PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1830-1831. No. 3. 



February 3. 



GEORGE RENNIE, Esq. V.P., in the Chair. 



The following Presents were received, and thanks ordered for 

 them : — 



Catalogue of the Hunterian Collection in the Museum of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons in London, Part II.; comprehending the 

 Pathological Preparations in a Dried State. 4to. — Presented by 

 the College. 



The Journal of the Royal Institution. No. 2. 8vo. — The Institution . 

 The Philosophical Magazine and Annals of Philosophy. No. 50. 8vo. 



— The Editors. 



The National Portrait Gallery. No. 22. 8vo. — The Proprietors:. 

 A General History of Birds. By John Latham, M.D. F.R.S. In 



10 Volumes 4to. — The Author. 

 Index to the General History of Birds. By John Latham, M.D. 



F.R.S. 4-to. — The Author. 

 Account of the " Traite sur le Flux ec Reflux de la Mer " of Daniel 



Bernoulli. By John W. Lubbock, Esq. V.P.and Treas. R.S. 8vo. 



— The Author. 



Refutation of Mr. Palgrave's Remarks ; with Additional Facts. By 

 N. H. Nicolas, Esq. 8vo. — The Author. 



A Paper was read, entitled, " On the Lunar Theory." Commu- 

 nicated by the Rev. Dr. Lardner. 



The subject treated of in this paper is introduced by a review of 

 the labours of Clairault, Euler, D'Alembert, and Thomas Simpson. 

 The theories of these eminent men, the author remarks, were very 

 deficient in accuracy, and were not at all adequate, without correc- 

 tion irom observation, to the construction of tables. They could 

 serve only to point out the arguments of the equations, and not all 

 even of these. The inequalities of the moon's motion are investigated 

 by approximating processes, which lead to results more or less ac- 

 curate, according as the approximations are carried to a greater or 

 less extent. The writers above mentioned had contented themselves 

 with short and easy approximations; and though they had accom- 

 plished much, had yet left much more to be done. Subsequently 

 to these, Mayer published an elaborate theory of the moon; but his 

 coefficients required much correction, the results of his computations 

 being in some cases found to differ very widely from observation, 



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