y 
828 
take place in the eclipse in the year 1847, 
the most considerable of the nineteenth 
century. Duvaucel, who has given de- 
lineations of eclipses for the last thirty 
years, has delineated also this important 
eclipse for every country, whence it’ ap+ 
pears that it will be’ annular in England, 
France, ‘Turkey, and as far as Cochin- 
China. Vag , 
Malaspina, whose voyage round the 
world had been announced, is still in 
prison, but his observations have been, 
or will be made use of in the charts now 
forming*im Spain. .The king of Den- 
mark has erected a board of longitude, 
of which Bugge is made director. Schro- 
eter, of Lilienthal, has established a ma- 
nufactory of telescopes, whence they 
‘may ‘be procured, it is said, at a tenth 
part of the price demanded in London. 
With his telescopes he has made many 
observations on Mercury, whose rotation 
omits axis he calculates at twenty-four 
hours five minutes. .He has drequently 
seén also through them little streaks of 
very feeble light, which last two onthree 
seconds; whence it is inferred that!ithe 
hydrogen and oxygen extend very: high 
in the atmosphere, for the meteors or 
globes of fire which astonish us at the 
distance of some hundred rods, become 
starry streaks at the distance of a league, 
and telescopical stars at the distance of 
three or tour leagues. 
-»From Egypt we learn the news of the 
great antiquity of their observations,and 
the news isreceived without any rémarkot 
itsinconeruity withhistoricalrecords. We 
may allow an antiquity/of four thousand 
years ; but when they come to seven or 
fourteen thousand years, nothing but the 
credulity of French infidelity can enter- 
tain the supposition for a moment. The 
waiter, if he has not overcome the preju- 
dices of. infidelity, .has, exhibited the in- 
stance of aniextraordinary victory over 
ancther prejudice, which is'very strong 
in his own,commtry,; and not uncommon 
in ours, « He recommended an eminent 
astronomer for a particular service, but 
that astronomer was not a Frenchman. 
MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
The reason appeared decisive agaifist his 
being employed; and “in vain did L 
exert myself,”’ says the writer, “to de- 
stroy the prejudice.” 
We have thus selected as much as our 
limits would permit us of this history, 
which, as it is to be continued annually, 
willexcite an interest among astronomers 
throughout Europe. The zeal manifest- 
ed by the French in this respect does 
them great credit; and it will be followed 
to the great advantage of science in other 
nations, if they only follow the French .— 
plan of forming a board consisting only 
of men eminent in the peculiar science 
which is intended to be encouraged. 
A variety of useful tables follows this 
history: those on Mercury and Mars, 
and the occultations of some stars, are 
particularly worthy of notice. The res 
port on the lunar tables, made by La 
Grange, La Place, Mechain, and Delam~ 
bre to the board of longitude, is worthy 
of their high characters. In the History 
of Astronomy for the year IX. or 1801+ 
1802, the obliquity of the ecliptic is de- 
termined to be 23° 28’ 64”, and its secular 
diminution 386’. At Bologna some cu- 
rious experiments on the fall of bodies 
have been made, to prove the rotation of 
the earth ; and similar preparations are 
proposed to be made at Hamburgh, 
Burchhardt has calculated from fifteen 
thousand barometrical observations, the 
etfects of different winds on their heights; 
whence he concludes that the mear height 
with a southern wind is 27 inches 11,3 
lines, and with an eastern wind ‘28,inches 
1,9]lme. Its height on'the shore of the 
Mediterranean is 28 inches 2,2 lines, and 
on the shore of the Atlantic 28 inches 
2,8 lines. fe wf 
Two excellent memoirs are given on 
the new planets Olbers'and Prazzi. The 
longitude of various places is ascertain- 
ed; and the quantity of 500 pages, which 
the governmentthas ordered to be an- 
nually given to the public, is filled up 
with matter which must tend very. much 
to promote astronomical researches, 
Arr. VI. Recreations ix Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.» By C. Horton. 
; ree 
THE Recreationsin Mathematics, by 
Ozanam, have been kl own and re- 
ceived with general apprebation. Since 
his time many improvements: have been 
made in science, suggesting a variety of 
new sources of amusement. Montucla 
seized them with his usual sagacity, and 
thus enriched the original work with his 
own observations. His efforts were weil 
received in France, where the mathema+ 
tits are cultivated with great success, aud 
the readers are not only very numerons, 
but not to be discouraged by deductions 
derived from the first elements of arth- 
