2. On a Case of Lateral Refraction in the Island of Teneriffe

Extract

In his astronomical visit to Teneriffe last summer, the author was instructed to inquire into the lateral oscillation of stars, as seen by Baron Von Humboldt in his ascent of the mountain. During a month's residence on the place of the alleged observation no approach to anything of the sort was ever noticed, although a powerful equatorial, with a twelve-foot telescope and high magnifying powers, was employed to detect any irregularity in the motions of the stars. The author concluded, therefore, that the anomalous movements described by Humboldt could not have been produced by any general or cosmical action of the atmosphere, or of light or heat, which astronomers were bound to consider.