410 Astronomical and Nautical Collections. 
Sourot, the star of Venus, or otherwise, the great bear, accord- 
ing to an Arabic interpreter (Coptic MS. in the king’s library, 
Fonds de St. Germ. Suppl. N. xvit.); Sounovuor, the great 
dog, or the star of Canopus. 
‘“‘ But this is not the place for entering into a more full ex- 
planation of these different names. We have only proposed to 
examine in what degree M. Biot was authorized to give to 
some of the numerous stars, which appear in the zodiac of 
Dendera, the names of any known stars, in order to find a date 
for the monument: and it appears that the observations, which 
we have offered on this subject, must at least throw great un- 
certainty on this very important part of the Memoir of a cele- 
brated Mathematician, who has, in other respects, by the mul- 
titude of his valuable works and his interesting discoveries, 
acquired so just a claim to the gratitude of the public. 
“The study of Egyptian antiquities is now acquiring from 
day to day a greater degree of certainty: the time is come when 
we must renounce all those conjectural speculations, which have 
too long prevailed in this study without control. A variety of 
authentic monuments are poured in upon us from all quarters, 
and the comparing them with the multitude of passages relating 
to them, which are left in the works of the ancient authors, will 
hereafter be the only unerring guide in all researches into the 
history and the arts of a nation placed so high by antiquity itself 
in the annals of every ,kind of civilisation.” —Letire @ M. le 
Rédacteur de la Revue Encyclopédique, relative au Zodiaque de 
Dendéra. R.E.N. xliv. Aodt 1822. 
ii. Extract from Laplace’s History of Astronomy. | 
Since the publication of the Remarks on the Exposition du 
Systéme du Monde, in the last Number of these Collections, 
the illustrious author of that work has favoured the writer of 
those remarks with a copy of his late republication of the fifth 
book of the Exposition, under the title of Précis de U’ Histoire de 
PAstronomie. 8. Paris 1821. The passage in question being 
no longer liable to the objections which were made to it in this 
Journal, it becomes necessary to insert it here in itsimproved form. 
