[ 47 § ] 
exadlnefs, that perhaps thefe methods are only to be 
called in to illuftrate and confirm the others. 
Mr. Pingre confined himfelf principally to the de- 
termination of the lead: diftance of the centers. At 
2 i h .43'. 1 1 " he found the diftance between the neareft 
limbs of Venus and the Sun to be the greateft 
— $ 7 " , 2 . or 5' .57" ,4 when corre&ed by refrac- 
tion. This diftance being fubtrafted from 15'. 19'', 5 
the difference of the Semidiameters, leaves 9'. 22 ", 1 
for the leaft apparent diftance of the centers. But as 
that obfervation was made rather too late, when the 
diftance of the centers was greater than it ought to 
be, he found by calculation that it fhould be dimi- 
niftied by o",22. The true apparent leaft diftance 
of the centers by actual obfervation was therefore 
9'. 21", 88. In order to be more fecure of this re- 
fult, Mr. Pingre compared a large number of ob- 
ferved diftances, both at the beginning and towards 
the middle of the tranfit, with the diftance deter- 
mined by internal contadt, and after excluding every 
doubtful obfervation, he found the leaft apparent 
diftance of the centers to be 9'. 2 1", 69. By com- 
paring this diftance with the diftance deduced from 
the total duration as obferved at any place (the me- 
thod of finding which he has given at large in his 
memoir inferted in the Memoirs of the academy 
of fciences for 1761) and by knowing from cal- 
culation what influence a parallax of 10" for inftance 
would have upon thofe diftances, he found the Sun s 
parallax as in the following table. 
Places 
