138 Mr Baily's Account of 



fruit of his long and lalx)rious services was forced from him,* 

 and treated as the propert}' of government ; at his decease the 

 instruments also were actually claimed by the government as 

 their own, and his executors were annoyed with a vexatious and 

 troublesome lawsuit on that account. 



As soon as Flamsteed had verified the position of his mural 

 arc, he set about the determination of the equinox, of the lati- 

 tude of his observatory, of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and of 

 other fundamental points for ascertaining the correct position of 

 the fixed stars and the true solar, lunar, and planetary motions. 

 His observation-book, as published in the second volume of the 

 Historia Coelestis^ and the Prolegomena in the third volume, 

 shew the manner and the order in which he pursued his inqui- 

 ries, and will be a lasting monument of his zeal and perseverance 

 in the cause of astronomy. Some of his methods are original, 

 and continue in use even at the present day. The formation of 

 a correct and enlarged catalogue of stars, at that time much 

 wanted, and anxiously expected, was his first object ; since no 

 other valuable catalogue was then in existence except that of 

 Tycho Brahe, containing the places of about one thousand stars, 

 determined very roughly without the use of the telescope, which 

 had not then been invented. 



In the pursuit of this inquiry he did not neglect any oppor- 

 tunity of watching the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, 

 nor of applying from time to time such corrections to the theory, 

 and such improvements to the tables, as would more truly re- 

 present their places in the heavens ; in fact, a great portion of 

 his time was occupied in such investigations ; and there is, 

 amongst his MSS., an immense mass of computations carried on 

 for the express purpose of elucidating various intricate points in 

 physical astronomy ; which is a sufficient answer to those per- 

 sons who have hitherto considered him as a mere observer. In- 

 deed, it appears that at this period he was in friendly intercourse 

 with Newton, to whom he freely communicated his observations, 

 and with whom he frequently discussed the subject of the lunar 

 and planetary theories. Many inquiries were again made by 



" • I speak not here of manual but of mental force ; of that undue influence 

 over the mind which is capable of being exerted in a thousand ways, and u 

 sometimes more powerful than mere physical violence. ,/ ; 



