HiJIory of AJlrommy for the Year i8oi. 117 



and the Batavian minifter fent it to us. C. Cauflin exa- 

 mined this maniifcript : but it is not complete; it contains 

 only oblcrvations already known. We found in it none of 

 the information fo much wiflied for rcfpefting the inftru- 

 ments of the Arabians, and their method of oblervino-; but 

 it has furnitlied us with fome interefling corrections for our 

 copy, which is now printing in Arabic and French at the 

 printing-office of the Republic by order of the minifter of the 

 interior. The obfervations of the fummer folRice have again 

 afliircd to us that the obliquity of the ecliptic is 23^ 28' 6!", 

 being 5" more than in my tables. The multiplying circles 

 give us the truth within a fecond; and I think we can with 

 certainty fay that the diminution, which has occafioned fo 

 much difpute, is '^'>J' per century ; very far from that which 

 C. Calfini afligned from bad obfervations made at the ob- 

 fervatory with bad infl:ruments. 



The winter folllice gives us 8" lefs ; but tliere is reafon to 

 believe that this arifes from the refradlion, which is not yet 

 well enough known for fmall altitudes. Though the obli- 

 quity is nearly decided, the Academy of Berlin has flill pro- 

 pofed thii variation as the fiil)jcc"l of a prize for the vear 1802. 

 It requires the moll intereiting refearchcs and explanations 

 in regard to this fubject, where feveral points liill remain to 

 be cleared up. 



All the planets have been cclipfcd bv the moon in the 

 courfe of this year, as has been obferved by Reg<j;io in the 

 Ephemcridcs of Milan. This phaenomenon is rare. We 

 were not able to make a good obfervation but of the eclipfe 

 of Venus on the 13th of May. We were, however, indem- 

 nified bv the eclipies of that beautiful fiar the Virgin's Spike, 

 obferved in many places on the 30th of March and the 24th 

 of May, which enabled me to verify the longitude-; of feveral 

 countries. Eclipfes of four ftars of the firll magnitude are 

 phaenomona of very great importance for all determinations 

 of this kind. 



I have continued to difcharge the tafk, which I impofcd 

 upon myfelf forty years ago, of calculating all the eclipfes of 

 the fun and Uars hitherto obferved, and from which aftro- 

 nomcrs had ueglc('-tcd to draw conclufions onticcount of the 

 length of the ciiUuUitions. I have correAed the longitudes 

 of Kome and MiddLebourg, and of the new city of VVadi- 

 inglon in America. 



M. Leduc of Sermonetta, Giietani, and Comi have lent 



me obfervaticns from Konie. M. Ciccolini has fent me 



fome from Florence ; and the day on which the king of 



lltruria came to the Infiitutc, 1 had the pkaiure of iirercntin"'- 



H3 tu 



