136 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO J 777. 



fuit amplius quam octo digiti, et minus quam novem. Fuitque hora ortus ejus 

 proxima liorae oppositionis, secundum fundamenta quibus computare soleo. Et 

 perfecta est ejus reapparitio (sive finis) cum praeteriiset de nocte (i.e. post occa- 

 sum solis) circiter hora justa, et quinta horae pars, prout observavi. Et erat 

 luna, in hac eclipsi, in propinquo distantiae suae mediag. Tempus respondet diei 

 14 Maii, anno Christi 979. 



With regard to the time of the opposition, and the moon's rising at Cairo, 

 there is very little difficulty; for she rose there at 0^ 48'" 10% and the time of 

 opposition was at 6^ 24"" 36'. The end of this eclipse there was at 7^ 54"* 26'. 

 and the time of sun-set was at 6^ 47™ 52'. The difierence is l*" 6'" l6% and 

 agrees very well with the manuscript. The passage, as we have it here in Cur- 

 tius from Schickard, is very obscure. For it seems either to mean that when 

 the digits eclipsed were 5 4-, the moon was 26° high, or that she was 26° high 

 when the eclipse ended. But I take the last to be intended; for the moon was 

 26° high at 7^ 36"^, and the eclipse ended, as we saw, at 7^ 54"^ 26'. 



But when Schickard or Curtius say this defectus ad 54- digitos accrevit, the 

 meaning must be that they amounted only to 5^-. But this is not true ; for ac- 

 cording to the manuscript, they were between 8 and 9, and I make them 

 about 8f . I am apt to suspect therefore that the transcriber, whoever he was, 

 cast his eyes on the solar eclipse above, where the digits eclipsed are really 5-i., 

 and carelessly set them down to this lunar eclipse where they do not belong. 

 And to confirm this conjecture, it must be observed, that after the word Diocle- 

 sian, under this lunar eclipse, in the Arabic follow six lines, which are a repeti- 

 tion of all that was said under the last solar eclipse, from the same word Diocle- 

 sian to the end of that observation. 



I shall now, in the last place, give a translation of the Arabic passage entire; 

 omitting however the interpolations mentioned above, whicli embarrass the 

 whole. — Infit ali ibn abdorrahman, ibn achmkd, ibn younes, ibn abdol' 

 AALi. — Imprimis, jam commemoravi eclipses, tarn solares quam lunares, quas 

 observarunt viri docti ; eruditi ii quorum nomina recensui, qiiasque ad eos retuli, 

 incipiendo ab auctoribus libri dicti almomtahen, usque ad filios Majour ; quin 

 et conjunctioneseorum cum stellis fixis, quas observarunt, et quorum loca com- 

 memor^runt, et invenerunt, tempore conjunctionum eorum. — Ipse deinde me- 

 morabo eclipses quas observavi, tam solares quam lunares, et conjunctiones cum 

 stellis fixis, et quaBuam fuerunt formac eorum in conjunctionibus suis. Ut qui- 

 cunque me sequantur, et indicia habere desitlerent, meis utantur, quemadinodum 

 ac ego eorum indiciis et directionibus usus sum, qui ante nie observarunt. Deus 

 autem adjutor est. — Eclipsis Solaris erat priore parte diei, feri^ quinta, die decimo 

 octavo mensis Rabiaj posterioris, anno Hegirae 367. Et hax feria quinta erat 

 dies decimus secundus mensis Adzcrmali, anno Yezdagerdis 3j6. — Caratl'ae 



