OUTLINES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



round G, moving in antecedentia, at the same rate 

 with the line of the equinoxes. 



317- I therefore, the equator had received 

 no motion but from the solar force, its inclina- 

 tion to the ecliptic would have changed conti- 

 nually ; but the line of its. intersection with that 

 circle would have remained at rest. In conse- 

 quence of the diurnal revolution, this effect is 

 entirely reversed ; the inclination of the two 

 planes remains constant, and their intersection 

 continually revolves. 



This paradox is remarked by LA PLACE, Systeme du 

 Monde, p. 270. His solution of it is not so ele- 

 mentary that it could be adopted here. 



318. In order to calculate the precise mea- 

 sures of the different actions that have now been 

 traced, the momentum with which the solar 

 force would make the spheroidal meniscus al- 

 ready referred to, begin to revolve about the 

 line of the equinoxes, supposing it to have no 

 other motion, must be determined ; the whole 

 of the terrestrial spheroid must tend to revolve 

 about the said axis with a momentum just equal 

 to this quantity. 



NEWTON, who first resolved the problem of the pre- 

 cession, was in an error with respect to this part 



of 



