ASTRONOMY. 



an 







around the min, conformably t 

 clockiuaker, introduce* the use of 



n 



'! llillcy'B comet. Newt- ! . li. i li:ul Uid undo 

 i when he i'..iiii.l it not , ..|...b], of verification 

 ure* of Uw earth in use, hear* of Hoard's more 

 trie* it, and find* a remarkable degree of 

 , to the rwult deduced from hi* celebrated Uw. 

 1*S. Casaini and La Hire discontinue till 1700 the arc begun in 

 1080. A mural quadrant is erected in the plane uf the meridian, at 

 the Royal Observatory Cassini's earliest researches on the 



odiaeal light. 



1*84. Canon! discovers two satellites of Saturn (Tethyn and Dionc). 

 1987. Newton publUhe* the Prim -ipia.' 



1089. Roemer fint used the transit instrument; that is, fixed a 

 telescope in the meridian for the purpose of observing transits, 

 FUmateed commences his course of observations with the mural arc. 



1690. Huyghens' theoretical determination of the ellipticity of the 

 earth. Catalogue of Heveliua published. 



1693. Casmm's third tables of Jupiter's satellites. Announcement 

 of hi* discoveries on libration. Halley discovers the acceleration of 

 the moon's mean motion. 



1694. Commencement of Newton's correspondence with Flamsteed 

 mr^*"ig observations for the improvement of the lunar theory and 

 the establishment of the theory of refraction. 



1699. Occurrence of a total eclipse of the sun, visible in the North 

 of Kurope. 



1700. The Cassinia (D. and J.) extend the arc which the former had 

 



1702. La Hire's researches on the theory of refraction. 



1 7"4. Roemer commences observing the stars with a meridian circle. 



1705. H alley first predicted the return of a comet, namely, that 

 of 1759. 



1706. Occurrence of a total eclipse of the sun, which was visible in 

 the south uf France. 



1711. Berlin Observatory founded. 



1714. J. Caasini discovers the inclination of the orbit of Saturn's 

 fifth satellite. 



1715. Occurrence of a total eclipse of the sun, which was visible in 

 n. Taylor's researches on the theory of refraction. 



1718. Bradley publishes his tables of Jupiter's satellites. J. Cassini 

 and Maraldi complete at Dunkirk the arc begun by Casoini. 



171'.'. Moraldi's (I.) researches on the rotation of Jupiter. 



17-1. Halley communicates to the Royal Society Newton's Table of 

 Refractions. 



1724. Occurrence of a total eclipse of the sun, which was visible in 

 Paris. 



1725. Flamsteed's ' Historia Ccclestis.' Petersburg Observatory 

 f.iiiiulrd. Harrison's compensation pendulum. 



1 7-'!. Hianchini determines the rotation of Venus. Graham invent* 

 the mercurial paoduhun. 



17^7. Hiu.llev .1 i-ration. Death of Newton. 



We have now brought the history to a most remarkable epoch. The 

 great comparative perfection of instrument.", the invention of the 

 telescope, of the nii,-:..iuet-r. of the clock, of logarithm*, the intro- 

 duction of algebra, the invention of fluxions, and the establishment uf 

 the theory of gravitation, in Kngland at least, were so many steps each 

 of magnitude unequalled in former times. But the most meritorious 

 labour* of the preceding table are not those which moke most show. 

 It takes aa much space to say that Cassini discovered a satellite of 

 Saturn, as that Flamsteed published the ' Historia Caclestis ; ' but the 

 fint might hare been left to the present day without mm 

 whereas the latter was a new era in sidereal astronomy. It would have 

 done more for astronomy than the m.ith .-.,-..!' l't..l. >,,;,. 



had it been similarly circumstanced : tli.it is. tin- work of Ptolemy 

 contained only a simple account of what hod been done before, with no 

 material improvement* either in methods or instrument*; whereas 

 that of Flamsteed contained both, and gave a catalogue of stars such 

 aa had not been published before. [FI.AUM i n. in I'.nxi. Div.] 



The distinct part of Newton's great di -. . iy . which is seldom well 

 understood by any who have not studied it, is not the notion of 

 attraction, which had occurred to many among the ancients, and to 

 Burelli, it is stated, and Hooke, among the moderns not llic /./,<. which 

 had been suggested by Bouillaud or Bullialdus but the proof that the 

 nmrhsnioal deductions from this law of attraction really do represent 







\; a combination of improvements in mechanics 



and mathematics which none but the inventor of fluxions could have 

 made, and a specimen of sagacity which it needed the author of the 

 Optics to display. Still leaf is it true, as many Ix-lieve, that th 

 tooian theory is the Copemican, when they speak of NYwton as the 

 establuber of the latter. After what we have said, it is unnecessary 

 to discuss thin further than to observe, that it was (i .ilil. > v.l.'.. 

 destroy (>! the mechanical objections to I'- ; niieux. l.v 



Uw amind ytcni of dynamic* of which ho was the inventor; and who 

 ro-cnfiircrd the notion* of |,y argument.* of the most 



: character drawn from probability. Hut it . y who. 



by hi diMovcry of ACMtRATlo* (which see), furnished the diicct and 



unanswerable proof of the earth's annual motion; and it u a 

 dence worth remembering, that the year of the death of ' 

 that of thU remarkable accession as wen to pi.;, i . t . p 

 astronomy. 



We shall now proceed to sketch the annals of astronomy from the 

 death of Newton to the present time. 



The interval between the death of Newton and the present time 

 may be divided into two ports: the fint reaching t the 



century, abounding in magnificent discoveries boUi of anoly- i 

 observation ; the remainder more duitinguished by efforts to 

 correct, and methodise, the results of the first. 



The following is the list of names from the death of Newton to the 

 close of the 18th century, arranged in the same manner as tl 

 ceding: 



17'_'3. Observatory of i .1 dc tv..yeil by fire; the great mass 



of observations executed by Roomer and hi* successor, 



:.il.|y lust. 



17-!'. A eomet visible for six months, remarkable for its 

 distance being greater than that of any other comet recorded i n 1 

 ' researches on astronomical refr. 



1731. Hodley's quadrant invented. 



1732. Maraldi (II.) improves the theory of the satellites of .1 

 by observation. The introduction, by Jl.-mpertius, of the NYi 

 theory into France. Wright's Lunar Tables. 



1733. Occurrence of a total eclipse of the sun, which wan visible in 

 the northern countries of Europe. 



1736. Maii|>crtiug, tic., measure an arc in Lapland, and Bouguer and 

 La Condamine in Peru. 



1737. Lacaille and Caasini do Thury re-measure the arc of D. Caasini. 

 Cluiraut improves the theory of the figure of the earth. An annular 

 eclipse of the sun observed in Scotland. 



1739. Dun thorn's Lunar Tables. 



1740. J. Cassini's Astronomy published, containing many new tables 

 from hi* own and hi* father's observations. 



1744. Killer's ' Theoria Motuum,' Ac., the first analytical work on the 

 , Motionx. Apparition of a splendid comet which was visible 

 in full daylight. 



I7I">. liradley discovers the phenomenon of nutation. < 



ilie gradual: minivntn. 



1740. Killer'* Solar mid Lunar Tables. Wargfiitin'H Tables of Jupi- 

 ter's satellites. 



1717. Killer, rl.iiraut, and D'AleuibeH. Vaiion* researches in the 

 ilaiiotar> th. ..iy. Mayer's confirmation of Cassini* tl 

 by oliMTvation. 



1748. Bouguer proposes a micrometer \vitJi a dividwl objcct-glaw. 



