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XXL On the Declinations of some of the principal fxed Stars; 
with a Description of an Astronomical Circle , and some Remarks 
on the Construction of Circular Instruments. By John Pond, 
Esq. . Communicated by- Smithson Tennant, Esq. F. R. S. 
Read June 2 6, 1806. 
T he- observations which accompany this Paper were made 
at Westbury in Somersetshire, in the years 1800 and 1801, 
with an Astronomical Circle of two feet and a half diameter, 
constructed by Mr. Troughton, and considered by him 
as one of the best divided instruments he had ever made ; a 
drawing of it, with a short description, is annexed to the ob- 
servations. (Plate XX.) 
When this instrument came into my possession, I thought I 
could not employ it in a more advantageous manner, than in 
endeavouring to determine the declinations of some of the 
principal fixed stars.* The various catalogues differed so 
much from each other, and such doubt existed as to the 
accuracy of those which were thought most perfect ; that the 
declinations of few stars could be considered as sufficiently well 
ascertained for the more accurate purposes of astronomy. 
The advantages that have resulted from the excellent 
method pursued at Greenwich, of observing constantly the 
transits of a few stars, to obtain accurately their right ascen- 
sions, induced me to follow the same method for determining 
* At that time Dr. Maskeltne’s late Catalogue was not published. 
