]S05.] 



H'l/Iory of jyirnnomy for 1S04.' 



131 



*« Journal des Debats"* oF the 8th No- 

 vember, 1804. 



It is impodible to behold the new pla- 

 nets wiihoiit calling to mind the opinion 

 ot the ancients on this fubjeft. 



Aricinidorus, quoted by Sereca, book 

 rii. chap. 5. iM'l, that the five planets 

 were not the oniy ones, and that there 

 exifted a great number which were un- 

 known !o us. 



But the ilea of Kepler is ftill more ex- 

 traordinary : — " Inter Jovem et Martem 

 (f-ys that great aftronomer) inierpojui no- 

 •vu in planet am . ' ' 



The new planets furnilh geometricians 

 a vaft field of invei'Hgation. The pertur- 

 bations they experience muft not only be 

 conlidcrable, but they will be very compli- 

 cated, and very difficult to be calculated, 

 en account of their great eccentricities and 

 inclinations. Accordingly the Inftitute 

 has made this the fubjeii of a prize for 

 the year 1805. 



Btfides the difcovery of a planet, tfce 

 year iSoij. is likewiiediflinguiihed by that 

 of a comet. It is the 94.th, and was dif- 

 covered by M. Pons, at Marfeilles, on 

 the 7ih of March ; by M. Bcuvard, at 

 Paris, en the nth ; and by M. Olb'.Ts, 

 at Bremen, on the 12th. Its elements are 

 as follow : 



s. o ' 

 Node, . . 5 j6 48 



Inclinnt'on, . . 56 29 



Perilieiion, . . 4 28 4.5 



Tranfit, 1 3th February, 14 6 



Didance of Perihelion, 1,071* direcl 

 niovemer.t. 



The medal founded by Lalande in 

 1802, was, on the jth of April, adjudged 

 by the InlHtute to M. Piazzi, in confide- 

 rationof his excellent Catalogue of 6748 

 Hars. It is the feco.nd time that this 

 piize has been decreed. It was given in 

 1803 to M. Olbers for the difcovery of his 

 planet. A lover of aftronomy at Berlin 

 h:is depofited 400 francs in the hands of 

 M. Bode, for the author of the moft im- 

 portant aftrononiical diflirtation which 

 lliall be tranfmitted to him befors the end 

 of Augult 1805. 



This year has likcwife procured us an- 

 01 her pleaCure : I mean the return of M. 

 Humboldt, who has brought back with 

 him from histrave's an imm^n'"': qurntity 

 cf obrcrvaiions. This is the proper op- 



• Thj title of the " Journal des Deb4ts" 

 has rec«ntly'becn changed for that of" Jour- 

 nal Je I'Empire." Debates (as a Contincn- 

 til Journjl obffrres on this occafion) have 

 ccifed 10 be the order of the d^y at Faris. T. 



porfunity for introducing a few words 

 concerning that illudrious traveller. The 

 combinqtinn of courage, talents, and for- 

 tune, is io difficult to be met with, that 

 before him there was no example of the 

 kind : accouiingly no travels like his were 

 ever undertaken. 



Frecitric- Alexander Baron von Hum- 

 bol It was born at Berlin September 14, 

 1769. Having completed his Hiuiies pt 

 Berlin and at Gbttini;en, he went to 

 France in 1790, and after A'ards vilited 

 England. Gtoige Forlter, the I'uo of 

 John Reinhold, infpired him with a love of 

 travel and of making ohferva*ions. He 

 publifiied a work on the bUaltes of the 

 Rhine. In 1798 he purpofed to vifit 

 Egvpt, but gave the preference to Ame- 

 rica. He went firll to Spain ; then to the 

 Canary Iflands in May 1799 ; and thence 

 proceeded to Cumana, on the coaft cf Pa- 

 ria, in South America. 



In 1800 he vifited the Oroncko, the 

 Rio Negro, the Cafiquiare, the communi- 

 cation of the Orinaro with the river of 

 Amazons, and penetrated by land to the 

 frontiers of Brazil. 



Among the curious obfervatiors which 

 he read to the Inftitute, I remarked thofe 

 on the Cafiquiare, which forms the com- 

 munication between the 0.''onoko and the 

 Rio Negro, concerning whofe fource a 

 miftaken notion had been entertained j 

 thofe on the very aflive pcifon of the Gu- 

 aris ; on the dreadful inconvenience of the 

 Maringuins ; and on the Otomates, who 

 eat a pound of argillaceous earth without 

 fullaining any injury. 



In iSoi he went to the Ifland of Cuba, 

 to Carthagena. He difcovered that there 

 was fcarcely a difference of a quaner of a 

 line of the barometer between the Gulpli 

 of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean ; a quef- 

 tion of which I was Ijng defnous cf pro- 

 cuiing thefolution. 



In iSoi M.von Huinboldt went (o 

 Peru, afcended the Andes, vifited Santa 

 Fe de Bogota, Q^ito, Loxa, Guayaquil, 

 Lima, Acapulco, and in 1803 Mexico. — 

 It is furprifing to find that the fituation of 

 Mexico was fo -naccurarely determined a« 

 to leave an uncertainty of two or three de» 

 grees ; he found the difference of the me- 

 ridians to be 6I1. 45' 20", and the l.iiitude 

 19' 26' 2". Having made a great ntim- 

 berof excuifions and obfervations in Mex- 

 ico, lie repai.edto the Havannih, and af- 

 terwards to Philadelphia, At length on 

 the 4th of Augud he arrived at Bour- 

 dcaux, with forty cheftsof colleitions, fix 

 tlioulimd plants, a great number of map*, 

 allronomical determinations of 240 places, 

 I< 2 5°o 



