t 4»8, J 
felveSfr The Method, Jt £cemi 
the Places of the Solftices in their own Time, with 
their Places in -the Reign of the Emperor Tad (g)> 
•whom; they fuppofed to have lived at a; Time eo-ini 
tiding with -2$qo Yeats before •C-hrift, ;T«t usrifop 
pofe them to; have'; been right in-this (aTtnhg xrcata 
by ; no. means obliged to allow,), ftt, as they never 
appear capable of taking the .S&IJHces' witfe- any tole- 
rable Degree of Accuracy, we cannot: wonder at any 
Miftakes we may meet with. : 1 baa • . -i fooil. 
You have feen, Sir, all along, conftant Mention 
made of Chinefe Calculations ^ the very Wdrd. ufed 
by the Fathers themfelves ; tho’ I am fcnfiblc that 
Term will be apt to. lead the unwary into great 
Errors. For the mod: that ;can be:. made, of 1 their 
Catmint ions is nothing ! mode than; , finding.; the 
Places, of the Luminaries! by ’#urnbea^ (\expreffing 
their Periods and Parts ofl Periods), or; In other 
Words, by their mean Motions... For, as to the Sun, 
we are affined (ft), they made his Motion one Chi- 
nefe Degree ..in; a Day, without -knowing any thing 
ef an 'Equation .-tfieccffary to corredt n. It cwas not 
till the. thirdi Century , that they had any Equation 
for the Moon (i) ; and Tchang-tfe-tjin, about A, D. 
550, as we have feed, was the firft that tifed any for 
the Tlanets. It is obfervahle, however, with regard 
t.o this Author, that there ate. no -Writings of ; his 
extant (k ) ; and therefore .what is here laid of him; 
may be nothing more than Report.; Amohg*ao idle- 
vaia 
-(g) Ofiferv : u t fafi Totp.2. p, 14$. (h) Ibid, p. 6. 
(f) Ibid, p, 24, (k) Ibid . p. 58, 59, - \) 
