552 
laborious evening's’ toil. Mankind will 
be interefted in learning, thar, amidft 
the convulfions that agitate Europe, im- 
menfe labours are executed during the 
filence of the night, which will furnifh 
the means of preparing for future afiro- 
nomers, a monument calculated to rehit 
the greatefi revolutions, The dangers 
with which we were furrounded, during 
nine months, did not interrupt our ex- 
ertions; even, then I confoled myfelf 
with my ftars, and was tempted to ex- 
claim, with Horace : | 
< Kxegt monumentuim @re ferennius.”” 
The firft part of thefe obfervations 
has been inferted in the Memoirs of the 
kate Academy of Sciences for 1789 and 
1790, Which are, at prefent, printed, 
and wil! probably be very foon publithed. 
We are already certain that the real po- 
fition of 130 ftars are different from thofe 
afliened to them; and we have 1500 of 
the fifth or fixth clafs which have never 
been afcertained before. Flamfteed, in 
his catalogue of. 2800 ftars, has only 
ezoo of the fixth clafs and thofe below 
it. This demonftrates the mwnportance 
of an exact furvey of the whole heavens, 
without which we fhall never have any 
well-grounded expeétation of making a 
confiderable progrefs in aftronomy. 
The declination of cight principal 
ftars, determined with great care, by 
means of excellent infruments, has been 
fent me from England ; and I have been 
pleafed to find that our calculations have 
correfponded exacily in fome cafes, and 
that in others the difference has only 
amounted to one or two feconds. I have 
added to thefe, the right afcenfion of 139 
northern ftars, felected from the 8000 
which we have from the pole to 45°, and 
which will furnith the means of com- 
paring the others. 
At the National Obfervatory, the ci- 
tizens Nouet and Perny continue to de- 
termine the declinations of the principal 
fiars; they have already finifhed 47, each 
of which has been viewed feveral times 
with acrrele that multiplies the obferva- 
tions, fo as tobe precife to a fingle fecond, 
according to the method of Mayer, per- 
fe€ted by citizen Borda; a defcription 
of this inftrument may be found in the 
work, intitled, “* Expofé des Opérations 
faites en France, pour la Fonétion des Ob- 
ferwatoires de Paris & de Greenwich, par M. 
M. Caffini, Mechain, & Legendre, 1791.” 
M. Zach, aftronomer at Gotha, in 
Saxony, who is in poffeffion of a charm- 
ing obfervatory, and one of Ramfden’s 
Lalande’s Hiftory of Aftronomy, 1794s 
f Aug 
eight-feet telefcopes (d'une Lunette meri= 
dienne de pieds, de Ramfden) has at feve- 
ral different times, re-examined the right 
afcenfions of 2800 ftars of Flamfteed's 
Britifh catalogue, and he himfelf ts 
about to publifh a more correct catalogue, 
with new tables of the aberrations and 
nutations, which are now printing, et 
the expence of /Milord) the Duke of 
Marlborough. This work will be ex- 
ceedingly important to aftronomers. 
The cppofition of Mars, ‘on the gtk 
Floreal (22th April) prefented a re- 
markable f{peciacle to the public, and 
we difcovered, with great-fatisfaction, 
that the errors in the table of this ftar 
were very trifling. an 
On the evening of the 26th Pluviofé 
(24th February) a total eclipfe of the 
moon occurred, and thofe who contract 
to light the lamps in Paris, having for - 
gotten to confult the almanac, the city 
was left in total darknefs. The fame 
thing happened on the r8th of March, 
1793, and great confufion enfued, on 
the breaking up of the various places of 
public amufement- Pe: 
The impretiion of the Grand Colle€tion 
of Obfervations, during the 17th century, 
drawn up by citizen Pingré, is fill going 
forward. Notwithftanding he 1s now 
83 ycars of age, he perfeveres with his 
accuftomed zeal, in labours fo ufeful to 
the interefts of aftronomy. I hoped to 
have been able to announce the publi. 
cation of the great work, by citizen La- 
place, on the Celeftial Attractions ; we al] 
know, it is to this able geometrician we 
are indebted for the lateft and moft bril- 
liant difcoveries of this kind+ the caufe 
of the accelerations of Jupiter and the 
moon. 
The Printers are ftill bufied on La- 
peroufe’s Voyage round the World; and 
the plates which are to accompany it 
are now working off. We have juft 
heard of the death of captain d’Entre- 
cafteaux, who went partly in fearch of 
him, and partly to complete his enter- 
prize, by circumnavigating New Hol- 
land. This defign has net been com-- 
pletely executed, but much knowledge, 
and that too highly important to geo- 
graphy, has been acquired. 
Citizen Delambre, one of the beft 
aftronomers now living, is employed in 
adapting citizen Laplace’s method of 
calculation to all the planets, which has 
already fucceeded fo admirably in refpect 
to Jupiter and Saturn. He is alfo en- 
trufted with a new admeafurement of the- 
circumference of the globe, and the dif= 
covery 
