142 G E R A R Ü I R E G N ER I F C K E N 9 



§ 5. 



•■.'Sequilar doctissimus Wallis, qui denuo nnno 1693 observationeni parallaxeos pröpo« 

 ■suit et commendavit amico suo Molyneux (»). ; lo ,hl-. 



« Sir ! You will , I hope , give me leave ( Ihough I have not had tTie opportunily of 

 « being personnally known to you ) to suggest a speculation , which hath been in tny 

 « thouglils Ihese forty ycars er more^ but I have not had the opportunily of reducing it to 

 K practice, as being not so well stored with necessary inslruments of that kind, nor much 

 « exerciscd to telescopick observations. And though I liave many years since suggested 

 « it to olhers, yet neither have they had leisure or convenience of putting it in praclÜce, 

 « It is concerning the parallax of the fixedstars, as to Ihe earths annual orb 



« That which occurrcd to my thoughts upon these eonsiderations , was to tbis purpoBe.; 

 r that some circumpolar stars (nearer to the pole df the equator than is our zenith., 

 « and not far from the pole of the zodiack ) should be made choice of for tbis pup- 

 « poae. And in case the meridional altitude be discernably different at difFoent limes., 

 « so will also be their utmost east and west azimulh , which . maiy be better obsenved 

 « than their rising or selliag. And this will be not obuoxious to (he refraction, as is 

 V the meridional altitude; ( for though ithe refraction do affect. the altitude, yet not ithe 

 « aximuth at all ) ; and we may here have choice of stars for the purpose ; which in 

 <( observations from the bottom of a wellwe cannot have^ beiiig there oonfined to those 

 « only which pass very near our zerinh , though very small 'Stars. " 



« I would then take it for granled , as a tliing at least 'very probable', that Ihe fixed 

 (( Stars are not all ( as was w^ut to be supposcd ) at the same distance from us; i)ut lihe 

 « distance of some, vaslly grealer than of olhers; and consequenlly , though as to 'the 

 « more remote, the parallax may be uudisceruable j it may perhaps be discernable in 

 « those that are nearer to us. " , tdOi 9up r ^ iiup »HB rutK-i^ri .;i('q>(i » 



t And those we may reasonably gutiss (thöUgli We äre' 'nöf'Sä'rfe'of 'it) toc'be'ttesrBätIo 

 « US, which to us do appear biggest and brightest, as are those öf the first and se- 

 « cond magnitude; and there are at least of the «econd magnitude, pretly many not 

 « far from the pole of the ecliptick {as that in particular-, in the Shoulder of the lessfer 

 « Bear). And in case we fail in one , we may try again and again on some other; 

 « which may chance to be nearer to us than what we try first. And stars of this big- 

 « ness may be discerned by a moderate telescope , cven in the day-time ; especially 

 « when we know just where to look for Ihem. " « The 



(•) PliU. Trans 1693. XVII. 844 Titulus est: A Proposnl concerning Ihe parallax of the Jlzed 

 slars[, in rc/ennce to the earths annual orb. In severul letters ofMajf 3 , Junj 29, aiid Julj- so , iCjS, 

 /rom Dr. JoLa Wallis to WiUiara Molyneux, Esg. 



