VOL. XIV.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 75 



Observations of the Eclipse of the Sun on the 1 2th of July last, New Stile, made 



at the Observatory at Paris, l684, and in several other Places,* N° l63, 

 p. 715. 



Eclipse observed Beginning. 6 Digits. Middle. End. Quantity. 



h. m. s. h. m. a. h. m. s. h. m. s. Dig. 



At Paris, by Cassini and Sedilean 3 10 5 3 35 4 43 23 7-J- 



By La Hire and Pothenot 2 C5 24 3 12 6 3 36 2/ 4 43 27 7-^ 



By Mr. Fontenay 3 12 40 3 38 7| 



At Aix, by M. Gautier 2 54 30 5 9 9 8^ 



At Lyons, by M. Hoste 3 53 52 8| 



At Bay of Roses, by Chasselles 2 40 3 25 5 1 30 9 



At Honfleur, by M. de Clos 2 15 2 4 34 35 8 



At Pau, by M. Richaud 3 15 4 45 10 



At Avignon, by M. Bonfas 2 43 27 . . 4 2 5 4 37 9 



M. Cassini having compared together these observations, and made such re- 

 ductions as the parallax requires, thence concluded the differences of meridians 

 between the places of observation, as follows : 



From Paris to Aix 14' east lat. 43° 30' 



to Avignon 8^ 



to Lyons 8 or 1 3 



to Roses 4 . . . . J 42 10 



From Paris to Honfleur 7 west. 



to Pau n . . . , 43 30 



77ie Observations of the Ancients concerning the Obliquity of the Zodiac, tn a 

 Letter from Mr. Edward Bernard-^- to Mr. John Flamsteed, Math. Reg. Trans- 

 lated from the Latin. N° l63, p. 721. 



Anno 230, before the birth of Christ, Eratosthenes found the obliquity of 

 the ecliptic to be 23° 5l' 19" Zl'"^ For according to him the distance of the 



* See also N° l62, in this volume. 



f The Rev. Edward Bernard was some time Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, having 

 succeeded to tliat office in l673, on the resignation of Sir Christopher Wren, who had been appointed 

 surveyor general of the King's works. Mr. Bernard was an Oxford scholar, and was particularly 

 skilled in the oriental languages; a talent which he very usefully employed, both in collecting toge- 

 ther the scientific writings of the ancients, and in making extracts from them. Thus, in 16'6'8, he 

 went to Leyden to consult the Arabic copy of the 5th, 6th, and 7th books of ApoUonius's Conies, 

 •which Golius had brought from the east, and of which the Greek text is lost; a transcript of which 

 was there taken by Mr. Bernard and brought to Oxford, and was published by Dr. Halley in 1710. 

 On his return to Oxford Mr. Bernard spent some time in examining and collating the most valuable 

 manuscripts in the Bodleian library, with the view of publishing a collection of the works of tlie an- 



L 2 



