Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/102

 84 HISTORY OF THE [1840-50 veneration to this Society as long as it preserves its own existence," as the Council remark in adverting to the gift (1846 February). Later, Baily's sister presented the bust which stands in our hall, " a faithful and charming reproduction " Herschel says of it, " of features we have so often seen in this place, animated with the pure love of science and with deep interest in the welfare of this Society." Assistant Secretaries. J. Hartnup, who has been mentioned above, was one of three men, each of considerable ability, who held during the decade the office of Assistant Secretary, upon which so much of the amenity and even effectiveness of the Society depends. Hartnup was a man of energy, and was appointed in 1843 to the charge of the observatory which the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board was about to establish at Liverpool. He superintended its equipment though, as usual, Airy had a large say in this became a Fellow in 1844, an d contributed frequently to the proceedings, in particular a description of an improved form of chronometer balance. He was succeeded by R. Harris, who has also been mentioned above, " a well-informed and indeed accomplished man," " a student of the arts of painting and music," of the " propriety of whose manners " the Astronomer Royal bears witness in recommending him. He only held office till 1846, dying of consumption in his 35th year. J. Williams followed, well-known subsequently for his work on Chinese Astronomy. He was a Fellow of the Society at the time of his appointment, having been admitted as one of the members of the Mathematical Society, and his knowledge of the library of that Society, which was in process of examination, and which proved both valuable and interesting, was immediately useful. He resigned his fellowship on his appointment as Assistant Secretary. Monthly Notices. In those days the Memoirs were the chief vehicle of the Society's publications. The Monthly Notices were a compilation by the Secretaries from such material as was available, and seldom comprised more than an abstract of an author's com- munication. In 1847 the system was reformed. Thereafter, Monthly Notices became more full and more denned in form. Their contents were to be considered a substantive record of the proceed- ings of the Society, a portion of its Memoirs ; in it alone were printed such observations or papers as had an immediate interest or were in a transition state of reduction. Sheepshanks undertook the responsible work of editing them. He inserted an explanatory note prefacing volume 8. The compression and arrangement of the matter was left in great degree to his discretion. In arranging and condensing the Notices for they still were largely abstracts he avoided the exercise of any criticism ; it was his object to repre-