By comparing the longitudes and latitudes of the fixed stars, as computed from their right ascensions, and north polar distances, determined by observations made at distant periods, Astronomers have been enabled to ascertain, with the utmost accuracy, the precession of the equinoxes. The great accuracy, however, which has lately been introduced into the construction of astronomical instruments, and the more general cultivation of Practical Astronomy, will hereafter be the means of ascertaining the minute changes in the places of the fixed stars, which have been denominated their proper motion, and which, probably, arise from a motion of the solar system in absolute space.