MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 103 
ing point for any person occupying himself with the 
lunar theory; finally, also the reduction of 515 zodiacal 
stars, observed by Lacaille in 1760 and 1761. 
BAILLY A MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.— 
HIS RESEARCHES ON JUPITER’S SATELLITES. 
Bailly was named member of the Academy of Sciences 
the 29th January, 1763. From that moment his astro- 
nomical zeal no longer knew any bounds. ‘The laborious 
life of our fellow-academician might, on occasion, be set 
up against a line, more fanciful than true, by which an 
ill-natured poet stigmatized academical honours. Cer- 
tainly no one would say of Bailly, that after his election, 
“Tl s’endormit et ne fit qu’un somme.” 
“ He fell asleep and made but one nap (or sum).”’ 
On the contrary, we cannot but be surprised at the 
multitude of literary and scientific labours that he accom- 
plished in a few years. 
Bailly’s earliest researches on Jupiter’s satellites began 
in 1763. 
The subject was happily chosen. Studying it in all its 
generalities, he showed himself both an indefatigable 
computer, a clear-sighted geometer, and an industrious 
and able observer. Bailly’s researches on the satellites 
of Jupiter, will always be his first and chief claim to 
scientific glory. Before him, the Maraldis, the Bradleys, 
the Wargentins had discovered empirically some of the 
principal perturbations that those bodies undergo, in their 
revolving motions around the powerful planet that rules 
them; but they had not been traced up to the principles 
of universal attraction. The initiative honour in this re- 
spect belongs to Bailly. Nor is this honour decreased by 
