Miscellanies. 223 
sity might render the discharge of his duties less satisfactory to himself than he 
could wish. Those who knew him best, a often remarked upon his extra- 
in the 
ma 
the great saatheunatical attainments of Chief Justice Parsons; and it may be 
linterentings to many persons to know, that under the Rules for Lunar Observations 
in the “ Practical Navigator,” Dr. B. has introduced an improved method of cor- 
recting the apparent distance of the moon from the sun or a star, which was sug- 
gested by that great man, whom he jestly characterizes as “ eminently distinguished 
for his Siteessitival acquirements.”’ 
It should have been before stated, that after quitting the life of a navigator, Dr. 
B. held the office of president of a marine insurance company in his native town 
long attest the comprehensiveness of his views and his facility in the practical man- 
agement of its affairs. 
the occasion of leaving his native town to enter upon his new office, his 
townsmen spontaneously united in a public dinner, as a testimonial of their re- 
spect and aia recollection of his eminent services to his country and of his 
great private w 
While he vosided i in Salem he undertook his well known translation of La Place’ 3 
while they show him to have been as thoroughly master of that mighty subject as 
La Place himself, will make that great work—the most profound of modern times 
—accessible to innumerable students, who without such aid would be compelled 
to forego the use of it. 
The labor of translating and commenting on the whole of that —. — — 
the zeal and industry_of the scientific men of Great Britain ; and o 
ing ome’ gives due credit to America for this extrao: eee 
achievement in the cause of Science, which had not been aoeeiad by any in- 
dividual sent the numerous scientific associations 0: Britain. 
“ The idea,” says the journal alluded to, “of suileatilithe a translation of the 
whole Mécanique Céleste, accompanied throughout with a copious running com- 
mentary, is one which savors, at first sight, of the gigantesque ; ; and is certainly 
one which, from what we have hitherto had reason to conceive of the popularity 
and diffusion of mathematical knowledge on _ opposite shores of the Atlantic, 
we should have found originated—or, at least, carried into 
execution in.that in.that quarter. The part actually compete [the first volume,] is, with 
few and slight exceptions, just what we could have wished to see—an exac 
ful translation into very good English—exceedingly well printed, and accom- 
panied with Notes appended to each page ; which leave no step in the text, of mo- 
* Bowditch’s Navigator, p. 161, edit. 1811. 
