[ 347 1 
equation of time : and the miftake of 2 L feconds, 
which was fuppofed to be found in the old manner 
of reducing the equation of right afcenfion into time, 
really takes place in this new method ; which, added 
to i fecond of time, arifing from the miftake in 
taking the preceflion of the equinoxes into the ac- 
count, produces 3 4- feconds, an error which, I ap- 
prehend, the aftronomical equation tables ufed ftnce 
Mr. Flamftead’s time have but rarely exceeded. 
To fome, who are not well acquainted with the 
prefent improved ftate of aftronomy, the difference 
in queftion may feem a matter of indifference, and 
too trifling for notice. But, if truth is the objecft; of 
all our enquiries, why fhould we wilfully go beflde it 
in the fmalleft matters ? And is it not a juftice due 
to paft aftronomers, to whom we owe the founda- 
tions of all our knowledge, to vindicate them even 
from the fmalleft cenfure, which they do not appear 
to deferve ? At the fame time, I flatter myfelf, that 
the learned editor of the Connoiflance des Mouvements 
Celeftes, and alfo the friends of the late illuftrious Abbe 
de la Caille, who, I believe, was inadvertently the 
firft author of this miftake, will take no offence at my 
endeavouring to clear up a point, which they, doubt- 
lefs for want of having given fufficient. attention to, 
feem to have miftaken : lince, truth being the com- 
mon objedl of all our purfuits, we ought candidly 
to accept as well the affiftance we receive from each 
other for bringing us into the right road, when we 
happen to have ftrayed from it, as for helping us 
forward on our journey. 
The Figure referred to in p. 339. Jhoukl be Tab. XX. 
Y y 2 LVII. JJiro- 
