[ ” ] 
to thefe 'Phenomena, that I began to guefs what was 
the real Caufe of them. 
It appeared from my Obfervations, that, during 
this Interval of Time, fome of the Stars near the 
Solflitial Colure, had changed their Declinations 9" 
or i o" lefs y than a Preceftion of yo" would have pro- 
duced ; and, at the fame time, that, others near the 
Equinoftial Colure, had altered theirs about the fame 
Quantity more , than a like Preceftion would have 
occafioned : the North Pole of the Equator feeming 
to have approached the Stars, which come to the 
Meridian with the Sun, about the Vernal Equinox 
and the Winter Solftice ; and to have receded from 
thofe, which come to the Meridian with the Sun, about 
the Autumnal Equinox and the Summer Solftice. 
When I confider'd thefe Circumftances, and the 
Situation of the Afcending Node of the Moon's 
Orbit, at the time when I firft began my Obferva- 
tions j I fufpedled, that the Moon's A&ion upon the 
Equatorial Parts of the Earth might produce thefe 
Effects : For, if the Preceftion of the Equinox be, 
according to Sir Ifaac Newton’s Principles, caufed 
by the Attions of the Sun and Moon upon thofe 
Parts 5 the Plane of the Moon's Orbit being at one 
time, above ten Degrees more inclined to the Plane 
of the Equator, than at another ; it was rcafonable 
to conclude, that the Part of the whole annual Pre- 
ceflion, which arifes from her Action, would in dif- 
ferent Years be varied in its Quantity } whereas the 
Plane of the Ecliptic, wherein the Sun appears, 
keeping always nearly the fame Inclination to the 
Equator j that Part of the Preceftion, which is ow- 
ing to the Sun's A&ion, may be the fame every 
B 2 Year : 
