1799] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
History oF AsTRONOMY, for the year 6, 
[1798] read at the commencement of the ft- 
ting of the COLLEGE Of FRANCE, the 29th 
Brumaire, year feven, by JeRoME La- 
LANDE, In/pector and Deanof the College, 
and ancient Director of the Objirvaiory. 
[ Concluded from p. 206. 
HE ith Floreai, (April 30th) I 
 requefted ot General BUONAPARTE, 
- 10,000 francs, to place the mural and the 
meridian telefcope of the obfervatory, and 
to make ob(fervations at Paris corre{pond- 
ing to his own. « He fet out too foon to 
eifeét this object, but the minifter Fran- 
COIs (DE NEUFCHATEAU) Is the beft ca- 
pable to remedy this inconvenience, and 
fie has given us reafon to hope tor the aid 
we ftand in need of. Citizen LE Fran- 
cors has obferved the folltices of this 
year, by the entire circle, and I have -re- 
marked with pleafure the obliquity of the 
ecliptic agreeing, to one or two {econds, 
with the table which I inferted in my 4/fro- 
nomy, for 1792, and which moft aftro- 
nomers make ufe of. 
The rath Meflidor (June 2oth) the 
inftitute decreed the prize for the marine 
watches, proper to find the longitude at 
fea, to two chronometers of citizen Louis 
BERTHOUD ; citizen MrSsrER, and [I 
had oblerved their going for about fix 
months. I took one with me to Gotha, 
and I had the fatistaction to obferve that 
200 leagues travelling ina carriage did 
not affect the motion a fecond per day. 
The inftitute ‘will propofe, on the 15th 
Nivofe, for the fubject of a prize to be 
given at the end of two years, the theory 
of the comet of 1770, which the academy 
had already propoled in 1792. This 
comet has only been calculated hitherto, 
in an orbit of 5 years, and a revolution fo 
very fhort appears {carcely probable. 
The memoirs of the Inftitute for the 
year 6, have appeared; they contain my 
Jatt Theory of Mercury, the refult of 40 
years refearches ; this was the firft memoir 
read at the firft fitting of the firft clafs of 
the Inftitute, January 1, 1796. 
The bureau des longitudes has publithed 
two volumes of the ** Connoiffance des Tems”’ 
for the years 8 and g, the additions to 
which I was the compiler of. It has been 
determined that for the future, this work 
fhall contain 500 pages, that there may 
be more room in it for our obfervations 
and calculations. Thefe two volumes 
abound with a variety of interefting arti- 
cles, new catalogues of the ftars, tables 
of the horary movement of the moon, by 
Montuiry Mac. No. XLVI. 
Lalande’s Hiftory of Aftronomy, for 1798. 
433 
DELAMBRE ; obfervations of Mercury by 
Vida, the great and aftonifhing ob- 
ferver of Mercury, to whofe labours we 
are indebted for obtervations of that planet, 
(fo rare and difficult before him) now as 
common as thofe of the other planets, and 
in fact leaving little more to be defired ; 
he himtelf has done more towards perfect- 
ing our knowledge on this fubjeét, than 
all the other altronomers in the world, 
ancient and modern put together ; and we 
may all difpenfe with our taking a part 
in this employment: citizen WIDAL, in 
this refpect, muft excite defpair in all 
others. 
An interefting memoir has appeared, 
accompanied with a large trigonometrical 
chart, having for its object, to reduce the 
apparent diftance of the moon from the (un, 
ora ftar, to the true diftance, and to re- 
folve other queftions of pilotage, by J. R. 
MAINGON, heutenant de fregate. 
This ingenious chart, ufetul for marine 
operations, has been engraved by order of 
the minifter, and publifhed au depét: it 
may be fubftituted for the large charts of 
Margetts, and furnifhes pilots with the 
means of abridging or {paring calculations, 
by fubftituting tor them the operation of 
the compafs. 
The geographical ephemerides, under- 
taken by M. DE Zacu, at Gotha, in the 
beginning of the year, is a very remark- 
able and ufeful work, It appears every 
month, and contains curious obfervations, 
announcements of books and charts, new 
voyages, geographical charts, as thofe of 
Iveland, Africa, and the Black Sea, when 
the public attention was direéted that way : 
portraits, as thofe of HERsCHEL, Dz- 
LAMBRE, Banks, &c. in a word, what- 
ever can intereft aftronomers, geographers, 
and navigators. A moft extenfive corre{- 
pondence in foreign countries enables M. 
DE ZACH to concentrate the communica- 
tions of learned men, the moft diftant from 
each other. The only inconvenience is, 
that the German language is not culti- 
vated enough in the fouth; but many 
aftronomers are already beginning to learn 
it: they could fcarcely difpenfe with the 
work of M. bE ZacH, and confequently 
with a language the moft fertile of all 
others, in important fcientific treatifes. 
I have folicited the eftablifhment of a pro- 
fellor of German in the college of France, 
from a conviction of the utility of that 
language in all kinds of inftru&ion. 
Aftronomy and geography had no journal, 
and we had no reafon to expect one. 
ADELBURNER and BERNOUILLI, had 
3K attempted 

