508 FOURTH BULLETIN OF [1846. 



If you consider it sufficiently curious to render it worthy of preservation, you are 

 at liberty to dispose of it as you may think best calculated to achieve that end. 

 I only have the favor to ask, in casu you should send it to the National Institute, 

 that my naniR may appear in the matter with as little conspicuousness as possible. 



If I can make it convenient to ride out and see you before I leave, I will do so ; 

 if not, in departingf from the Brazils I shall leave behind me my sincere wishes for 

 your own and your family's happiness. 



I remain, very truly, your most obedient servant, 



B. SHEPARD. 



Hon. Henry A. Wise. 



Description of the Almanac. 



Top. — The lines on the centre brass circle show the aspects which the moon 

 makes during a revolution round the ear'.h : namely, sextile, or 6U°5Jc ; a square or 

 quadrate, 90° D; a irino, 120°^. 



The first and third lines on the steel circle I cannot make out. The middle 

 circle on tlie steel shows the age of the moon. The use of the seventeen points, 

 or prongs, not known. The next circle contains the naine>t of the months and 

 days. Tlie outer circle contains the lunar epact, or the excess of the solar above 

 the lunar year. 



The reverse. — The first and second circles from the centre show the Dominical 

 or Sunday letter. The third shows the golden number from C to 19, as after 

 a period of nineteen years the moon returns to the same place she was nineteen 

 years ago, and the new and full moon, the tides, &c., occur at the same times as 

 before. The other circles contain the names of the plancls, the days of ihe week. 

 The rest of the figures I cannot make out at present. 



Second compartment. — A compass in the centre, variation marked about a point 

 east. The first circle has the hours marked for the shadow of the gnomon of a 

 •un dial, which is wanting, as the holes are there in which it has been placed. 

 The next circle contains the letters of the alphabet. I think the outer circle con- 

 tains the twenty. four hours of the astronomical day. 



The reverse. — Compass turned round. The first circle appears to contain the 

 names of countries, and the outer circle, which is a compass, shows the bearings 

 from the place where this instrument was made. Around the outside are marked 

 the four cardinal points, E. VV. N, S. 



The bottom. — The first circle contains the names of the first six signs of the 

 zodiac; the second the signs and their characters; third, the degrees of each sign ; 

 fourth, the names of the months ; fifth, the days of the month for every ten days. 

 The outer circle contains every day in the half year, the next inner circle the Sun- 

 day letter, the next broad circle the names of saints and celebrated aien for every 

 day in the half year. 



I perceive in this circle that the sun entered each sign on or about the tenth of 

 each month; now it enters each sign about the twentieth or twenty-first of each 

 month. The reverse is the same fur the other six months. 



E. E. W. 



Legation United States, Rio de Janeiro, yanuary 31, 1846. 

 Mv DEAR Sir: I accept with pleasure your very curious and antique present for 

 the National Institute. I have no doubt of its being a genuine relic of 1604, and 

 as such, both for its apparent uses and ingenious contrivance, it is highly worth pro. 

 serving. It shall be transmitted by the first opportunity, with Professor Ward's 

 description, to Francis Markoe, esq., of Washington, namine you simply as the 

 donor, who has been mindful abroad of your country's institutions at home for the 

 promotion and preservation of human knowledge. 



We shall be very happy to see you whenever you can make it convenient to pay 

 us a visit ; and I asiure you, sir, that when you depart from this station you will 

 carry with you the best wishes of myself and family. 



Yours truly, 



HENRY A. WISE. 

 To Lieut. B. Shefard, U. S. frigate Raritan. 



