152 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1704. 



descriptions of the use of such instruments as have been invented, to enable 

 us to judge of them; as the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, &c. most 

 of which is from the Hon. Mr. Boyle and the Philosophical Transactions. He 

 has given an account of springs and fountains, from Capt. Halley and Dr. 

 Woodw^ard. In the art of Botany he has been very large, giving an account 

 of the several kinds of subalternate species of plants, and their specific differ- 

 ences; in which he chiefly follows our excellent botanist Mr. Ray; but has 

 consulted Mr. Tournefort, also Morison, and other writers on this subject. 



He has explained the method of calculating of automata, or clock and watch- 

 work, from Mr. Derham, as also the terms of art used in painting ard sculp- 

 ture. He has given a table of fossils from the learned Dr. Woodward ; a 

 scheme of metals and stones from Bishop Wilkins's real character ; and a table 

 of animals from Mr. Ray. He has also given, from Dr. Woodward, a very 

 large account of vegetation, confirmed by accurate experiments and observa- 

 tions ; from all which that matter is set in a better light than it has ever yet 

 appeared in. In chemistry he has been very large and particular ; explaining 

 the chemical principles, vessels and degrees of fire ; and has omitted no process 

 or operation of use, that he could either meet with in books, procure from his 

 friends, or had an opportunity of trying himself. 



In Heraldry he has given the entire art of blazoning and marshalling a coat 

 of arms ; and explained all the ordinaries, charges, bearings, &c. by figures. 

 In Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, Grammar, Rhetoric, &c. he is designedly very 

 short ; giving usually the bare explication of the words and terms of those arts. 

 In History and Chronology he has given what properly belongs to them as 

 arts ; as an account of the civil computation of time, the origin, and the re- 

 duction one to another, of the several aeras, epochas, periods, &c. As to the 

 Law, he has consulted the best authors and dictionaries in that kind he could 

 meet with, and has from thence transcribed abridgely all that seemed neces- 

 sary, and then had it examined and corrected by a person of known ability in 

 that profession. 



Of Cassinfs Orbit of the Planets. By Dr, Da. Gregory. N° 293, p. 1704. 

 .,ji» Translated from the Latin. 



Since the time when the celebrated M. Cassini, in his treatise on the Origin 

 and Progress of Astronomy, proposed to the astronomers a certain curve for 

 the orbit of a planet, there have been many debates among the learned, con- 

 cerning the nature of this curve, and the law of gravitation requisite for de- 

 scribing it. Having myself reconsidered this subject, the different species of" 



