Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/193

 1860-70] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 165 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. 9 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