208 ON THE HINDU 



an}' two quantities whatever, whether large or 

 small, that are in the proportion of I : 1105, will 

 give the same quotient. Thus, suppose .r=1105 

 minutes, and j/=l minute, then, JLiiLiI— 1 105. 

 Again, suppose .r=l 105 seconds, and ?/=l second, 

 then, ^~^= 1 1 05, as hefore. Or, suppose j:=^2Q 1 ", 

 and 77=0, 2", then, ^^rrT"— 1^05, as hefore. Hence 

 it evidently follows, that as 1 105 may he deduced 

 from any two quantities, however small, that are 

 in the proportion of 1 : 1 105, so may 340 aom any 

 other tw^o quantities whatever, small or large, that 

 are in the proportion of 1 : 340. It is, therefoie, 

 the heighth of absurdity to pretend to draw any 

 conclusion relative to the supposed quantity of er- 

 ror from the 3'ears exhibited; and if we wish to 

 shew the errors, it must be done by a direct com- 

 putation, and not by ideal notions or sophistry. 



The Reviewer perhaps conceived that all the re- 

 sults should come out exactly the same; if so, it is 

 more than he had a right to expect from the most 

 correct European tables extant. If we examine the 

 second edition of La Lande's tables, we shall find 

 that one of the data will give us 318 years for the 

 age of it, and another 243 years: but would this 

 be a sufficient ground to assert, that either the hea- 

 venly bodies were so inaccurately observed by the 

 author as to furnish no basis for calculation, or that 

 the observations were made at a period prodigiously 

 anterior to that assigned to La Lande's second edi- 

 ticai r The error from which the 243 years arise, only 

 amount to about one minute and half, which may 

 shew the Reviewer, that he is not to assume the quan- 

 tity of the error Worn the number of years. There 

 are, perhaps, no astronomical tables in existence, t>hat 

 do not contain errors, but these errors are always less 

 at or near the time the work is written than at any 

 distant period whate\'er. Therefore, to put this 

 matter out of dispute, I shall exhibit, in the 



