BULLIALDUS. 



Bullialdus. a circle and an epicycle, in place of the elliptical 

 *- -V- ' orbit. Our countryman, Seth Ward, Bishop of Sa- 

 lisbury, published, in 1656, his Astronomia Geome- 

 trica, in which he has given a very simple method 

 of calculating the equation of a planet in an ellipti- 

 cal orbit. Hence, the elliptic hypothesis which we 

 owe to Bullialdus, has been called Ward's hypothe- 

 sis.* Dr Ward supposed, that the motion of each 

 planet is so tempered about the focus in which the 

 sun is not placed, as to form at it angles proportion- 

 al to the times ; while Bullialdus makes every pla- 

 net move in an ellipse, formed by the section of a 

 cone, whose axis passes through one of the foci of 

 the ellipse, and makes the motion of the planet a- 

 bout .the cone, and in circles parallel to the base of 

 the cone, to be equal. Hence he supposes, what is 

 just the hypothesis of Ward, that the angles at the 

 focus in which the sun is not, are proportional to the 

 times. Dr Ward has pointed this out in his work, 

 entitled, In Ismaeli Bullialdi Astronomia Inqnisitio, 

 1653 ; and has also mentioned several mistakes of 

 our author. These mistakes, Bullialdus has very 

 ingenuously confessed, in his reply to the learned 

 Bishop, entitled Astronomies Philolaicee fundamenta 

 clarius explicata et asserta adversus Zetlii Wardi im- 

 jnignationem ; but he has, at the same time, pointed 

 out a very ingenious correction of the elliptic hypo- 

 thesis. " This correction," says Dr David Gre- 

 gory, " is well enough, if it be taken only for a cor- 

 rection of the approximation to the true system, as 

 it ought to be ; because, by it, the coequated ano- 

 maly at length might be found from the mean, a pri- 

 ori, and, at the same time, the calculation satisfy ob- 



servation, which no one had done before him (ac- BufliaMas. 



cording to Mercator's judgment) in the elliptic hy- ' v ' 



pothesis. But when Bullialdus puts it upon us as 

 the true and genuine system, and derives the physi- 

 cal causes of it, after his manner, from the cone, he 

 not only leaves the foundations of his Philolaic astro- 

 nomy unexplained, but disputes as if there were no 

 physical foundations of astronomy at all." 



In 1638, Bullialdus published a work, entitled De 

 Natura Lucis. In 1644, he published his translation 

 of Theo, the Platonist of Smyrna. His treatise, De 

 Lineis Spirulibns Excrcitalio Gcometrica et Adrono- 

 mica, appeared at Paris in 16/57. In 1663, he pub- 

 lished a treatise of Ptolemy's De judicandi facilitate. 

 In 1666 appeared his Manila duo ad Aslronomos ; 

 primum de stella Ceti, altcrum de Nebulosa in Andro- 

 meda: cinguli parie borea, ante liieitnmm iterum arta. 

 He supposes that the changeable star in the Whale 

 has a part of its surface obscure, and a rotatory mo- 

 tion about its axis: the best hypothesis which has 

 yet been employed to explain these singular pheno- 

 mena. In 1682, he published his Opus Novum ad 

 Arithmeticam infiniiorum, fol. Paris. Bullialdus wrote 

 also some pieces concerning ecclesiastical rights ; and 

 he published the History of Ducas in the original 

 Greek, with a Latin version, and notes. It was 

 printed at the Louvre in 1649. The manuscripts of 

 Bullialdus were preserved in the king's library, and 

 there was also a copy of them in the depot of the 

 Marine. See Perrault's Ilommes Illustres, Parifj 

 1697; Niceron Memoires des Hommes Ilhistrcs ; 

 and the Journal des S$avans, Feb. 7, 1675. (o) 





BULLION. 



J^ JL HE question that has of late engaged so large a 

 portion of public solicitude, will lead to a division 

 of this article into two parts of very unequal ex- 

 tent : the first treating literally of Bullion, the se- 

 cond of the Bullion controversy. The latter is enti- 

 tled to a place in a permanent work, both from its 

 present importance, and from its probable connection 

 with future improvements in the state of our money 

 system. It is justly remarked, that ameliorations of 

 the most obvious character, in general, escape atten- 

 tion until forced on mankind by necessity. The ra- 

 pid fall in the value of money since 1793, and more 

 particularly within these three or -four years, ap- 

 pears to us calculated to rouse the attention of the 

 public to the adoption of a different standard, in the 

 adjustment of contracts of long duration. It is long 

 since Dr Smith told us, that money, as a measure of 

 value, was chiefly useful from year to year ; and, in 

 this northern part of ihe kingdom, we have recently 

 seen, in the case of the clerical stipends, the enact- 

 ment of an optional reference to the current prices of 

 corn. Much time may elapse before the adoption of 

 a correspondent rule in the other important transac- 

 tions which cull for it, the present season of war and 

 political agitation being highly unfavourable to dis- 



cussions which demand so much length of delibera- Bullion. 

 tion ; but it is always one advance towards improve- 

 ment, to ascertain the origin of past errors. With 

 this view, an enquiry into the causes of the late rise 

 in the price of bullion, may be made the channel of 

 considerable instruction to us. 



I. Bullion may be defined, " Gold or silver in an 

 uncoined and unwrought state." Though the quality 

 of bullion in our markets is understood to be of the 

 British standard, the word bullion is of general im- 

 port, and may be applied to gold and silver, with 

 whatever mixture of alloy. It signifies also these" me- 

 tals in their unalloyed or virgin state ; though they 

 are, in that case, so soft as to be little fitted to re- 

 ceive any permanent shape, and of course are seldom 

 exposed to sale. Our laws, which prohibit strictly 

 the export of British coin, lay no restraint on the 

 traffic in foreign coin or bullion. After oath has 

 been made before the magistrates, that the specie in 

 question has not been obtained from the melting of 

 British coin, the export may freely take place. Gold 

 being with us the standard metal, the word bullion, 

 when used by itself, is understood of gold bullion. 

 The proportions in a pound of gold of the British 

 standard, are lloz. 2 dwt. pure metal, and ISdwtt 



* Albert Curtius is supposed by some to have first suggested the elliptkal hypothesis. 



