282 Royal Astronomical Society, 



value of the constant of parallax deduced from Mr. Henderson's ob- 

 servations is 57' 1"'8 ; the corresponding value of the moon's mass is 

 —^ ; and that of the coefficient of lunar notation 9"' 28. 



List of Moon-culminating Stars observed at the Royal Observa- 

 tories of Greenwich and Cambridge, in the month of June, 1837. 



This list also will be found in the Monthly Notices. 



December 8, 1837. — The following communications were read: 



Observations of the Solar Eclipse of May 15, 1836, at the Obser- 

 vatory of San Fernando. By M. Cerquero. 



Moon Culminating Stars observed at San Fernando in 1835 and 

 1836. By M. Cerquero. 



List of 285 Stars of the Society's Catalogue which are Double. 

 By Mr. Holehouse. 



On a very ancient Solar Eclipse observed in China. By R. W. 

 Rothman, Esq. 



This is the famous eclipse which has been so much discussed by the 

 Jesuit Missionaries, De Mailla and Gaubil, which has l)een vaunted 

 as an irrefragable proof of the antiquity of the Chinese empire and 

 science ; and for failing to predict which, the unluckly astronomers. 

 Ho and Hi, were punished with death. 



The particulars are given in the Histoire Generate de la Chine, 

 translated from the Chinese, by Moyriac de Mailla, and the Ohserva^ 

 tions Mathematiques, &c., published by Souciet. It seems that a cer- 

 tain Chinese history, the Chou King, said to be of the highest anti- 

 quity, but without date, contains a statement to the effect that, to- 

 wards the beginning of the reign of Tchong-Kang, on the first day 

 of the third moon of autumn, there was an eclipse of the sun in the 

 constellation Fang (Scorpio). Another chronicle, less ancient, but of 

 which the date is still anterior to 460 b.c, states that the eclipse took 

 place in the fifth year of Tchong-Kang, on the first day of the ninth 

 month, and adds cyclic characters for the day and year, correspond- 

 ing, according to some of the chronologers, to October 13, 2128 b.c. 

 The chronologers, however, are not agreed with respect to the year 

 of the eclipse. Some refer it to 2159 B.C.; others, as just stated, 

 to 2128 ; and Gaubil, by whom the eclipse was calculated, and who 

 cites the calculations of three other Jesuits in proof of the accuracy 

 of his own, says it took place on the 1 2th of October, in the year 

 2155. Freret, on the authority of the calculations of Cassini, refers 

 it to the 23rd of September, 2007. On account of these discrepan- 

 cies, and the uncertainty occasioned by the imperfections of the tables 

 employed in the former calculations, Mr. Rothman undertook to cal- 

 culate the eclipse anew, from the more accurate tables now existing. 



He states, that for the sun he employed Delambre's tables, and 

 for the moon the elements of Damoiseau ; and that he has found the 

 eclipse took place on the 13th of October, 2128 b.c, the instant of 

 the greatest phase being 12^ 8"^ 47^ mean time from midnight at the 

 place of observation, and the magnitude 10'5 digits ; — ^a result agree- 

 ing entirely with the indications of the Chinese chronicle. 



The reader may see the arguments for and against the authenticity 



