150 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [Feb. 



times by the Arabians, and afterwards by the European mission- 

 aries. The 36 eclipses recorded by Confucius, are useful in 

 determining points of chronology, but furnish no evidence of 

 astronomical science ; the Chinese had been in all ages attentive 

 observers of the sky, and of the apparent changes of the heavenly 

 bodies. The encouragement and promotion by that ever-jealous 

 people, of foreign professors of astronomy, evince that they 

 could not, originally, have been acquainted with it themselves ; 

 and this is also shown by their adoption of the errors of those 

 foreign professors. The author has seen in an ancient Chinese 

 book, a complete delineation of the Ptolemaic system, with its 

 crystalline orbs, and the earth in the centre. The inscriptions in 

 the Chinese language on some of their ancient instruments, do 

 not prove their own knowledge of astronomy ; those instru- 

 ments were made for them by the Arabians : the cannon cast for 

 the Chinese by Europeans have inscriptions on them in the lan- 

 guage of the former. 



It has ever been the ungrateful practice of that people to appro- 

 priate as their own every invention of other nations. When 

 Mr. Pearson transmitted to China some of the vaccine matter, 

 he sent with it a pamphlet in Chinese, containing directions for 

 its use ; an expurgated edition of this was published, shortly 

 after its arrival, in which nothing appeared, from which it could 

 be learned that vaccination was not a Chinese discovery. 



The nature of Mr. Davis's astronomical details concerning the 

 Chinese year, precludes us from giving an account of them ; 

 they were accompanied by an illustrative drawing, showing the 

 28 constellations of which the year consists, with the degrees 

 they respectively occupy : the Chinese have no solar year. 



At the same meeting a portion of the following paper was read: 

 — On Rocks that contain Magnesia, by Charles Daubeny, MD. 

 MGS. Professor of Chemistry, Oxford : communicated by Prof. 

 Buckland ; after which the Society adjourned over the Christmas 

 vacation until Jan. 9, 1823. 



Jan. 9, 1823. — The reading of Prof. Daubeny's paper was 

 resumed and concluded. This paper commenced with an 

 account of the localities of the secondary magnesian rocks in 

 England and on the continent of Europe. The presence of 

 magnesia in many simple minerals, and in the primary strata, had 

 long been well known ; but Mr. Tennant was the first to detect 

 its presence in certain secondary limestones, which occupy a 

 considerable space in the north of England ; and corresponding 

 magnesian beds have since been discovered to exist extensively 

 on the continent. This earth appears to extend almost through- 

 out the secondary strata : it occurs in the mountain or carboni- 

 ferous lime series ; in the zechstein of the Alps, referred by Prof. 

 Buckland to the English magnesian limestone ; it has been 

 found by Mr. Warburton in the blue and in the white lias, and 

 its presence in them is indicated by the springs containing sul- 

 phate of magnesia with which they abound. The presence of 



