Il6 H'lflory of jijlronomy for the Year 1801. 



the 26th of December madame Lefraiigois Lalande continued 

 the reduAion of the 50,000 liars; an immenfe labour, to 

 which (lie lias devoted herfcif with courage, and which her 

 pregnancy even has not interrupted. Then- fon is preparing 

 to tread in their fteps, and already calculates with fome fuc- 

 cefs. I hope that Il'aac Lalande will be the third aftrononier 

 of his name. 



Delambre has obferved feveral declinations with the mul- 

 tiplying circle. Piazzi has announced to us a catalogue of 

 7C0 ftars, which he obi'erved at Palermo ; and Cagnoli is 

 preparing a catalogue of 500 ftars, which he obferved at 

 Paris and Verona with particular care. 



Vidal, whofe courage and exaftnefs I have fo often cele- 

 brated, has font me the continuation of the aullral ftars, 

 which are not w ell feen at Paris ; the circum-polar ftars 

 which were wanting, and a very fingular triduum. On th« 

 33d of April and the following days he obferved all the 

 planets every day. He has joined to them obfervations ot 

 Mercury and the fun at the two folftices with an ingenious 

 compafs, which he employed to make a great number of ob- 

 fervations on the declination of the magnetic needle. 



Bourg, an aftrononier of Vienna, who gained the prize 

 propofed by the Inftitute on the inequalities of the moon, 

 continues to employ himfelf on that fubjeft. lie has re- 

 calculated, with 3000 obfervations, the 24 inequalities of 

 the moon ; and has added new ones, which were pointed out 

 to him by Laplace according to his theory. Thefe tables 

 arrived on the 8lh of December; the errors do not amount 

 to 15"'; and the prize of 6000 francs, propofed by the Board 

 of Longitude to the firft who ftiould make good lunar tables, 

 will be^well merited by this able and courageous aftronomer. 

 The Board of Longitude is ftill employed in verifying them ; 

 but all the obfervations lately made at Gotha confirm the 

 exaftnefs ,of thefe tables. For it was at the obfervatory 

 of Gotha, the lanftuary of aftronomy in Germany, that 

 M. Bourg iininied his labour. Baron von Zach had in- 

 vited him thither, that he might enjoy all the comforts and 

 conveniences hi; could defire. 



What remains to be done in regard to the theory of the 

 moon depends, perhaps, on fome terms in which the higher 

 powers of the eccentricities and forces muft be employed. 

 Burckhardt is now engaged in refearchcs on that fubjcot. 



Arabian obfervations of the lOth century had been cm- 

 ployed for the motions of the moon. The manufcript which 

 I fortunately found among the papers of Jofeph Delifle made 

 us dcfifous of obtaining he original, which was at Leyden ; 



and 



