214 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1777. 



if the gravity of these two fluids, with all heats, remained invariably the same: 

 this is the whole mystery of barometrical admeasurement.* 



XXX. ^n Account of the Bramins Observalorij al Benares. By Sir Robert 



Barker, Knt. F.R.S. p. 598. 



Benares in the East-Indies, one of the principal seminaries of the Bramins, 

 or priests of the original Gentoos of Hindostan, continues still to be the place 

 of resort of that sect of people; and there are many public charities, hospitals, 

 and pagodas, where some thousands of them now reside. Having frequently 

 heard that the ancient Bramins had a knowledge of astronomy, and being con- 

 firmed in this by their information of an approaching eclipse both of the sun 

 and moon, I made inquiry, when at that place in the year 177'2, among the 

 principal Bramins, to endeavour to get some information relative to the manner 

 in which they were apprized of an approaching eclipse. The most intelligent 

 that I could meet with however gave me but little satisfaction. I was told, that 

 these matters were confined to a tew, who were in possession of certain books 

 and records; some containing the mysteries of their religion, and others the 

 tables of astronomical observations, written in the Skanskirrit language, which 

 few understood besides themselves: that they would take me to a place which had 

 been constructed for the purpose of making such observations as I was inquiring 

 after, and from which they supposed the learned Bramins made theirs. I was 

 then conducted to an ancient building of stone, the lower part of which, in its 

 present situation, was converted into a stable for horses, and a receptacle for 

 lumber; but, by the number of court-yards and apartments, it appeared that it 

 must once have been an edifice for the use of some public body of people. We 

 entered this building, and went up a staircase to the top of a part of it, near 

 the river Ganges, that led to a large terrace, where, to my surprize and satisfac- 

 tion, I saw a number of instruments yet remaining, in the best preservation, 

 stupendously large, immoveable from the spot, and built of stone, some of them 

 being upwards of 10 feet in height; and though they are said to have been 

 erected 200 years before, the graduations and divisions on the several arcs 

 appeared as well cut, and as accurately divided, as if they had been the per- 

 formance of a modern artist. The execution in the construction of these 

 instruments exhibited a mathematical exactness in the fixing, bearing, and 

 fitting of the several -"parts, in the necessary and sufficient supports to the very 



• Those are general principles, tliat apply to all modes of calculation, either with logaritlinis or 

 otherwise. Most persons make use of logarithms, as the simplest and easiest way. Sir G. S. in 

 avoiding logarithms, employs otlier tables of his own construction, but less generally useflil. Instead 

 of these, reference may be made to the books l)cforementioneJ, or to many otlier pop\Jar works on 

 the subject. 



