212 History of Astronomy for the Year ISOO. 



appenrcd, in order that we niav read them, it maybe iiscfLil 

 to sptak ot" those whose titles might deceive us. 



Lisal sur le Mnndc, by M. Azais, 1806, in 8vo. He 

 endeavours to prove the necessity of a first impulsion ; the 

 Inlinity of the universe and light as the cause of movement 

 by the impulsion of rays, aud as the cause of gravitation, 

 the impulsion of the stars being greater than that of the 

 sun : he read one part of these singular ideas to the Insti- 

 tute. The Mouvement de la JMailcre en tout Sens, and the 

 Corpwicides iillrdmonda'in-:, with which M. Lesage has been 

 busy all -his life at Geneva, may serve as a support to the 

 system of M. Azais : but scientific men disdain these kinds 

 of hypotheses, as being destitute of proof, and not being 

 capable of teaching us any thing. 



M. dc Lormel has published supplements to his Grande 

 Feriadc, in order to give new proofs and new applications 

 for the six days of the creation and the prophecies of Daniel. 

 He endeavours to refute what I have already objected to him, 

 that the diminution of the obliquity of the ecliptic cannot 

 form a period, since it cannot continue according to the 

 v.cii-known cause of this diminution. 



There has appeared a book, the title of which deceived 

 me, because I never thought of meeting with any thing like 

 astronomy in it. It is entitled Homma^e ii Pins Yll. et 

 Ncipolson-lc-Grand, or Junction of Religions; by Alex. Jos. 

 Guyot, curate of Cambray. He speaks of the atmosphere 

 of the comets ; he thinks he has discovered the size of the 

 stars : but it may be easily seen thai he confounds the ap- 

 parent diameter of the stars with the annual parallax, which 

 can enable us to judge of tlicir distance. lie is persuaded 

 that he has demonstrated that the sun docs not turn round, 

 because the moon would each day have all its phases. He 

 does not comprehend that, the moon havi'.iga semi-diurnal 

 motion ^vilh the sun, it is all one whether this movement 

 be apparent or real. 



Thus, all these astronomical articles prove that he has not 

 profited by my lectures, at which he says he was present. 



" Discovery of the Orbit of thii Earth ; of the central 



Point; 



