238 History of Astronomy for the Year 1805. 
Arrago ascertained its elements as follows :—Node, 115 15% 
6’; inclination, 11° 53’; perihelion, 4° 28° 45’; distance, 
0°3762: passage, 18th November 1 8’ 6” mean time; mo= 
tion direct. This is the 95th comet according to the cata< 
logue in my astronomy, which I have continued in the va= 
rious volumes of the Connoissance du Temps. 
The 96th comet was discovered by M. Pons, on the 9th 
of November, in Andromeda: he was not certain of it until 
the 10th. Upon that day M. Thulis found it at 16° 38’ of 
equatude, and at 40° 43’ of northern declination ; and he 
continued observing it till the sth of December. His ex 
cellency M. Champagny, minister of the interior, has given 
M. Pons a present of 300 francs in consideration of the four 
comets he has discovered. 
On the 14th of November M. Bouvard also perceived it, 
and on the 16th he determined its position. It was very 
small, and very difficult to see, notwithstanding its nucleus. 
As soon as M. Burckhard had received three observations, 
he sent me the elements of its orbits on the same day. 
Those who know the difficulty of this problem will be asto= 
nished at the readiness of this able astronomer: but this 
was only the first essay. Messrs. Legendre, Bouvard, and 
Biot, afterwards calculated it: they found the node 8° 10? 
32’; inclination, 15° 34’; perihelion, 3° 19’ 26”; distance, 
0°8916: passage, 31st of December, at 8°; motion direct. 
On the 22d of November M. Huth also discovered it at 
Frankfort on the Oder. As it approached the earth it be- 
came more beautiful: on the 5th of December it was seert 
with the naked eye in Pisces. M. de Flaguergues observed 
it on the 7th at Viviers ; but it rapidly advanced towards the 
south, and the bad weather prevented it from being seen any 
more. It was seen at Greenwich, however, on the gth of 
December ; and by Dr. Herschel at Slough. 
The most important thing ‘in the history of astronomy is 
the publication of the fourth volume of the Mecanique Ce- 
leste of M. de Laplace, which treats of satellites, comets, 
refraction, of the inequalities of Jupiter, Saturn, and the 
moon, and which on every subject contains the greatest ef+ 
forts of theory and the last degree of perfection. M. de La~ 
place 
