400 



NATURE 



,\Mar. 26, 1874 



of the introduction of the volume.* The date on the 

 copy of Frisi's dissertation (not seen by Mr. Todhunter) 

 we consulted was 175 l ; it contains 8 pp. of antccessio j 

 86 pp. of text, 3 plates of figures, and 2 pp. of dedication. 

 It consists of ten chapters, and may possibly, as Mr. 

 Todhunter suggests, have been incorporated by Frisi in 

 his " Cosmographia" (§ 532), though it certainly was not 

 transferred bodily ; on p. 65 he gets " axis terras ad dia- 

 mctrum sibi normalem erit ut 229 : 230." 



We have seen one of the works alluded to in § 55 1, viz., 

 that of Bouguer ; it is entitled, " Operations faitcs par 

 ordre de I'Acadifmie . . . pour la verification da degrd 

 du m^ridien compris entre Paris et Amiens.'' Paris, 

 1757. 8vo. It consists of 28 pp., including two for title, 

 and was read March 23, 1757. 



In § 717 reference is made to the account of a measure- 

 ment of an arc of the meridian in Lombardyby Beccaria, 

 published at Turin "in 1744." We know of no work by 

 Beccaria on this subject, except the " Gradus Tau- 

 rinensis." The two copies of this which we have seen are 

 dated 1774 and 1775 ; possibly from its position in the 

 book the former of these dates is intended by Mr. Tod- 

 hunter. It is a scarce work. 



Mr. Todhunter has in §725 devoted more attention to 

 a supposed work by Newton than perhaps it really de- 

 serves. At any rate, De Morgan (" Budget of Paradoxes," 

 p. 83) greatly doubts that Newton wrote it. He remarks 

 that it has been treated with singular silence, and the 

 name of the editor has never been given. 



Lagrange contributes a memoir, in which he arrives by 

 analysis at the point Maclaurin had reached by geometri- 

 cal methods. 



The operations carried on at -Schehallien for ascertain- 

 ing the density of the earth are next noticed, and with the 

 conclusion of vol. i. the history of the two subjects 

 during the century which followed the appearance of the 

 " Principia" is nearly completed. 



Some works mentioned as not having been seen (in 

 § 738) may here be described. 



The title of D'Anville's book is incorrectly given by 

 Lalande. f For "la circonf^rence," read sa ; for " de 

 ccqualt'ur," read siir les parall}Ies. There are 8 pp. of 

 dedication (to Due de Chartres), 20 pp. of averlissement, 

 3 pp. of privih'gc, <S:c , H pp. of observations, and 147 

 pp. of text, with a plate. 



Lalande describes very accurately the contents of the 

 " Anecdotes physiques et morales." 



Mayer's " Basis Palatina" has 6 pp. of dedication, 14 pp. 

 lectori astroiwmo ; 23 pp. are taken up with "Series et 

 ordo triangulorum qute ex propriis suis observationibus, 

 anno 1763 habitis, deduxit et correxit C. M. ; 2 pp. of 

 conspectus totius operis. 



Hennert's work (Utrecht, 1778) contains five disserta- 

 tions, of which the fourth is — " Sur le mouvement que 

 prend un corps, quand il est parvenu au centre d'attraction, 

 et sur I'attraction considerde comme principe universel.'' 

 It takes up pp. 125-166. On p. 166 he says — 



" Concluons de nos recherches qu'on n'a pas asses de 

 preuves pour admettre I'attraction comme prmcipe uni- 



* We have also seen another work, the *' De ccntro Gravitatis, editio 

 altera, accedit disquisitio in centrum magnitudinis " (Rome, 1751), but it 

 docs not, if we remember, bear upon our subject. 



t I'here is a very valuable copy of this work (" Bibliopraphie Astrono- 

 mique '') in the Graves' Library', containing Lalande*s autograph notes, and 

 many other interesting features. 



versel de tous les changemens qui arrivent dans le monde 

 matdriel. Nous .avons vu que la cohesion des corps ne 



se ddduit pas sans difficulte de I'attraction Je sens 



bien, qu'il reste d'autres recherches a faire sur cette 

 matiire. J'en ai ebauchd quelques unes que je pourrai 

 publier si elles me paroissoient pouvoir contribuer au 

 progrds des sciences physico-mathcmatiques." 



