412 Astronomical and Nautical Collections. 
are represented by the following elements, calculated by Mr. 
Hansen. 
Perihelium 1822 October 23,57725, at Altona 
30™. 30°. from Paris 
Longitude of the Perihelium 271° 53! ape 
Longitude of the ascending node 92 38 17,9 
From the mean equinox of 1 Sept. 
Inclination 52 36 51,7 
Logarithm of the Per. Distance 0.0597898 
Motion retrograde. 
Our observations, compared with these elements, indicate 
nothing of ellipticity. 
iv. Remarks on the Grocentrric LatituDE of the Americans, 
as applicable to Occultations. 
Ir has been suggested, by some patriotic land surveyors on 
the other side of the Atlantic, that it would be much more 
correct to consider the latitude as determined by the position 
of the earth’s diameter than by that of its surface: and this for 
a very obvious reason, that it would give to the United States 
ten or twelve miles of territory in breadth, and some hundreds 
in length, from the change of position of the line of demarcation 
between their territories and the British colonies. But in 
Europe the reason for departing from the received usage of 
language, as applied to the sun and the stars and the seasons, 
is by no means so cogent, and the simple denomination of 
latitude must still remain appropriated to the elevation of the 
pole above the actual horizon, or the plane touching the earth’s 
surface at the point of observation. 
The ‘‘ Geocentric Latitude” of the American surveyors, how- 
ever, is by no means a useless element in the problems of Nau- 
tical Astronomy: for it affords the simplest and most correct 
mode of determining the precise effect of parallax on the moon’s 
place in the heavens. It is always dess than the true latitude: 
the subtractive correction being equal to 11’14” x sin. 2 lat.: 
and it will be convenient to employ a small table, similar to 
Mayer’s, instead of a separate calculation, for obtaining it in 
each case. 
