ASTRO NO MT of the BRAHMINS. 157- 



is therefore certain, that the aftronomy of the Brahmins is nei- 

 ther derived from that of the Greeks, the Arabians, the Per- 

 fians or the Tartars. This appeared fo clear to Cassini, 

 though he had only examined the tables of Sianr, and knew 

 nothing of many of the great points which diftinguifh the In- 

 dian aftronomy from that of all other nations, that he gives it 

 as his opinion, that thefe tables are neither derived from the 

 Perfian aftronomy of Chrysococca, nor from the Greek 

 aftronomy of Ptolemy ; the places they give at their epoch to 

 the apogee of the fun, and of the moon, and their equation for 

 the fun's centre, being very different from both *. 



26. But, to return to what refpects the moon's acceleration ; 

 it is plain, that tables, as ancient as thofe of Tirvalore pretend- 

 to be, ought to make the mean motion of that planet much; 

 flower than it is at prefent. They do accordingly fuppofe, in 

 the rule for computing the place of the moon, already defcri- 

 bed, that her motion for 4383 years, 94 days, reckoned in the 

 moveable zodiac from the epoch of the Calyougham, is, J s , 2 , 

 o, 7", or 9/, 7 , 45', 1", when referred to the fixed point of 

 the vernal equinox. Now, the mean motion for the fame in- 

 terval, taken from the tables of Mayer, is greater than this, 

 by 2°, 42', 4" f, which, though conformable, in general, to 

 the notion of the moon's motion having been accelerated, falls, 

 it muft be confefTed, greatly fhort of the quantity which 

 Mayer has affigned to that acceleration. This, however, is 

 not true of all the tables ; for the moon's motion in 438 3 years, 

 94 days, taken from thofe of Chrifnabouram, is 3 , 2', to" 

 lefs than in the tables of Tirvalore X I from which it is reafon- 

 able to conclude, with M. B a illy, that the former are, in 

 reality, more ancient than the latter, though they do not pro- 

 fefs to be fo : and hence, alfo, the tables of Chrifnabouram 



make.; 



* Mem. Acad. Scien. torn. 8. p. 286 

 t Aft. Ind. p. 145. 

 4 Ibid. p. 12.^.. 



