astronomy. 
had been uniform. The true place of a body is the place 
where the body actually is at any time. 
Equations are corrections which are applied to tiie mean 
place of a body in order to find its true place. 
A digit is a twelfth part of the diameter of the fun or 
moon. . 
Thofe bodies which revolve about the fun in orbits very 
nearly circular are called planets, or primary planets, for the 
fake of diftinction ; and thofe bodies which revolve about 
the primary planets are called fiecondary planets, or fatelites. 
Thofe bodies which revolve about the fun in very ellip¬ 
tic orbits are called comets. The fun, planets, and comets, 
comprehend all the bodies in what we call th efiolar fyfiem. 
All the other heavenly bodies are called fixed Jars, or 
firnplv fiars. . . - 
Confiellation is a parcel of (tars contained within fome al- 
fumed figure, as a ram, a dragon, an Hercules, &c. the 
whole heaven is thus divided into conftellations. A divi- 
f IO n of this kind is necelfary, in order to direct a perfon to 
any part of the heavens which we want to point out. 
CharaElcrs ufied for the Sun, Moon, and Planets. — i-> T. he 
Sun, D the Moon, $ Mercury, 9 Venus, 0 the Earth, 
A Mars, Tf Jupiter, I? Saturn, Georgian, or Herfchel. 
C/iaraSers ufied for the Days of the Week. —Sunday, 
J Monday, $ Tuefday, £ Wednefday, If Thurfday, 
9 Friday, T? Saturday. 
ORIGIN and PROGRESS of ASTRONOMY. 
Aftronomy is inconteflably the loftieft monument of hu¬ 
man genius—the brighteft conquelt atchieved beyond the 
circle of geometric truths. This fublime fcience affords 
a noble field for the (peculations of the philofophic mind, 
and has attracted the curiofity and occupied the attention 
of the learned in every period of fociety. 
Adam in his (late of innocence, as we have feen under 
aftrology, is fuppofed by the Jewilh rabbins, to have been 
endowed with a knowledge of the nature, influence, and 
ufes, of the heavenly bodies; and Jofeplms aferibes to 
Seth and his pofterity a fimilar knowledge. But, be this as 
it may, it is evident that the great length of the antedi¬ 
luvian lives would afford fuch excellent opportunities for 
obferving the heavenly bodies, that it is fuppofed that the 
fcience of aftronomy was confiderably advanced before the 
flood. Indeed Jofephus fays that longevity was beftowed 
upon them for the very purpofe of cultivating the fciences 
of geometry and aftronomy; obferving that the latter could 
not be learned in lefs than 6oo years ; “ for that period,” 
lie adds, “is the grand year.” An expreftion remarkable 
enough ; and by which it may be fuppofed is meant the 
period in which the fun and moon come again into the 
fame fituation in which they were at the beginning of it, 
with regard to the nodes, apogee of the moon, &c. If 
the antediluvians had fuch a period of 6oo years, they 
mud have known the motions of the fun and moon more 
exactly than their defendants knew them fome ages after 
the flood. 
On the building of Babel, it is fuppofed that Noah re¬ 
tired with his children born after the flood, to the north- 
eaftern part of Afia, where his defendants peopled the 
vaft empire of China. And this, fays Dr. Long, “may 
perhaps account for the Chinefe having fo early cultivated 
the ftudy of aftronomy.” It is faid that the Jefnit miffi- 
onarieshave found traditional accounts among the Chinefe, 
of their having been taught this fcience by their firft em¬ 
peror Fo-hi, who is fuppofed to be the fame with Noah; 
and Kempfer afferts that Fo-hi difcovered the motions of 
the heavens, divided time into years and months, and in¬ 
vented the twelve figns into which they divide the zodiac, 
and which they diftinguifh by thefe names following; 
a, the moufe ; 2, the ox or cow ; 3, the tiger; 4, the hare; 
5, the dragon ; S, the ferpent; 7, the horfe ; 8, the ftieep ; 
9, the monkey ; 10, the cock or hen ; 1 1, the dog ; and, 
12, the boar. They divide the heavens into twenty-eight 
conftellations, or claffes of ftars, alloting four to each of 
the feven planets; lb that the year always begins with the 
fame planet; and their conftellations anfwer to the twen'y. 
eight lunar manfions ufed by the Arabaian aftronomers. 
