1805.] 



Hiftory of Jijirommy for \ 804. 



i>15 



This was probably that king of the Molof- 

 fians who received the exiled Themiftodes 

 as his gueft. The epithet o{ ^■n'Kvy7\a<7i7oi 

 annexed to the name of Nclfis may lead 

 us to imagine her poetry to have been of 

 the foft and pathetic catt, while a few 

 fragments that remain give us the idea 

 that (he was a tender mother and an affec- 

 tionate daughter. Corinna was celebrated 

 for her beauty, and her rivalry to Pindai , 

 over whom (he once obtained the ciown of 

 v^'ilory at a poetical conteft. Both the 

 competitors were pupils of another po- 

 etefs, a native of Anthedon, of the name 

 of Myrtis. Telefilla, the Argive, re- 

 nowned for her courage and patrioiifm, as 

 well as her talents, completes the cata- 

 logue. 



But I have been led to too great a 

 length, pofllbly, in this introduftovy mat- 

 ter. The principal objeft of my prefcnt 

 defign is to illuftrate thole poems in the 

 Anthologia which tuin on the fubjeft of 

 love, by the ideas of the Greeks concern- 

 ing it, and to compare that ("iiecics of 

 amorous poetry with thofe popular pro- 

 ductions of later days and other nations 

 which bear the nearelt analogy to it. And 

 to that I /hall now turn my attention. 



Narva. 

 (To he continued.) 



For the Monthly Magazine. 



HISTORY 0/ ASTRONOMY /ar 1S04 



By JtROME OE LA LANDE. 



[Continue J from p. 133, of our lajl ^Number.'] 



THE " Ephemerides of Milan," f.>r 

 1805, contain the oppofitions of Ju- 

 piter and Herfchel by M. Casfaris ; the 

 jflferior conjunction of Venus by M. Car- 

 lini ; analytical formulae by M, Oriani, 

 to cilcuh'e the etjuatioii of the centre and 

 its variation. He has endeavoured to ren- 

 der this operation more convenient than by 

 the fcient'.ficfoimulas of M. de Lagrange. 

 He has employed the twelfth power of ec- 

 centricity, the (inus of twelve times the 

 mean anomaly ) the term of eleven times 

 gives, for Mercury, only one fiftieth of a 

 licond. 



The " Ephemerides" calculated at Co- 

 iirbra for the navy, contain the diftance of 

 the Moon from the planets, tables for re- 

 ducing the diftances, and new tables of 

 all Mars. The author, J jftf Monteiro da 

 Kucha, was born July 25, 17 3+, at Cana- 

 vezes, in the province of Miriho. He 

 went to Brafil, where he learned mathcma- 

 ijcs. On his return, in 176S, heobfei ved 

 tlie diftances of the Moon ; and in ifjx 

 he wav commiffioned by the povcrnmcnt 



to draw up ftatutes for the Univerfity of 

 Coimhra, in which Ibme years afterwudi 

 he was appointed profelTor of aftronomy. 

 He at length procured the ere£\ion of the 

 obfervatory of which he has the fupcrin- 

 tendance, though he is at the fame time 

 preceptor at court to the Prince of Brira 

 and the infants his brothers. 



The Prefident of the Academy of Lif- 

 bon fent to the Inftitute, on the i6th of 

 March 1803, a coUeftion of the worka 

 hitherto publidied by him. 



In the Second Part of the Tranfaftions 

 of the Royal Society of London for 

 1802, M. Herfchel gives a Catalogue of 

 500 new nebulous rtars and gioups of (tars, 

 of which M. Piftet has given an exrr^dl 

 in the Bibliotheque Britannique for Janu- 

 ary 18C4. The autnor treats of tiie na- 

 ture of ihefe inexplicable groups ; he ima- 

 gines that two ftars, connected by virtue 

 of their gravitation, may deicribe round 

 one common centre a circle or an e'liplis, 

 though there may be no body placed io 

 that ctntre. 



The movements of ftars being percep- 

 tible in many, the time is arrived when 

 aftionomers ought no longer 10 be consent- 

 ed with preceding calcuU ions. Accord- 

 ingly I have calculated ior ihe Connoijfance 

 des "Terns the inotions of ab ui five hun- 

 dred Itars taken fr-m the Catalogues of 

 Lacaille, Mayer, and Bradley, which are 

 forty or fifty yeai s old. Thofe that are 

 not in thofe ratiU gues cannot he. properly 

 calcuh'ted in lefsthan fcViral yeais. 



M. Vidal at Mirepi ix nbferved, from 

 the 5ih to the 8 h of September, all the 

 planets every day, and compared them 

 with the twenty principal (tars, obierved all 

 in full I'uiiniine. This is an extra rdinary 

 total, of which he only has afforded an 

 exam:)le wih a courage and preci(i.;n 

 which are equally taic : he is worthy of 

 enjoying fucti a beautilul fky, fi ce he 

 knows how' to make luch an excelle.U u e 

 of it. 



We have received Ibme ufeful tables.— . 

 M. Flaugergues h^s calculateo the equa- 

 tion of Mercury at intervals of ten mi. 

 nutes. M. Clerc has calculated a tahleof 

 all the (linienrions <jt the fcrieitii:i' Ipiitri i'l), 

 and the longitude of lie pi in ipai lliirs of 

 the fund iirtnial catalogue :■— VI. Mougiil 

 a table of the changes ot 1< ngituilc coiie- 

 (pondinito the changes of right-alcenlion 

 and decimation : — M. Guerin tables of in- 

 itrpoaiion : — M. Chompre tables of alti- 

 tudes. 



M. de Narcy has made piifms of rock- 

 cry if al to be appheil to telefcopen, and to 

 nieafure with accuracy the diameters of 



the 



