1830-40] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 61 
grapher, Sir Edward Parry, and “ not objected to ” by certain 
members of the Society, to whom they had been communicated. 
A printed copy of the proposed improvements for 1833 January was 
sent with the letter, with a request to state whether they were 
sufficient. On receipt of this, the Council lost no time, but at 
once appointed a Committee of forty members (including all the 
members of the Council) to consider the matter. This unwieldy 
Committee, however, was only nominal, and the work was done by 
a Sub-Committee consisting of Airy, Babbage, Baily, Beaufort, 
J. Herschel, Pond, Robinson, South (Chairman), Stratford, and 
W. Struve. The last mentioned was on a visit to this country, 
and “ devoted a considerable portion of his time to these 
proceedings.” 
The “ improved ” ephemeris for 1833 January submitted to 
the Society by the Admiralty (all the figures in which were ficti 
tious) was altogether unsatisfactory.* The time of rising and 
setting of sun and moon were introduced ; otherwise the chief 
alteration was that the place of the moon was given for every three 
hours instead of for noon and midnight only. The places of the 
planets were left without change, i.e. that of Mercury was still 
given for every third day, “ the Georgian ” for every tenth, all the 
others for every sixth day, and to i m in R.A. and 1' in Decl. only. 
The Report of the Committee was submitted to the Council 
and adopted by them on 1830 November 19, when thanks were 
voted to Baily “ for his magnanimous and spirited devotion of 
his time and talents to the composition and redaction of the 
Report.” It is printed in full in the Memoirs ( 4 , 449-470), 
and in the introduction to the Nautical Almanac for 1834. The 
Committee declare that they had constantly kept in view the 
principal object for which the Nautical Almanac w'as originally 
formed, viz., the advancement of nautical astronomy ; but they 
had also remembered that by a very slight extension of the com 
putations and a few additional articles, the work might be rendered 
equally useful for all the purposes of practical astronomy. 
The first reform demanded was the substitution of mean time 
everywhere for apparent solar time, though the R.A. and Decl. of 
the sun and the equation of time should be given both for apparent 
and mean noon. An additional column to be introduced, giving 
the M.T. of the transit of the first point of Aries. The use of 
signs (of the Zodiac) as indicating arcs of 30 0 to be abolished in 
expressing longitude. The R.A. and Decl. of the moon to be 
given for every hour. The time of rising and setting of sun and moon 
to be omitted. As regards the four principal planets, their places 
* The Nautical Almanac for 1833, the last one edited by Pond, is in perfect 
accordance with the plan of the specimen for January.