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SAPIENTIA ET DOCTRINA STABILITAS

ly been the propert of private subscribers in the City, and of the
City Council, at whose expense, and on whose ground, it had been
erected, and under whose management it was conducted. Pro-
fessor Williamson only giving his services as Director, and Observer.
A brief statement of the Origination, and of the position, of the
Institution, at the time of the transfer of the College, may here be given
as a part of the annals of the history of the University, to which the
Observatory has since belonged. For a number of years, Professor
Williamson, by the use of portable instruments of the best construc-
tion among the apparatus furnished by the College to his department
in Physics, had given the time to the City. He had also for the
instruction, and with the assistance of his students, made nu-
merous observations, by the various methods known to Astronomers,
for the more exact determination of the Longitude and Latitude
of Kingston, and of the anomalous variations of the Magnetic me-
ridian in the City, and its vicinity, and had published the re-
sults in the Public Press. He had, therefore, long felt the want
of a fixed Observatory, and larger and more stable instruments,
which the funds of the University were unable to supply. In
the course of time, however, a fortunate opportunity pre-
sented itself for making a Commencement, at least, to

1860-1861