Sl6 



hijlory of Afironomj for 1S04. 



[oa. jj 



the planets. It were to be wilhed tliat all 

 obf<;ivers were poffcfled fi them. 



M. Cicco'iiii has conti ivcd to apply to 

 circles or reflcclions ci)--fourrh of a divid- 

 ed circle, wih a crols-ltalf which ferves 

 for a perpendicular, and gives very neai ly 

 the dliitude of a (tar. This picvents the 

 neceflity of feeling, by which the ohierva- 

 tion of altitiidis is freq- ently lendered in- 

 accurate. It h:is the advaniat;e of en- 

 abling the obfervtr to give a gieater field 

 to the telcfcope, by making it m:ignii'y 

 more. He purpofes to pubiilh a delcrip- 

 tion of this contrivance. 



M. Ciccolini beftows cireat praife on the 

 chronometer of Louis Btrth.^ud, No. 43. 

 M. Humboldt bears the fame tedimony 

 to its excellence as I do to that of No. 36, 

 which I have ufed for tvvj years. 



On the 1 8th of May M. Jean Rene Le- 

 '.eque, no:ary at TilKeres, long known in 

 ihtf fcience of aftronomy, tranfinitted to 

 the Bureau of L)ngitude a iiew method 

 of reducing the diliances of the .Moon from 

 the liars oblei vcd at fca. Ii polfcflcs par- 

 ticular advantages over tl.e ordinary me- 

 thods, as it Ipares the preparaioiy opera- 

 rations ; and he bat. added a column of 

 logarithmic diffeiences which had never 

 been thought of before. The Taijles 

 vhich he intends to pubiilh for the ufe of 

 his method will not be voluminous. 



MtflVs. Calandrelli and Conti have 

 publifiied at Rome a volume infilled Oj.uf- 

 culi Aflrcnomiii e fijici. 1 hey theie give 

 calculations of (he tianfit of Mcrcuiy in 

 1802 ; the altitude of ihe pole at the ob- 

 fervatory of the Rom in College 4.1° 53' 

 54." ; and the declinations of leveral ftars 

 which they employed j the elevation of 

 the obfervatory above the f<-a, which is 

 177 feet, and that of leveral other parts 

 of Rome ; and laiily, meteoiological ob- 

 fervations made during the lail ten years. 



M. Schubert has publilhcd at Peccrf- 

 burg the fiiil volume: of an Altronomy 

 for thf People, an important worK for 

 the propagation o! Ic'ence. 



M. Reufs has publ.fhed at Gbrtjngen 

 a Repertory of the Memoirs cf sll learned 

 and Icientiiic academies. -Among the rtlt 

 are thole on aftronomy. I had formed a 

 fimilar coIle>51ion for my ovin ufe, which 

 I could print only in part in my Biblio- 

 graphy in 1805. 



The Index to my BibliDgraphy being a 

 receiTary appendage to that voluminous 

 woik, M. Cotte undertook the prepara- 

 tion of it for (he prefs ; it appeired in (he 

 month of Auguft, and fills 45 pages. It 

 was printed by thedireclion of the Minif- 

 ter Chaptal, at the Office of the Republic. 



M. Var.fwmden has tranfmit'ed to me 

 a great number of Supplements for my 

 Alt.onomical Bib i gr3pl"iy. 



An Almanack of theRamazan has been 

 prinieJ f r the til ft time at Conliantinople, 

 underihc direftion of Aldorahinan. Piint- 

 ine was introduced into that city in 1726 by 

 Said, who had been af Paris with his father 

 the ambafTador, and by Ibr.ihim, an Hun- 

 garian. Tiiey were protected by Achmct 

 III. and printed leveral books; but the 

 Almanac never made its appearance be- 

 toie. 



I folici'ed the rcftoration of the Gre- 

 gorian calendar in France ; but the Em- 

 peror has contented hiinfelf for the prcfent 

 with ordering that the i<t of January, 

 which is reckoned in tbenuinber of family- 

 feftivals by a great majority of the French, 

 fhould he celebrated. 



M. Vidal having made with his meri- 

 dian-tfclefcope at Mirep'dx fome very nice 

 obfervationSj imagines that hehasdilco- 

 vered a flight alteration in the dire<5lion of 

 the meridian. 



M. Benzenberg, profelTor of natural 

 philofi'phy and aftronomy at DiifTcldoif, 

 has publiflied twenty-eight ex^-erimentg 

 with balls carefully turned and polillied, 

 which were dropped from an elevation of 

 462 Paris teet. They gave on an average 

 a deviation of five lines towards the eall, 

 though theory afilgns only four lines and 

 fix-ttnths. Theli; experiments were made 

 in the coalmines of Schebufch. They 

 would afford additional proof, were it ne- 

 ceifary, of the movement of the ear:h, 

 concerning; which it is impolhble to enter- 

 tain any doubt. Tne lateft experiments 

 made at Bologna by M. Guglielmini af- 

 foided nearly the fame reiult. 



M. Pontus his obferved the tides at 

 Dieppe, MelTis. Quaron and Porqaet at 

 Oifend, and M. Lauvtier at Audierne, a» 

 I have announced in the Connoijfance des 

 Terns for the year i 5. 



The aeioftatic experiments made at Bo- 

 logna in Italy on the 7th of Odfober 

 1803 3nd the 22d of Auguft 1804, by 

 M. Zambeccari, have been publifhed by 

 the Society of Bologna ; and we there ob- 

 ferve oars and other contrivances which 

 caule us to hope for great improvements 

 in this important difcovery cf Montgol- 

 iier. 



M. Dupuis of the Inftitute has read a 

 curious Memoir en the phoenix. He de- 

 monlfrate.< that this celebiatcd bird never 

 exilJed. It was ftated to return at periods 

 of 14S1 years ; but writers vary confide- 

 rably relative to this duration. Herodo- 

 tus relates many wonderful things con- 

 • cetnirg 



