CONNOISSANCE DES TEMPS A L?’USAGE DES ASTRONOMES, &e. 
sun. On reviewing his labours we cannot 
help exclaiming with the poet, 
Tantx molis erat romanam condere gentem, 
To the work before us we would refer 
our mathematical readers for an insight 
into these labours; and though there are 
827 
some oversights, from the distance we 
presume of the author from the press, we 
cannot withhold the tribute of applause 
for this effort to give the mathematical 
world a competent idea of the merits of 
Kepler. 
Art. V. Cozincissance des ahr al’ Usage des Astronomes et des Navigateurs pour Pin 
ALLL. del Ere dela Republique Francaise. Publide par le Bureau dey Longiiudes a Paris. 8vo. 
THIS very excellent work cannot fail 
to be studied with attention by every as- 
tronomer. Jfin the parts whith it has 
in common with our nautical almanac, 
it can by no means pretend to rival the 
annual ‘publication of our astronomer 
royal, the additional parts give it an in- 
terest, which must make this work- most 
sought after in foreign countries. The 
first part contains articles similar to those 
in the preceding volume; the second part 
commences with a very interesting his- 
tory of astronomy for the year 8. In 
the commencement of it the historian, 
Jerome Lalande, passes in review various 
discoveries which have done honour to 
the eighteenth century. Among them 
are to be reckoned the discovery of a 
planet and eight secondaries, sixty-eight 
comets, the aberration and nutation of 
the stars, the passage of Venus over the 
sun, and hence the true distance of the 
sun and planets, calculations of the irre- 
gularities produced by attractions, par- 
ticularly by those of Jupiter and Saturn, 
lunar tables exact to a quarter of a mi- 
nute, and fifty thousand new stars; to 
these may be added the improvement of 
instruments, sectors, circles, chronome- 
ters, and the telescopes of Short and 
Herschel. 
‘The commencement of the present cen- 
tury is distinguished by various events. 
A very curfous one is likely to throw 
some important lights e the theory of 
the mocn’s motion, Among the manu- 
scripts of Delislewas found a copy in Ara- 
bic of the work of Ebn Jounis, written 
in the tenth century; the original was 
discovered to be at Leyden, and the 
French ambassador, by means usual with 
the French, procured the transmission of 
it to Paris. It contains 400 pages in 
quarto, small character, and Caussin is 
tmployed in translating the whole work, 
which, with the original, will be given it 
it expected to the public. ! 
The prizes for tables determining the 
longitude, apogee and node of the moon, 
yere divided between Burg and Bou: 
yard, who made their calculations from 
a great number of observations by Mas- 
kelyne. ‘These have been increased by 
Burchhardt, and Parceval and Laplace 
have both added to the knowledge we 
have thus acquired on so difficult a sub- 
ect. 
: Vidal is remarkable for the number of 
observations communicated of the planet 
Mercury, for he sees the planet every 
day, and even within a few minutes of 
the sun. This skilful astronomer lives 
at Mirepotx, where, says our author, * it 
is probable that no one knows so rematk- 
able a character, whose fame is by this 
publication to be transmitted to the whole 
universe, and to posterity.”. : 
Mars has given employment to Mi- 
chael Lalande, to Burchhardt, Tricone+ 
cher, Oriani; Wurm, who have calculat- 
ed his perturbations; and Bouvard has 
calculated those of all the planets, by the 
forms given by La Place. 
The grand work on the meridian line 
from Dunkirk to Rodez has been print- 
ed, and Mechain is employed on the 
southern part. The observations of Vi- 
dal on the’ stars below the tropick, will 
soon be printed. From the description 
of the astrolabe found by Gale in Syne- 
sius, Delambre has been led to draw up 
an essay on the history of astrolabes, 
their construction and properties. Burch- 
hardt has discovered a formula to re- 
present the deviations of the needle ob- 
served at Paris since the year 1580, 
whence it appears that its test wes- 
tern deviation is thirty, and its greatest 
eastern deviation only twenty-three de- 
rees. 
The printing of the celestial history 
has been continued, as well as of the as- 
tronomical bibliography. The printing 
of the table of sines for the thousand 
parts of a quadrant, begun by Borda, 
has been completed under Delambre.— 
Triesmacher has collected the calcula- 
tions of all the eclipses observed sin:e 
the year 1747; and Goudin has deter- 
mined all the circumstances which will 
