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fixed stars, disposed in their several con- 
stellations, with tlie longitudes and latitudes 
of each. 
The most renowned composers of these 
catalogues are, 1. Ptolemy, who added his 
own observations to those of Hipparchus 
Khodius, about the year of Christ 880. 2. 
Ulugh Beigh made a catalogue of the fixed 
stars in 1437. 3. Tycho Brahe determined 
the places of 777 stars for the year 1600. 
4. William, Landgrave of Hesse, with his 
mathematicians, determined the places of 
400 fixed stars. 5. In the year 1667, Ur. 
Halley, in the island of St. Helena, observ- 
ed 3b0 not visible in our horizon. And, 6. 
J. Hevelius, adding his own observations to 
those of the ancients, and of Dr. Halley, 
made a catalogue of 1888. But the last and 
greatest is the Britannic catalogue, a per- 
formance the most perfect of its kind, com- 
piled from the observations of tlie accurate 
Mr. Flamstead, who, with all the talents 
and apparatus requisite for such an under- 
taking, devoted himself to that work for a 
long series of years. It contains 2934 stars. 
In 1782, M. Bode, member of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences at Berlin, published a 
very extensive catalogue of the fixed stars, 
collected from the observations of Flam- 
stead, Bradley, Hevelius, Tobias Mayer, 
De la Caille, Messier, La Mounier, D’Ar- 
quier, and other astronomers ; in which the 
places of the stars, amounting in number to 
5058, are given for the beginning of the 
year i780. This catalogue, which is a very 
valuable work, though there is reason to 
apprehend that the same star is inserted 
more than once, is accompanied by a celes- 
tial atlas, or set of maps of the constella- 
tions, engraved in a very delicate and beau- 
tiful manner. In the catalogue already 
enumerated the stars are classed in con- 
stellations. In the following catalogues 
they succeed each otlier, according to the 
order in which they transit the meridian, 
without any regard to the constellation to 
which they belong : the name of the con- 
stellation being given with a description of 
the stars’ situation in it. The first cata- 
logue of the stars, as we conceive, that was 
printed in this form, or in the order of their 
right ascensions, is that of M. de la Caille, 
given at the beginning of his Ephemerides 
for the 10 years between 1755 and 1765, 
and printed in 1755. It contains tlie right 
ascensions and declinations of 307 stars, 
adapted to the beginning of the year 1750. 
In 1757 he published his “ Astronomiae 
Fundamenta,” in which is a catalogue of the 
fight ascensions and deelinatious of 398 
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stars, adapted likewise to the. beginning of 
1750. In 1763, the year immediately suc- 
ceeding that of his death, the “ Coelum 
Australe Stelliferum” of the same author 
was published; and this contains a -cata- 
logue of the places of 1942 stars, all situ- 
ated to the southward of the Tropic of Ca- 
pricorn, and observed by the same indefati- 
gable astronomer while he was at the Cape 
of Good Hope in 1751 and 1752. The 
places of these are given for the beginning 
of the year 1750. In the same year, the 
Ephemerides for the 10 years between 1765 
and 1775, were published ; in the introduc- 
tion to which, the places of 5i5 zodaical 
stars are given, all deduced from his own 
observations. The stars in this catalogue 
are rectified to the beginning of the year 
1765. The Nautical Almanac for 1773 
contains a catalogue of 380 star.s, in right 
ascension, declination, longitude, and lati- 
tude, derived from the observations of the 
late Rev Dr. Bradley, and adjusted to the 
beginning of the year 1760. It has been 
since, viz. in 1798, republished with cor- 
rections by Dr. Hornsby, in the first volume 
of Bradley’s Observations. These make 
but a small part of what might have been 
deduced from the labours of that great man, 
if his representatives had not withheld the 
rest from the public. Mr. Francis Wol- 
laston informs us, that Dr. Bradley had the 
whole British catalogue calculated to the 
year 1744, and that traces may be observed 
in it of his having examined almost every 
star- in it. He adds, from satisfactory in- 
formation, that Dr. Bradley observed the 
British catalogue twice through : first, with 
the old instruments of the Royal Observa- 
tory, previous to 1750, and afterwards with 
the new ones. The 380 stars above men- 
tioned were carefully rectified for the year 
1790 by Mr. G. Gilpin. 
. At the end of the first volume of “ As- 
tronomical Observations, made at the Royal 
Observatory at Greenwich,” published in 
1776, Dr. Maskelyne, the present Astrono- 
mer Royal, has given a catalogue of 34 
principal stars, in right ascension and north 
polar distance, adapted to the beguming of 
tlie year l770, and which, being the resnlt 
of several years’ repeated obsesvations, 
made with the utmost care and the best in- 
struments, may be presumed to be exceed- 
ingly accurate. In 1776 a work was pub- 
lished at Berlin, entitled “ Recueil da Te- 
bles Astronomiques,” in which it contained 
a very large catalogue of stars from Heve- 
lius, Flamsteed, M. de la Caille, and Dr. 
Bradley, with their latitudes and longitudes 
