62 HISTORY OF THE [1830-40 18 
for every day and their distance from the moon for every third th 
hour were given in Schumacher’s Ephemerides, but these were co 
but little known in the British Navy ; it was therefore recommended co 
that these items be given in the Nautical Almanac. Also that M; 
Mercury and the Georgian be treated in the same way by a “ liberal mi 
and enlightened Government.” Further recommendations in- st] 
eluded extended information about eclipses and transits of Jupiter’s to: 
satellites ; the insertion of the list of moon-culminating stars given dii 
in the recent Supplements ; the extension of the “ elements for 
computing the principal occultations ” into a list of occultations 
of stars down to the 6th magnitude visible at Greenwich, with Al 
elements for predicting occultations of planets and stars to the wl 
5th magnitude visible in some habitable part of the globe. The (ai 
apparent places of the principal fixed stars to be given for the th< 
time of transit and not for noon, and their number to be increased so 
to 100. The several monthly lists of phenomena to be made into fre 
one list. cir 
At the meeting of the Council in 1830 December a letter was Co 
read from the Admiralty, announcing that the Astronomer Royal As 
had been directed to carry out the suggestions in the Report. y e: 
But soon afterwards Stratford, Lieutenant, R.N., on half-pay, was He 
appointed Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, and carried no 
out the recommendations of the Committee most thoroughly, g°' 
beginning with the volume for 1834. Only a very few suggestions °f 
were not adopted : ephemerides of the satellites of Uranus, of & 1 
Encke’s comet, and of maxima and minima of Algol. The Society * n 
had rendered an important service to astronomy and to navigation ln : 
by insisting on a thorough reform instead of the half-measures P 0i 
first proposed. ^ 
The predictions of occultations commenced by Henderson tor 
were continued by Stratford and distributed by the Society 
till the end of 1833, after which date they appeared in the new ^y 
Nautical Almanac. Ob 
There was one desideratum which had not been noticed by the en £ 
Committee, viz., an ephemeris of the planets for the time of their 
transit over the meridian of Greenwich. Perhaps they were 
afraid to ask for too much ; but attention had already been f 13 
drawn to the utility of an ephemeris of that kind by Sheepshanks, r? 1 
who calculated and printed one for the first six months of 1830. e 
In 1832 November, Stratford offered to provide “ a working 
ephemeris of all the planets at transit,” if the Society would pay Wa 
for paper and printing, which offer was accepted. The same was ^ 
done for 1834, most of the calculations being done by Mr. Epps, 
the Assistant Secretary, who undertook the whole of them for 
1835. But this was found to take up too much of his time, while sevi