Votes. . Ixix 
late, and sometimes not at all, we here give the elements of the orbits of the 
comets, calculated by Mr. Bowditch, upon observations entirely American, 
made at Salem by Mr. Bowditch, at Nantucket by Mr. Folger, junior, at 
Cambridge by Mr. Farrar, at Falmouth by Mr. Nichols, and at New Haven 
by Mr. Fisher.” 
The learned editor also takes occasion to notice particularly Dr. Bowditch’s 
constant attention to what would be practically useful in his researches ; and 
refers with warm commendation to the sentiment expressed in the following 
passage of the letter just cited: —‘‘ You will see that I have studiously 
avoided all scientific parade, and have published the work [the Practical 
Navigator] according to the method of instruction used in our country, where 
we prefer, in these matters, practice to theory.” 
The difficulty of obtaining public patronage for any other works, than those 
which are obviously of practical value, especially for profound works of science, 
has been experienced in all countries. The following anecdote respecting 
the publication of Lagrange’s immortal work, the Mécanique Analytique, 
affords an instance of this disheartening fact, even in Paris, the very centre 
of mathematical science. I am indebted for it, to an able article written by 
Dr. Bowditch for the North American Review. 
“This work,’’ says Dr. Bowditch, ‘“‘ was written at Berlin, but Lagrange 
wished to have it printed at Paris, where it could be executed in a better 
style. A copy was made and forwarded to the care of the Abbe Marie ; and 
it would now hardly be believed, that he could not, in 1788, get a printer to 
undertake the publication of that single quarto volume, without a guarantee 
to pay the expenses, in case the sale of the work should not be sufficient. The 
Abbé agreed to this condition, and did even more ; for, at his own expense, 
he procured the assistance of one of the first mathematicians of Paris, Le- 
gendre, to overlook the publication, and see that it was printed correctly. 
The second edition of this immortal work was published in 1811, with many 
additions and improvements, showing the vigor of his mind though in extreme 
old age. Unfortunately for science, he did not live to complete the whole 
of the second volume, and a few of the last chapters are given exactly as in 
the first edition.”? Dr. Bowditch adds, that ‘this work ought to be studied 
frequently by every one who wishes to learn the most approved methods of 
treating the science of Physical Astronomy. It is much easier to read than 
La Place’s Mécanique Céleste, as it does not go into the detail and numerical 
