from Dr. Thornton. '3^9 



servation of the great Cassini in 16S6 ; those of Mr, Short 

 in 1740; of M. de Montaigne in 17GI ; of father I^a Grange 

 the same year; and of M. de Montbaron in 17d5. The 

 planet appeared to the first three of these observers under 

 the form of a small crescent. Mr. Short was so overjoyed 

 at the discovery he had made, that he caused it to be en- 

 graved on his seal, with the motto Tandem upparuit. The 

 celebrated Lambert, who compared all the observations of 

 this planet, has shown how far they agree: Essa'i d'une 

 Thdor'ie dit Sntellitc de Femis, in the New Memoirs of the 

 jlcadomj of Berlin 1773. According to the calculations of 

 this astronomer, the revolution of this satellite around Venus 

 is nearly eleven days. He thought he should perceive it on 

 the sun's disk June 1st, 1777, because Venus would then 

 pass very near that body ; but it was not observed. M. de 

 Mairan, who seems not to have doubted the existence of 

 this small star, pointed out the causes why it so rarely ap- 

 peared." — Mein. de I' Acad, de Pari<; 1762. 



Bonnet, in his Philosophical and Critic?.! Enquiries rela- 

 tive to Christianity, calls Messrs. Mairan and Cassini the 

 first astronomers of our times. To sav much of Cassini 

 would be an insult to the philosophical world. The life of 

 the illustrious Lambert is in every person's hands*, and the 

 other names arc well known to astronomers. 



In the Enajclvpcedia Britannica, the reviewer, if unac- 

 quainted with the French, would have found a sufficiently 

 long account : — ' Cassini, besides the discovery of the spots 

 on the disk of Venus, by which he was enabled to ascertain 

 her revolution on an axis, liad also a view of her satellite 

 or moon, of which he gives the following account : — 

 '^ A. D. 1686, Aug. 2Sth, at 15 minutes after four in the 

 niomintr, looking at Venus with a telescope of 34 feet, £ 

 saw, at the distance of one-third of her diameter eastward, 

 a luminous appearance, of a shape not well defined, that 

 seemed to have the same phase with Venus, which was then 

 gibbous on the western side. The diameter of this phseno- 

 mcnon was nearly equal to a fourth part of the diameter of 

 Venus. I observed it attentively for a quarter of an hour, 

 and having left oft' looking at it for four or five minutes, I 

 saw it no more; but day-light was th.en advanced. I had 

 seen a like phsenomenon which resembled the phase of 

 Venus, Jan. 25th, A. D. 16/2, from 52 minutes after six 

 in the morning to two minutes after seven, when the 



* Our readers will find in rhe pages thnt immcdiardy f'.liow the pre- 

 jLiit articlf, a life of this, cckbratcd philcsopher. — Edit 



briehtnc^s 



