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ON THE ORBIT OF THE BINARY STAR LEONIS ( 1536). BY J. E. GORE, M.R.I.A., F.R.A.S., Honorary Member, Liverpool Astronomical Society.

[Read JUNE 22, 1891.]

THIS binary star was discovered by the elder Struve in the year 1827. The change of position angle since its discovery has not been large, but I find that the motion has been round the apoastron end of the orbit, which accounts for its slow motion during the last 60 years.

By the method described in my Paper on 35 Comæ Berenices I have computed the orbit, and find the following provisional elements;

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The following is a comparison between the recorded measures and the positions computed from the above elements. Some of the measures are rather discordant, probably due to the comparative faintness of the companion star. The components were rated 3.9 and 7.1 magnitude by Struve; 4.2 and 8-5 by Secchi; 4-8 and 7.9 by Dembowski, and 4-4 and 7-5 by Leavenworth. Flammarion thinks the smaller star variable in brightness and colour :

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The residuals are for the most part small, and the elements seem to represent the measures as closely, perhaps, as could be expected, considering the small arc of the apparent orbit hitherto described by the companion star.

On the assumption that the combined mass of the components is equal to the mass of the sun, the "hypothetical parallax" will be

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So far as I know, an orbit for this star has not been previously

computed.

XIII.

SAINT FIACRE DE LA BRIE.

BY JOSEPH CASIMIR O'MEAGHER.

[Read NOVEMBER 9, 1891.]

MR. OLDEN's able notice of St. Fiacre in the Dictionary of National Biography is so complete that but little remains to be said on the subject; however, when visiting recently the Cathedral city of Meaux I elicited the following few facts which it may be interesting to record:

The French account of the saint tells us that he was the eldest son of Eugene IV., Roi d'Ecosse. The Martyrology of Donegal makes him son of Colman, son of Eogan, of the race of Colla-da-crioch; and Mac Firbis gives his pedigree thus:-Fiachra, son of Colman, son of Eoghan, son of Biodan, son of Oiloil, son of Suibhne, son of Maelduin, son of Fionn, son of Inchada, son of Colla-da-crioch, who we know was fifth in descent from Conn "of the hundred battles."

This history goes on to say that Fiacre received his religious instruction from St. Conan, Bishop of Sudarn, a place I am unable to identify, and, being anxious to lead a contemplative life, he secretly left his father's court.

On arriving at the sea-side he found a ship which carried him by "le souffle de Dieu" to Normandy, whence he proceeded on foot to Meaux. There he visited St. Faro, who gave him a piece of land in the Forest of Brodiliun, now called La Brie, conditionally on his undertaking to enclose it within a day. St. Fiacre set to work, and on the moment a trench opened before his spade; but while thus engaged a wicked woman, who had earned through her bad conduct the name of Becnaude, instead of being moved by this miracle, began to revile the holy man and to accuse him of sorcery. She followed St. Faro to Meaux, and persuaded him to return to Brodiliun in order to see for himself what had been done through the machinations of Beelzebub. Coming back to the forest she again attacked the saint, and told him that the bishop was coming to drive him away. On hearing this St. Fiacre became dejected, and, abandoning his work, sat down upon a rock near him, when at once la pierre s'amollit comme de la cire et reçoit l'empreinte

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