Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/275

 1880-1920] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 243 to the manuscript treasures at that time still preserved at Slough. The Royal Society also lent Herschel's original " Sweep-Books," so that it became possible to make a thorough revision of his three catalogues of Nebulae and Clusters. A lengthy biographical introduction was prepared from letters and other manuscripts, and the papers read before the Philosophical Society of Bath were now printed for the first time. The new edition came out in the spring of 1912.* Without having any pecuniary interest in the undertaking or assuming any editorial responsibility, the Society lent a hand in the republication and distribution of Franklin-Adams' Chart of the Heavens and Higgs' smaller atlas of the Solar Spectrum, in 1913 and 1915. In addition to receiving the Memoirs and Monthly Notices, attending the meetings and voting on matters brought before the General Meetings, the Fellows have the privilege of using the fine library gradually collected by the Society. The greater part of this is contained in the large room on the first floor, in which the Fellows assemble before the meetings. This was in 1890 connected with the gallery at the top of the room by means of a spiral staircase. At the same time the Society was put to con- siderable expense in carrying out various structural alterations made necessary by the rapid increase of the library. The Treasury declined to let these be done at the public expense, giving as a reason that it had originally been intended that the library should be of the full height of the first and second floors together and provided with galleries. But in the building as constructed, when handed over to the Society, an intermediate floor was intro- duced and a depository fitted with shelving for large parcels on the second floor. As the building had all the appearance of having been permanently completed for the purpose for which it was used, the Treasury could not sanction any further work on it at the public expense. The Society therefore undertook to convert the room above the library (which has the same floor-space but is much lower) into an additional library. This " Upper Library " contains books not dealing specially with astronomy, such as the Transactions of- various Foreign and Colonial Societies, duplicates, etc. Some of these duplicates are of great value and have been acquired for the express purpose of being lent to Fellows, without disturbing the sets in the library, which are never lent out, such as the Astronomische Nachrichten, and our Memoirs and Monthly Notices. it was found that a summary of his observations of variable stars compiled by Caroline Herschel had not been at the disposal of the Editor of the Scientific Papers. It was printed in the M.N., 78, 554-568.
 * When Herschel's MSS. were presented to the Society in 1918 January,