1G0 



flexion, and which have been printed in vol. xviii. pp. 70,71, 

 of the Transactions of the Academy ; but that he had not 

 yet found leisure to make the various adjustments which are 

 necessary in order to obtain satisfactory results with it. The 

 instrument is beautifully executed by Mr. Grubb, who him- 

 self contrived the subordinate mechanism, by which the re- 

 quisite movements are effected with perfect ease to the 

 observer. 



The President read the first part of a paper by the Rev. 

 Dr. Hincks, on the Years and Cycles of the ancient 

 Egyptians. 



The author's object in this paper is to oppose the re- 

 ceived opinion, that the Egyptian year originally consisted of 

 360 days, and that at some epoch, on which learned men 

 are not agreed, five additional days were annexed to it, in 

 order to approximate more closely to the length of a solar 

 revolution. His own opinion is contained in the five follow- 

 ing propositions, which it is the business of his paper to 

 establish. 



1st. In the early part of the eighteenth century, before 

 the christian era, there occurred a marked chronological 

 epoch in Egypt. 



2nd. Before this epoch the Egyptians used a year, of 

 which the commencement took place at a fixed season, and 

 the average length of which was consequently equal to the 

 tropical year ; while after this epoch, they used the wander- 

 ing year of 365 days. 



3rd. Between this chronological epoch, and the year of 

 our Lord, 34, there elapsed six cycles of some sort or 

 other. 



4th. The nature of these cycles was such, that in one 

 of them, the astronomical phenomenon which marked the 

 commencement of the old fixed year, travelled forward 

 through a fifth part of the wandering year, or 73 days ; and 



