554 
Herfchel’s obfervations relative to Venus 
and Saturn, and Mifs Caroline Herfchel's 
account of a new comet, being the fixth 
fhe has difcovered ; this, however, was 
feen at Paris, by citizen Meilier, on the, 
i7th of September. 
P.Piazzi, an aftronomer of Palermo, in 
Sicily, has publithed the defcription of a 
{uperb inftrument,.a circle of five feet 
diameter, conftruéted by Ramfden, and 
alfo an account of the obfervations made 
with it. Thefe are contained in a 
volume in folio, entitled: ‘* Dedla.fpecola 
afironomica de regi fludi di Palermo, hort 
quairo de’ Giufeppe Piazzi, C. R. regio 
profefore a’ Aftronomia, &c.” Yn this im- 
portant work, we find the exact latitude 
of the obfervatory of Palermo to be 38° 
6’ 44”; and its longitude 44’ 37 aeatt 
of Paris. One is furprifed to difccver 
in this work, that in a country lying fo 
far to the fouthward, the ky, fo ferene 
and agreeable to mankind, fhould be but 
little favourable to the afronomer, during 
eight months in the year. Citizen Dan- 
zos, who has refided a long time at Mal- 
ta, which is in latitude 36°, has made a 
fimilar remark refpecting it. 
The aftronomers of Milan have 
finifhed the triangles for their grand 
meridian as far as Genoa, and meafured 
the bafe; but they have not as yet re- 
ceived the large feéior, with which they 
hope to be able to meafure the celeftial’ 
arc. ; 
Doétor Slop, aftronomer, at Pifa, has 
continued his obfervations from 1782 to 
1736, with the calculations dependent 
on them; and M. Kligel, profeffor at 
Halle, has publifhed in the Memoirs of 
the academy of Gottingen, fome en- 
quiries relative to the perturbations of 
planets. Mr. Wurm, of Nurtingen, in 
Wirtemberg, has entered into a laborious 
examination of the diameters of planets, 
a fubje& relative to which there is much 
jinceriainty : for example, the diameter 
of Saturn is 11’ according to M. Bugges, 
13” according to M. Zach, and 20” ac- 
cording to HerIchel. 
M. Barry, aftronomer, at Manheim, 
has, until of late, carried on his obferva- 
tions with zeal and affiduity ; but the 
bombs and bullets of the French army 
have nine different times ftruck the cb- 
fervatory, which is one of the moft re- 
markable and elevated objeéts belonging 
to that city : on this account the inftru- 
‘ments were all difmounted, and fent be- 
yond the mountains of Suabia. 
The Revolution at Geneva, in 1794, 
has not interfered, in the leaft, with the 
Lalande’s Hiftery of Afiroenomy, 1794- 
[Aug, 
labours of its obfervatory ; Marcus Au- 
guftus Piétet Turtin (born on the 23a 
July, 1752) who is entrufted with the 
fuperintendence, hopes to render it fer- 
viceable to the caufe of aftronomy, and 
he has come to Paris, exprefsly for the 
purpofe of procuring new infiruments. 
The profetiors Tralles, of Berne, and 
Hafsier, have meafured triangles and 
bafes at Arau, inthe canton of Soleure, 
in order to conneét the chart of the can- 
tons of Berne, Bafle, and Soleure, with 
that of France. F 
we learn, that the Jatitude of the fteeple 
of Berne is 46° 56’ 55”; and that it is 
fituated 20! 25” to the eaft of Paris. 
M. Schroeder has conftrucied a 25- 
feet telefcope at Lilienthal, near Bremen, 
which equals his expectations ; and M. 
Schrader, of Kiel, in Holftein, another 
of. 26 feet.. M. de Hahn, an opulent 
individual of Mecklenburg, has received 
a 20-feet telefcope from Mr. Herfchel, of 
a fuperior quality, which he has fixed at 
his houfe, at Kemplin, near Hamburgh, 
the {mall mirror is omitted, according to 
Herfchel’s method ; this was propofed in 
France, fo early as 1728, by Lemaire. 
See, “ Recueil des Machines approwvees par 
Ll Académie.” TOM. VI- 
1. Bode, the celebrated aftronomer of 
Berlin, who publifhes an ephemeris an- 
nually, has jutt added a fupplementary 
volume, which is faid to contain obfer- 
vations of confiderable importance : this 
circumfiance has induced me to itudy 
German, and alfo, to requeft, that a 
profefior of that language may be added 
to the eftablifhment of the college of 
France. 
The obfervations of P. Fixlmillner, 
from 1776 to 1791, have lately appeared, 
under the title of “AGa Afironomica Cre- 
<* mifanenfia,’ but we have loft the au- 
thor. Placidus Fixlmillner was born 
May 2g, 1721, at the caftle of Achleuthe, 
near/the abbey of Benedictines, at Cremf- 
munfter, in Auftria. He ftudied phi- 
lofophy at Saltzburgh, in 2735, and be- 
came attached to mathematics; ‘but on 
his entering into the order of Bene- 
di€tines, he was diverted for feveral 
years from his favourite purfuits, by 
theology and canon law. Luckily, how- 
ever, in 1761, being then in his 4oth 
year, he was permitted to cultivate aftro- 
nomy, on account of the tranfit of Venus 
acro(s the fun: alone, and buried in the 
folitude of a remote province, at a dif- 
tance from cities, academies, and the 
learned; or in other words, from all ob- 
jects which fuftain courage, and excite 
emulation, 
From their obfervations, — 
—- 
