VOL. XII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 385 



the fixed stars have suffered such wonderful changes, and that continually for 

 the space of so many years; again for so many years hid, that these could never 

 have been discovered without a telescope; so much the more ought they to be 

 noted ; that we may excite posterity, by the sedulous watching of such phaeno- 

 mena, to search more and more in the great works of creation. It is true 

 several new stars have been observed by our predecessors; but none of this 

 kind that I remember, except those two which have appeared in our own ages, 

 viz. that in the breast of the Swan, discovered by Kepler, I think in the year 

 1601, and that other under the head of the Swan which appeared in 1672. Of 

 these, what in like manner I have of late years observed, will fully appear by 

 the following ephemeris : viz. that the star in the breast of the Swan, which 

 from about the year 1662 certainly disappeared, was seen to appear again in 

 clear nights in 1665 ; so that the following year 1666, it could be observed 

 again with the sextant as a very minute star ; and from that time gradually in- 

 creasing, but without arriving at its former magnitude, being of the third order, 

 or its former splendor, as it appeared in the years 1 6 57, l658, and 1659 : and 

 now while I at present write it only shines as a star of the 6th magnitude. And 

 that other below the head of the Swan, which I first saw in the summer of the 

 year 1670, came to appear as a star of the third magnitude in the months of 

 October and November, after which it sensibly decreased in lustre and magni- 

 tude, till it vanished; yet it returned again the following year 1671, in the 

 month of April, and was visible all the summer, although with a different 

 phase, and so decreased till the month of March 1672, when it could no longer 

 be seen, though I have often with diligence looked for it. From whence 

 astronomers will clearly perceive what has occurred with regard to those new 

 stars for the 12 years elapsed; but as to what may happen hereafter^ that must 

 be learned from the observations of future years. 

 Dantzic, Jan. 2, N.S.\677' 



The Ephemeris of the New Stars. 



An. 1665, Nov. 28. — ^The new star in the Swan's breast, which for some 

 time, from 1662, was quite hid, seemed in a clear sky as it were reviving. 



An. 1666, Sept. 21. — ^The new star in ColloCeti no where appeared; but 

 that in the Swan's breast appeared to the naked eye, even while the moon 

 shone. 



Sept. 24. — The new star before the Swan's breast was less than the three pre- 

 ceding in the neck, and hardly seemed of the sixth magnitude. 



An. 1667, Jan. 7. — The new star in the Whale's neck did not yet appear. 



Jan. 13. — Neither does it yet appear. 



VOL. II. 3 D 



