146 REMARKS on the 



undertaken, merely for fome purpofe in aftrology. M. Cassini, 

 to whom we are indebted for the explanation of thefe tables, 

 obferves, that they are not originally conftruc'ted. for the meri- 

 dian of Siam, becaufe the rules direct to take away 3' for the 

 fun, and 40' for the moon, (being the motion of each for 1^, 

 13'), from their longitudes calculated as above*. The meri- 

 dian of the tables is therefore i A , 13', or 18 , 15', weft of 

 Siam ; and it is remarkable, that this brings us very near to the 

 meridian of Benares, the ancient feat of Indian learning f. 

 The fame agrees nearly with what the Hindoos call their firft 

 meridian, which pafTes through Ceylon and the Banks of Ra- 

 manancor. We are, therefore, authorifed, or rather, we are 

 neceffarily determined to conclude, that the tables of Siam came 

 originally from Hindostan. 



15. Another fet of aftronomical tables, now in the pofTef- 

 fion of the Academy of Sciences, was fent to the late M. de 

 lTsle from Chrifnabouram, a town in the Carnatic, by Father 

 du Champ, about the year 1750. Though thefe tables have an 

 obvious affinity to what have already been defcribed, they 

 form a much more regular and extenfive fyftem of aftronomi- 

 cal knowledge. They are fifteen in number ; and include, be- 

 fide the mean motions of the fun, moon and planets, the equa- 

 tions to the centre of the fun and moon, and two corrections 

 for each of the planets, the one of which correfponds to its ap- 

 parent, and the other to its real inequality. They are accompa- 

 nied alfo with precepts, and examples, which Father du Champ 

 received from the Brahmins of Chrifnabouram, and which he 

 has tranflated into French ±„ 



The 



* Mem. Acad. Scien. torn. 8. p. 302. & 309. 



\ Aft. Ind. p. 12. It brings us to a meridian 82 , 34', eaft of Greenwich. Benares 

 is 83 , 11', eaft of the fame, by Rennel's map. 



1 Thefe tables are publifhed by M. Bailly, Aft. Ind. p. 335, &c. See alfo p. 31, &c 



