134 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, [aNNO 1777. 



the manuscript from which the present manuscript was copied, we shall very na- 

 turally account for the mistakes we find in it. Thus, for instance, \ by some 

 accidental stroke at the bottom, would easily be taken for J , as 4 is sometimes 

 written in manuscripts; and if the perpendicular stroke in the 1 was made short, 

 as in a table it very well might be, ] (30) would naturally be taken for^ or ^ 

 (15); and, by the same rule, ^ (3(3) would very easily be taken for ^ (]6); 

 and J (4), the digits eclipsed, for v which is 8 in the other form of notation, 

 or ^ in tliis. In the manuscript it is said, that the sun's altitude at the end by 

 observation, was a little more than 33 (J) degrees; but this would, in a ma- 

 nuscript ill written, easily be mistaken for \ (35) or J (36). 



As to the words, translated by Professor Schultens for Mr. Grischow, " accidit 

 hoc in piano circuli ejus minus quam 7 digiti," I am apt to suspect they are no- 

 thing more than some marginal reading crept into the text; that is, somebody 

 seeing the digits eclipsed here made 8 (i), added, as the Arabic will very well 

 bear, " imo minus quam ^ (7) or v (7)," as in the other form of notation that 

 figure is sometimes made. The writer of this manuscript, whoever he was, was 

 certainly acquainted with both forms of notation, as he has made use of both. 

 This interpretation is at least plausible, and clears up a sentence which greatly 

 perplexed both Mr. Grischow and Dr. Bevis, and seemed to them quite unin- 

 telligible. 



The account given by Curtius of the '2d eclipse, which was a solar one, is this: 

 Anno eodem, die Sabbati, videlicet, ig mensis Sywal, (numero decimi, qui Pas- 

 chalis est eorum) cclipsis solis occupavit digitos 7^. In principio, sol altus fere 

 56°. In fine, sol occiduus elevabatur gradibus 26. Ex Shickardo in ms. This 

 it is plain is not a translation of the Arabic; for that, as translated by Schultens 

 for Mr. Grischow, and transmitted by him to Dr. Bevis, is much fuller, and is 

 as follows: 



Edipsis Solaris. — Haec ecllpsis extitit die Sabbati, 29 mensis Siewal, anno 367 

 HeQ;ircE. Et dies Sabbati hicce ipse est dies g mensis Chordadma, anni 348 Jes- 

 dagirdis, et ipse 8 mensis Hnziran ainii 1289 Alcxandri, et ipse est 14 mensis 

 Buna, anni Dioclesiani. Fuitque maximum quod eclipsatum est de diametro 

 solis, 54- digiti super calculo accuratioi-e. Erantque de piano circuli ejus 4 dig^iti 

 et 10 minuta. Et crat elevatio solis, tempore quo cclipsis incepit, secundum 

 oculum 56° circitcr; et erat intcgra ejus reapparitio cum esset elevatio ejus 26 

 graduum, aut circitcr; erantque sol et luna simul in hac eclipsi, in propinquo 

 distantiae maximae a terra. Deus scit an calculus hie bene sit positus. Tempus 

 respondet diei 8 J\m. an. Christi 976. 



Thus far Mr. Schultens. And here I must observe that, according to him as 

 well as Curtius, the sun's altitude at the beginning was about 56", or in Arabic 

 notation .: ; but by computation I make it only about 47° 60'. Suppose it were 



