doubled, and the funded property 
of the Society, during the nine years’ tenure of office by the present 
Treasurer, has increased by upwards of £2700 stock. Applications 
for the supply of the Monthly Notices of our proceedings continue 
to be made from every quarter of the globe ; and several of the 
numerous private Observatories scattered throughout the country 
are showing signs of increasing vitality by the production of fresh 
and valuable results. 
The situation in Astronomy at the end of this decade was well 
summed up by Stokes in his Presidential Address to the British 
Association at Exeter in 1869. After referring to advances made 
in dynamical astronomy, he spoke as follows :— 
After these brilliant achievements, some may perhaps have 
been tempted to imagine that the field of astronomical research 
must have been well-nigh exhausted. Small perturbations, hitherto 
overlooked, might be determined, and astronomical tables thereby 
rendered still more exact. New asteroids might be discovered 
by the telescope. More accurate values of the constants with 
which we have to deal might be obtained. But no essential novelty 
of principle was to be looked for in the department of astronomy ; 
for such we must go to younger and less mature branches of science. 
Researches which have been carried on within the last few 
years, even the progress which has been made within the last