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Academy of Sciences at Berlin, publish- 

 ed a very extensive catalogue of the fixed 

 stars, collected from the observations of 

 Flamstead, Bradley, Hevelius, Tobias 

 Mayer, De La Caille, Messier, La Mon- 

 nier, D'Arquier, and other astronomers ; 

 in which the places of the stars, amount- 

 ing- in number to 5058, are given for the 

 beginning of the year 1780. This cata- 

 logue, which is a very valuable work, 

 though there is reason to apprehend that 

 the same star is inserted more than once, 

 is accompanied by a celestial atlas, or set 

 of maps of the constellations, engraved 

 in a very delicate and beautiful manner. 

 In the catalogue already enumerated, the 

 stars are classed in constellations In the 

 following catalogues they succeed each 

 other, according to the order in which 

 they transit the meridian, without any 

 regard to the constellation to which they 

 belong; the name of the constellation 

 being given, with a description of the 

 stars' situation in it. The first catalogue 

 of the stars, as we conceive, that was 

 printed in this form, or in the order of 

 their right ascensions, is that of M. de la 

 Caille, given at the beginning of his 

 Ephemerides for the ten years between 

 1755 and 1765, and printed in 1755. It 

 contains the right ascensions and declina- 

 tions of 307 stars, adapted to the begin- 

 ning of the year 1750. In 1757 he pub- 

 lished his " Astronomix Fundamenta," 

 in which is a catalogue of the right 

 ascensions and declinations of 398 stars, 

 adapted likewise to the beginning of 

 1750. In 1763, the year immediately 

 Succeeding that of his death, the " Coelum 

 Australe Stelliferum" of the same author 

 was published ; and this contains a cata- 

 logue of the places of 1942 stars, all situ- 

 ated to the southward of the Tropic of 

 Capricorn, and observed by the same in- 

 defatigable astronomer while he was at 

 the Cape of Good Hope in 1751 and 

 1752. The places of these are given for 

 the beginning of the year 1750. In the 

 same year, the Ephemerides for the 10 

 years between 1765 and 1775, were pub- 

 lished ; in the introduction to which, the 

 places of 515 zodiacal stars are given, all 

 deduced from his own observations. The 

 stars in this catalogue are rectified to 

 the "beginning of the year 1765. The 

 Nautical Almanac for 1773 contains a 

 catalogue of 380 stars, in right ascension, 

 declination, longitude, and latitude, de- 

 rived from the observations of the late 

 Rev. Dr. Bradley, and adjusted to the 

 beginning of the year 1760. It has been 

 since, viz. in 1798, republished, with cor- 

 Tections, by Dr, Hornsby, in the first 



volume of Bradley's Observations. These 

 make but a small part of what might have 

 been deduced from the labours of that 

 great man, if his representatives had not 

 withheld the rest from the public. Mr., 

 Francis Wollaston informs us, that Dr. 

 Bradley had the whole British catalogue 

 calculated to the year 1744, and that 

 traces may be observed in it of his having 

 examined almost every star in it. He adds, 

 from satisfactory information, that Dr. 

 Bradley observed the British catalogue 

 twice through ; first, with the old instru- 

 ments of the Royal Observatory, previous 

 to 1750, and afterwards with the new 

 ones. The 380 stars above mentioned 

 were carefully rectified for the year 1790 

 by Mr. G. Gilpin. 



" At the end of the first volume of " As- 

 tronomical Observations, made at the 

 Royal Observatory at Greenwich," pub- 

 lished in 1776, Dr. Maskelyne, the pre- 

 sent Astronomer Royal, has given a cata- 

 logue of 34 principal stars, in right 

 ascension and north polar distance, 

 adapted to the beginning of the year 

 1770, and which, t>eing the result 

 of several years' repeated observations, 

 made with the utmost care and the best 

 instruments, may be presumed to be ex- 

 ceedingly accurate. In 1776, a work was 

 published at Berlin, entitled "Recueil 

 de Tebles Astronomiques," in which is 

 contained a very large catalogue of stars 

 from Hevelius, Flamstead, M. de la Caille, 

 and Dr. Bradley, with their latitudes and 

 longitudes for the beginning of 1800, with 

 a catalogue of the southern stars of M. 

 de la Caille, of double stars, of change- 

 able stars, and of nebulous stars : a work 

 very useful for the practical astronomer. 

 To these maybe added Dr. HerschePs 

 catalogue of double stars, printed in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1782 and 

 1783 ; M. Messier's nebuize and clusters 

 of stars, published in the " Connoissance 

 des Temps," for 1784 ; and Dr. Herschel's 

 catalogue of the same kind, given in the 

 "Philosophical Transactions" for 1786. 

 In 1789, Mr. Francis Wollaston publish- 

 ed in folio, a " Specimen of a general 

 Astronomical Catalogue, arranged in 

 Zones of North Polar Distance, and 

 adapted to January 1, 1792." In forming 

 this catalogue, Mr. Wollaston has not 

 made any use of those which precede 

 Flamstead, except, in a small part, that of 

 Hevelius : but all the stars in the British 

 catalogue of 1725 arc inserted, as well as 

 those which are in the three latter cata- 

 logues of M. de la Caille ; those of Dr. 

 Bradley, in the Nautical Almanac for 

 1773 ; of M. Mayer ; of Dr. Masketyne ; 



