Htjlory ofJponomy for the Year 1803. 177 



every year in the ConnoiJJ'ance des Temps, and always with 

 new improvements. 



C. Lalande, my nephew, continues to obferve the right 

 afcenfions and declination of a great number of ftars notwell 

 known; and madame de Lalande continues the reduaions, 

 which (he promifed, for the 50,000 ftars : 1500 will be found 

 in the Conm'iff'ance des Temps for the year 13, which will 

 foon appear; "and M. Bode has publifhcd more than io,coo 

 in the cataloa;ue of 17,000 ftars which accompany the large 

 and beautiful atlas in twenty flieets which I have already 

 announced. 



Laft year I crave an account of the labour undertaken by 

 the Swedifti alironomers Svanberg, Ofverbom, Olmquift, and 

 Palander, to verify the degree of the meridian under the polar 

 circle. M. MelanderhieTm, though 76 years of age, fet on 

 foot and direded this enterprife. In 1801 they had already 

 difcovered the ftations, elevated the fignals, and built two 

 obfervatories. They fet out in the mouth of January 1803, 

 and meafured the bafe on the ice of the river Torneo between 

 the 6th of February and the 8th of April, though the cold 

 was 24". At the beginning of September they had completed 

 the nieafurement ofthe angles of their triangles, and fet out 

 to ])roceed northwards to Pathavara to commence their aftro- 

 nomical obfervations. We fliall therefore foon have the cu- 

 rious refult of this new meafurement. 



On the other hand, C. Mechain, in confequence of the 

 confulardccreeof September 17, is about to refume the mea- 

 furement of the meridian as far as the ifland of Cabrera, 

 which is, 40 leagues fouth of Barcelona, agreeably to his 

 wifti, which I anliounced in the Connoijj'ance des Temps for 

 the year 10. By thefe means the 45th degree, which it is 

 particularly interefting for us to be well acquainted with, will 

 be a mean of the whole interval. 



The Portuguefe, whofe filence we regretted, begin to di- 

 ftinguifti themlelves. M. Demonfort has fent us calculations 

 of eclipfcs of the fun vifible at Lifbon during this century: 

 M. Monteira de Rocha, new tables of Mars, with all the per- 

 turbations. The equation is 10' 41' ?9", greater only by 4" 

 than in the tables of C Lalande junior. M. Damoii'oau, 

 captain-lieutenant ofthe royal brigade of the marine at Lif- 

 bon, has written to me that he is emijloyed on the Nautical 

 Ephemcridcs of 1806. Thole of 1805 were calculated di- 

 rectly, without employing the Nautical Almanac, f have 

 requcfted him to wait for ihe new tables of the fun and moon, 

 which are about to be printed. 



We have received alfu a defcription of the obfervatorv of 

 Vol. XV. No. 58. N Coimbra, 