Thele conftellations however they do not mark with the 
figures of animals, like moll other nations, but by con¬ 
necting the ftars by ftraight lines, and denoting the ftars 
themfelves by fmall circles. 
The Chinefe themfelves have many records and tradi¬ 
tions of the high antiquity of their aftronomy ; though 
not without fufpicion of great miftakes. But, on more 
certain authority, it is affected ky F. Gaubil, that at lead 
120 years before Chrift, the Chinefe had determined by 
obfervations the number and extent of their conftellations’ 
as they now ftand ; the fituation of the fixed ftars with 
refpeCt to the equinoxial and folfticiai points ; arid the 
obliquity of the ecliptic ; with the theory of eclipfes : 
and that they were, Iqng before that, acquainted with the 
true length of the folar year, the method of obferving mo. 
ridian altitudes of the fun by the fliadow of a gnomon, 
and of deducing from thence his declination, and the 
height of the pole. The fame mifiionary alfo fays, that 
the Chinefe have yet remaining fome books of aftronomy, 
which were written about 200 years before Chrift ; from 
which it appears, that the Chinefe had known the daily 
motion of the fun and moon, and the times of the revo¬ 
lutions of the planets, many years before that period. Du 
Halde informs us, that Tcheou-cong, the mod Ikilful af- 
tronomer that ever China produced, lived more than a 
thoufand years before Chrift; that he palled whole nights 
in obferving the celeftial bodies, and arranging them into 
conftellations, &c. At prefent however, the ftate of af¬ 
tronomy is but very low in that country, although it be 
cultivated at Peking, by public authority, in the fame 
manner as in mod of the capital cities of Europe. 
The inhabitants of Japan, of Siam, and of the Mogul’s 
empire, have alfo been acquainted with aftronomy from 
time immemorial; and the celebrated obfervatory at Be¬ 
nares, is a monument both of the ingenuity of the people, 
and of their (kill in that fcience. Indeed, according ta 
Porphyry, aftronomy mu ft have been of very ancient 
(landing in the eaft. He informs 11s that, when Babyloa 
was taken by Alexander, there were brought from thence 
celeftial obfervations for the fpace of 1903 years ; which 
therefore muft have commenced within 115 years after the 
flood, or within fifteen years after the building of Babel. 
Epigenes, according to Pliny, affirmed that the Babylo¬ 
nians had obfervations of 720 years engraven on bricks. 
Again, Achilles Tatius aferibes the invention of aftrono¬ 
my to the Egyptians; and adds, that their knowledge of 
that fcience was engraven on pillars, and by that means 
tranfmitted to pofterity. 
M. Bailly, in his elaborate Hiftory of ancient and mo¬ 
dern Aftronomy, endeavours to trace the origin of this 
fcience among the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Perfians, In¬ 
dians, and Chinefe, to a very early period. And thence 
he maintains, that it was cultivated in Egypt and Chaldea 
2800 years before Chrift ; in Perfia, 3209 ; in India, 3101 ; 
and in China, 2952 years before that sera.. He alfo appre¬ 
hends, that aftronomy had been ftudied even long before 
this diftant period, and that we are only to date its revival 
from thence. 
In inveftigating the antiquity and progrefs of aftronomy 
among the Indians, M. Bailly examines and compares 
four different fets of affronomical tables of the Indian phi— 
lofophers, namely, that of the Siamefe, explained by M. 
Caffani in 1689 ; that brought from India by M. le Genti! 
of the Academy of Sciences ; and two other manufeript 
tables, found among the papers of the late M-. de Lifle ; 
all of which he found to accord together, and all refer¬ 
ring to the meridian of Benares, above-mentioned. It ap¬ 
pears that the fundamental epoch of the Indian aftronomy, 
is a conjunction of the fun and moon, which took place at 
the amazing, diftance of 3102 years before Chrift ; and M. 
Bailly informs us that, by our mod accurate aftronomical 
tables, fuch a conjunction did really happen at that time. 
He further obferves that, at prefent, the Indians calculate 
eclipfee 
