542 
of thefe gentlemen difcovered it on the 
pint of emerging. “ Ir.ftill bordered on 
the difk of Mars, the 17th of April, at 
ave o'clock, 58 minutes 25 feconds. He 
found that the conjunétion hadiaken place 
shree minutes 12 feconds earlier, and that 
Mats was’more north-than the frar, by 
30 feconds. The fongitude of Mars was 
then eight figns, feven degrees, fix mi- 
nutes, 26 feconds: latitude 20 minutes, 
five feconds. Latitude heliocentric 10 
minutes, feven feconds. He calculates the 
sight-afcenfion of the ftar, at 266 de- 
ggecs sO MINULES 227% feconds. Declenfion, 
23,degrees 46 minutes 48 feconds. 
The 26th December, a conjunétion 
happened, which, if lefs remarkable for 
aftronomers, was more fo for the pub- 
lic. Mars was difcovered above, and very 
meat, Jupiter. Duc la Chapelle obferved 
this conjunction carefully at Montauban. 
Government, ever eager to promore the 
caufe of fcietice, have given directions, 
by the minifter Benezeck, to publifh the 
Hiffoire Célefie, which comptizes all’ the 
obfervations made at Paris, and the 40,000 
ars, which have been determined in the 
Wilirary School. One hundred and twenty 
pages were already printed off on the 1% 
of January, 1797- 
This Hiftory will contain faceefiively 
si! the obferyations made at Paris, for 
thefe so years paft, by Delifle, Lemon- 
nier, Mefficr, and even the ancient .ob- 
. fervations; but abeve all, the difcoveries 
ef the Parts Obfervatory, fmce 1791, 
with which year, the extracts publifhed 
by Cafiini from 1785 terminate. 
Fhe grand werk of afcerraintng the 
meridian, is continued with as little* en- 
terruption. as _pollible. Since the com- 
mencement of the year 1796, Delambre 
has been employed at Dunkirk in obferv- 
ing the latitude with an entire circle, ‘to 
determine ove of the extremitiés of the 
new meridian. The other extremity was 
determined by Mechain, at Bareclona, in 
792." : , 
*“TFuly “oth, Delambre, after having bees 
dng retarded by the remiffmefs of the 
Beard, departed for Bourges. He has 
commenced his labours, by placing figns 
os far as Hermont, oppofite Clermont. 
November oth, he arrived at Sermier, 
Having completed eight flations, and 
-288,coo toifes of the meridian. He pro- 
pofes to purfue his ufeful labours, during 
the wimter, at Eyvaux. 
“Wfechain has been lefs fortunate, not 
having been able to commence his opera- 
sions fo carly as Delambre. He has been 
prevented by bad weather at Mount 
Laland’s Hiftory of Afironomy. 
_ year. 
FSup- 
Noire, ‘to the north of Carcaffone, in 
which town he has determined to pafs the 
winter, and obferve the azimuths, to afcer- 
tain, more fuccefsfully, the dire€tion of 
his triangles. 
Nouet, affifted by the fkilful geographical 
engineer, Cardinet, has been engaged Im 
a very laborious, but highly ufeful, aftro- 
nomical caynpaign, in the Alps. He has 
conftruéted very large triangles, which 
comprehend the -entire fpace mclofed be-. 
tween Thonon, to the north ; Saint-Jean 
de Maurienne, fourh; Mont. Blanc, to 
the eaft; and Mont Colombier, weit. 
Borda is “engaged in determining the 
refra€tions, both by theory and ingenious 
and delicate experiments, on the denfity 
of the air. ha 
The Conxorffance des Tems, for 1797> 
was publifhed in January, 1796. The 
addenda contains a catalogue of rooo cir- 
cumpolar fiars; a matter of great import- 
-ance, and hitherto a defideratum im aftro- 
nomy: this is the firft refule of the 
erand work undertaken, mm 17895. by 
Michel Lefrancais Lalande, and myfelf, 
to determine the $5,000 flars, of which 
32,000 have been already obferyed ; and 
Lefrangais, with indefatigable zeal, has, 
in the courfe of this year, mereafed the 
number up to 37,000. 
It contains, likewife, feverat ebfervations _ 
of eclipfes, with their refults. | 
Obfervations of the planets, and, in par- 
ticular, of Mercury. : 
An Attronomical fournal, from 1782, 
with which year the Aftronomical Hilf 
tory of Bailly concludes, to 1788. The 
hiffory of the preceding’ years I have 
feparately publifhed. ‘ ' 
Obfervations made by M. de Zach, at 
Gorha; M. Barry, at Manheim; Duc la 
Chapelle, at Muntauban ; Vidal, at Thous 
loufe; &c. : 
F have likewife given a determination 
of the diameter of the fourth fatellite of 
Jupiter, and new elements of the orbit of 
Mercury. . F 
The Cexnaifance des Tems, for 4798, 
appeared in Auguft, 1797. The additions 
contained in this volume,’ are of greater 
importance than thofe of any. preceding 
It contains feveral memoirs, by 
myfelf, relative to the motion of the ffars, 
on the fatellites of Saturn, on the curve of 
the apparent orbit of the moon, and the 
precetlion cf the equinoxes. New tables 
of Mercury, which I have calculated from 
the laft obfervations, taking account, at 
the fame time, of the perturbations which 
Venus occafions on this\planet. 
‘Fhe poftions of r50. ftars, ee 
2 ¥ 
