f o Hijhry f)f Ajlromviy for the. Year i 8qo. 



minirter of ihe interior, has given ipeeial orders for finifliln^ 

 this volume. 



The printing of tables of fines to thoufandtb parts of the 

 circle has been finifhed. The late Borda caufed them to be 

 calciijated inider his own infpejS'ion. The printing' vi^as 

 prettyfar advanced, but feveral things ftill remained to be 

 done. Dclambre put the lalt hand to them,' and verified 

 the calculation in feveral parts : he corrected the proofs and 

 wrote the explanation. 



The decimal tables have been calculated to a much greater 

 extent at the Bureau du Cddajire by the care of Prony; but 

 the difficulty of^ printing them will perhaps greatly retard the 

 advantage we expe6t from them. If we can get all the agro- 

 nomical tables reduced to decimal degrees, that is- to fay, 

 calculated for the hundredth and thoui'andth parts of a qua- 

 drant, aftranomical calculations will be much Amplified; but 

 a long time may clapfe before aftronomers will agree in re- 

 gard to this reformation, though ufeful. 



I have-publifhcd an edition of the "ISIondes de Fontenelh^ 

 with notes and additions. This work, fo celebrated, which 

 is ftill generally read, flood in need of notes for correcting its 

 errors. As Bode had given a German edition of it, and 

 Codrika one in Greek, I thought it my duty to give a new 

 one in French. 



I have begun a fmall portable ftereotype edition, in eight- 

 eeris^'bf-th^ tables of logarithms, publiilied by Lecaille and 

 niyfelf in 1760, and fince reprinted four or five times with a 

 great niany faults. This will be the moft convenient fmall- 

 iized edition, and the moft corrcft. 



Firmin Didot w^ill infure the beauty of the impreflBon : I 

 have added explanations for the ufe of thofe aflronomers, phi- 

 lofophers, geofrraphers, furveyors, who mav have occafion to 

 employ logarithms ; but I have fuppreifed all ufelefs' formulae. 



For a century pall aftronomers have been continually dif- 

 pnting on the obliquity of the ecliptic and the quantity of its 

 diminution. The circles with which obfervationg may be 

 multiplied at plcafure, prcfented new means for deciding this 

 queltion. I caufed one of 19 inches radius, the greatefl 

 '''^''*'- hithcrtq 



