372 Some Account of the pr'mcipal modern Catalogues 



advantage, even by those who are not possessed of the Hisloria 

 Ccelestis *, 



3. " Fasciczdus Astronomtcus, containing Observations of the 



Northern Circiimpolar Region ; together with some account 

 of the instrument with which they were made : and a new 

 set of Tables, by which they were reduced to the mean po- 

 sition for the beginning of January 1800. To whicli are 

 added a few otlier papers and precepts which it was ima- 

 gined might be acceptable to the practical Astronomer. By 

 Francis Wo11aston,F.R.S." 4to. London, 1800. 

 The circumpolar zones being the most defective part of his 

 general catalogue, the editor undertook a review of that region, 

 as his own share of the proposed general plan. The volume now 

 under consideration contains the observations at large, with a 

 catalogue tlience resulting, exhibiting the mean places of about 

 260 stars, all within 26° of the pole. In publishing the positions 

 of the greater part of these stars. Dr. Wollaston was anticipated 

 by the two Lalandes, whose cotemporary observations of 1000 

 circumpolar stars were printed in the Co?inaissance des Terns, 

 An. V. (1797), and are incorporated in Bode's work, to be pre- 

 sently noticed. At the end of the book are a considerable num- 

 ber of corrections to be made in the author's General Cata- 

 logue. 



4. " Histoire Celeste Francoise, contenant les Observations faitcs 



par |)lusieurs Astronomes Francois : Publiee par Jerome de 



laLande." 4to. Paris, 1801." 

 The chief feature of this work consists in a systematic series 

 of observations of 50,000 stars, made with a mural quadrant by 

 the editor, in conjunction with his nephew Michael Lefrancois 

 Lalande, between the years 1789 and ISOl. They comprise stars 

 of all magnitudes, down to the 9th inclusive, and extending 78° 

 from the zenith of Paris towards the South. There are also a 

 great number of observations to the North of the zenith ; but to 

 complete the polar region, recourse must be had to a series of 

 observations of earlier date, inserted in the Memoirs of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences for 1789 and 1790. The mean positions of 

 12,000, selected from the above 50,000, and reduced by Ma- 

 dame Lefr. Lalande, have been published by successive portions 

 in the Coiinaissance des Terns, AnYll-X]]l. inclusive. Among 

 the stars so published, are found very few whose positions had 

 been previously determined. The stars of the Sth and 9th mag- 

 nitudes remain for the most part unreduced. 



* It may not be improper to mention, that besides the observation of 

 Herschel's planet, made by Flamsteed, which produced 34 Tauri; this work 

 contains /t'l't' otlier observations, that liave lately been ascertained to belong 

 to the planet, viz. Nos. 349, 365, 3G6.— See Comi. des Tons, 1820, p. 408. 



5. " Dc- 



