History of Astronomy for the Year i S03 . 215 



jA-iigiist was observed almost every where ; it furnished us 

 with the verification of several longitudes, and gave us a ri- 

 gorous agreement in the tables. 



M. Burg, who refused to come to France with an advan- 

 tageous appointment, has been indemnified by a pension 

 Irom the emperor. 



M. Leupold, who was employed with me in observations 

 and calculations, made preparations for observing the eclipse 

 at Bourdeaux with M. Lescan, professor of hydrography ; 

 M. Duconi, professor of navigation; and M. Thibaut, a 

 captain in the navy : but the w eathcr was not favourable. 



I have made new tables of Mercury and Venus, by em- 

 ploying .the perturbations or inequalities produced by the 

 attraction of the other planets. M. dc Laplace had given 

 the equations estimated by M. Bouvaid. 



M. Burckhardt calculated the tables. I corrected the 

 elements according to the latest observations, and I have 

 had the satisfaction to see that the new ones are so exact 

 that no errors of any consequence can be found in the most 

 correct observations of Mercury and Venus. 



M. Flauguerguc* has calculated the equation of Mercury 

 m tenths and seconds, and the logarithms to eight places. 



The following is the last inferior conjunction of Venus, 

 observed at Paris by Burckhardt and Lalando my nephew: 



Mean time of the true conjunction December 31st, 3'' 

 \o 3"; and the true longitude, counted from the mean 

 equinox, 9^ 9^ ig' 5". 



It gives for the correction of the present tables, — \3" in 

 longitude, and — \" in latitude; but by means of the cor- 

 rection which I made in the epochs and mean motions 

 there remains only V of error for the longitude. I find in 

 1793, 1"; in 179«, 2"; in 1798, \"\ in 1799, l"; in 1801, 

 zero : which proves that there is no change to be made in 

 the new elements. 



In the digression of March 13, 1803, M. Flauguergiies 

 found 4- 21'""' and + 4". 



In the month of May 1804 Venus will astonish the public 

 by her great splendour; and we shall be obliged to announce 

 in our journals, tiiat she is not a new star, nor an extraor- 

 dinary comet. 



The opposition of Mars at the end of 1802 — Q" in 

 longitude, + %" in latitude, for the tables which Lalande 

 my nephew published in the Connoissaitce des Temps for 

 the year 12, 1804. 



M. Bouvard has reconstructed the tables of Jupiter ac- 

 cording to observations made for ten years, employing 

 4 equations' 



