682 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO I769. 



of the planetary vortex, may have a considerable agency in the production of 

 these effects." The other is a paper in which Father Bourzes has given a still 

 more particular account of the luminous appearance of the sea ; to be found in 

 vol. 6. p. 53, of these Abridgments. 



LXIV. A Series of Astronomical Observations made at the Observatory of the 

 Marine at Paris. By. M. Messier, F. R. S. p. 454. 

 These observations are 1° of Jupiter's satellites in 1767 and 1768. 2° on the 

 shadows of Jupiter's satellites. 3° on the variation of the belts on the disc of 

 that planet. 4° of a spot on the disc of the 3d satellite. 5° of the belts of 

 Saturn. 6" of the moon's passage over the Pleiades, in 17 67. 7° of a partial 

 eclipse of the moon, Jan. 3, and of a total one, December '23, 1768. 8° of 

 two Auroras Boreales, Aug. 6, and Dec. 5, of the same year. But they are 

 all of little or no use now. 



LXF. Astronomical Observations made by Order of the R.S.al Prince of Wales's 

 Fort, on the North-West Coast of Hudson's Bay. By William Wales* and 

 Joseph Dymond. p. 467. 



These consist of a pretty long series of observations, preparatory to that of the 

 transit of Venus, from Sept. 14, 1768, till Aug. 23, 1769. These are, 1st, of 



* Mr. Wm. Wales, f. r. s., rose from a private situation little connected with learning, by his 

 qatural talents aided by close application, to some of the first ranks in literary pursuits. In the dif- 

 ferent stages of his life we notice his attempts and his success in various subjects, poetr}', mathema- 

 tics, astronomy, controversy, political arithmetic, &c. So early as 1762 we find he published an 

 Ode to the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt, the first Earl Chatham. Soon after we observe his labours in the 

 correspondence of the Ladies' Diary, that useful little annual work, which has formed most of our 

 eminent mathematicians. Here, and in some other periodical publications, for many years is ob- 

 served the gradual improvement of Mr- Wales in the various mathematical sciences, till his arrival at 

 a very high pitch of eminence, both in science and composition. By this his first paper in the I'hil. 

 Trans, we find he was deemed a proper person to be sent, in 1768, to a distant station, to observe the 

 expected transit of Venus in 1769 ; aiid the manner in which he discharged that trust did honour to his 

 talents.and credit to his patrons. Mr.W. next accompanied Capt. Cook in his first voyage, 1772 — 1774', 

 as one of the astronomers, and again in his other voyage of 1776 — 1779; at other times, his ordinary 

 employment was giving private mathematical lessons in London. In 1770 Mr.W. published his Ob- 

 servations at Hudson-s Bay; in 1777 his Observations on a Voyage with Capt. Cook; and in 1778 

 Remarks on Dr. Forster's Account of the Voyage, in which he showed considerable talents as a con- 

 troversial writer. Soon after his return from the last voyage, Mr. W. was elected a f. r.s., to 

 which he proved a very useful member j and on the death of Mr. Daniel Harris he was appointed 

 mathematical master to Christ's Hospital, London; and, some years after, secretary to the board 

 of longitude; both which offices he held till his death, which happened in 1798, at about 64 years 

 of age. In 1781, Mr. W. published an Inquiry into the State of the Population in England and 

 Wales: and in 1794 his Treatise on the Longitude of Time-keepers. It has also been said 

 that he was assisting in the composition of Lord Mulgrave's account of his Voyage towards the 

 North Pole, published in 1773; and that he was author of one of the dissertations on the achro- 