His fifth dissertation is " Sur la figure de la terre rela- 

 tivement h. la parallaxe de la lune et k la navigation." It 

 occupies pp. 167-214. In § i8 we read, "Aprcs avoir 

 cherchd inutilement de concilier les observations avec les 

 hypotheses, dont les astronomes ont fait usage jusqu'au- 

 jourdhui, tachons de tirer un meilleur parti de notre. 

 formule gdnerale," &c. And in § 25, " II rdsulte de nos 

 calcules que I'hypoth^se de M. Bouguer et la notre donnent 

 plus exactement le degre de longitude que I'hypothese 

 elliptique qui s'ccarte considerablement de I'expdrience." 

 There are 4 pp. of dedication, 1 1 pp. of preface (interest- 

 ing and amusing), 3 pp. of contents, 214 pp. of text, 2 pp. 

 of errata, and 3 plates. 



We may here describe a volume containing " Disserta- 

 tiones de uniformitate motus diurni," by Hennert and 

 Frisius, "pra:mio coronatse," Petropoli, October 10, 1783. 

 That by Hennert contains 43 pp., and adciitamenta 

 making up 70 pp. in all ; that by Frisius goes on to p. 

 112, and then 40 pp. more. They treat of attraction, but 

 are not, apparently, of much importance. 



Frisius it was who first introduced the ellipsoid as 

 distinguished from the oblatum and the oblongum ; from 

 § 669, we learn, also, that he has no hesitation in 

 adopting the truth as to the earth's motion. 



Hube's work is in 87 pp. Svo., with I page of plates. 

 Its value may be seen from the following extract § 43 : — 



" Demonstravimus itaque tellurem nostram omnino 

 esse homogeneam, vel potius densitatem variam ilhus 

 partium, ratione universas massa?, nullius fere momenti 

 esse . . . probavimus porro, pendulorum experimentis, 

 ditfcrentiam gravitatis sub polo et asquatore, tantam esse, 

 ut terra; forma clliptica omnino esse nequeat ... ad 

 finem itaque meuni pervenisse mihi videor, qui tantum 

 fuit, ut cxperimentorum hucusque factcrum ope, summa 

 qua fieri potuit evidentia, telluris formam certo definirem 

 ac omnia dubia, quic in hac re jure moveri possent, tol- 

 lerem ; ncque adeo immorabor in consectariis variis 

 nostra: theorize explicandis, quoniam vera teUuris forma 

 semel certo stabilita, h.aud difficile est, eo coUigere atque 

 perspicere, quae inde necessario efficiuntur." 



Further particulars concerning Thomas Williams 

 (§988) arc given in the "Budget of Paradoxes," p. 102. 



The work referred to in § 1,000, is a 4to. volume, and 

 cont.ains I page of avcrtisscinent, 13 pp. of introduction, 

 I page of table, 94 pp. of text, and i page of errata (in 

 this Houslowheat is corrected to Hounslowheat). We 

 think we have somewhere seen the preface ascribed to 

 Legendre ; it is clear, however, from the introduction 

 (from the words " deux de mes confreres de I'Acaddmie 

 M.M. Mechain et Legendre, p. xiv.) that it is due to 

 Cassini, as Lalande correctly states. With the copy we 

 examined was bound up " Descriptions des moyens 

 employes pour mesurer la base de Hounslow Heath 

 dans la province de Middlesex, publiee dans le vol. Ixxv. 

 des ' Trans. Phil.' par le Major-Gcn(5ral William Roy, 

 traduite de I'Anglais par M. de Prony," Paris, 1 787. There 

 is a discours pr'elimhiaire du traductcur 18 pp. There is 

 a notice of i page, a page of errata : the translation 

 occupies 80 pp., there are 3 tables, and 5 planches. Mr 



