209 
has reduced to order 600 obfervations of 
the ftars, and calculated the 600 longi- 
tudes of the fundamental catalogue; in 
fhort, he prefents to us a coadjutor, 
young, unaffected, zealous, inquifitive— 
without ambition, without falfe preten-. 
tions, without felf-intereft, and who lays 
claim to all our gratitude. 
 CitizenMongin,rector of Grande-Combe- 
des Bois, among the mountains of thede- 
partment of Doubs, has fent us a large 
table of the preceflions, that is to fay, of 
the annual changes in the right afcenfion 
of ftars, according to the plans with 
which I fupplied him. It is now thirty 
years fince we have received from this 
worthy pafter diftinguifhed tokens of zeal, 
application, curicfity and courage, which 
are rarely to be found, efpecially in the 
deferts. i 
M. Mafkelyne has fent his obfervations 
for the year 1800, the fequel of a precious 
collection which he has fupplied thirty- fx 
years, and he announces -for {peedy pub- 
lication the Nautical Almanac. for the 
Year 1806. ; 
M. Bode, of Berlin, has publifhed th 
jaf Part of his Grand Celeftial Atlas, in 
twenty fleets; which contains all the an- 
cient conitellations, and many new ones, 
as well as feveral thoufand ftars, with 
which I fupplied him; an immentfe labour 
of which aftronomers fiood in great need. 
This beautiful work may be had at the 
College of France. 
On the 27th of September, the Republic 
of Switzerland adopted the French mea- 
fures. This is the firft inftance of a Eu- 
ropean ftate having felt the importance of 
that univerlal ftandard, which would be 
for the advantage of all civilized countries 
if it were generally adopted. 
M. Guglielmini, at Bologna, has made 
three new experiments on the fall of -bc- 
dies, with a view of demonftrating tig: 
earth’s rotatory motion. He has difcovered 
a little deviation to the fouth, though the 
theory does not give it; but the deviation 
to the weft, is what it ought tobe. At 
Hamburgh, preparations are alfo made for 
fimilar experiments, from the tower of 
‘Saint Michael, three hundred and twenty- 
fix feet high. 
The Obfervatory of Cadiz has fur- 
nifhed us, for fome years pat, with a 
feries of important obfervations. But it 
has of late been negle&ted. General Maz- 
zarado has built a new one in the J/e-de- 
Leon, to which he has appointed four 
aftronomers, who have refided there thefe 
two years; Mefirs.. Rodrigo Armefto, 
‘The Hiftory of Aftronomy, by C. Lalande. 
a ae 
Maximo-Variva Aguero, Julian Canela, 
and Jecfeph Cuefia. .A Nautical Alma- 
nac has alfo been publithed for the laft 
ten-years in Spain; I truft, that maritime 
bufinefs, and aftronomy will profit by it. 
A. telefcope twenty-five feet long, made 
under the direétion of Dr. Herfehell for 
Spain, will be fent in the month of Janua- 
ry, and Citizen Dupont will go to mount 
ite ; 
M. Travaflos, Secretary of thé Acade= 
my of Lifbon, has fent me the obferva- 
tions made by M. Ciera, which confirm 
the longitude of that city; the Nautical 
Ephemeris, to the year 1803, and other 
different works of the Portuguefe Acade- 
my, -of which we had no knowledge, 
and which the National Inftitute have re- 
ceived with great pleafure: we are indebted 
to M. le Chevalier d’Aranjo for this 
cranfaction.: 
Aftronomy has long drooped in the Ba- 
tavian Republic. M. Fokker has now 
eftablithed, at his own expence, an ob- 
fervatory with proper inftruménts at Mid- 
delburg, and has fent us a variety of 
obfervations made from the year 1797; to 
the year 1801. M. Fokker, in the revo- 
Juticn of 1795, was Member of the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety. He is now 
engaged in the finances of Zealand, 
but he devotes all his leifure time to aftro- 
nomy, and has fent me many interefting 
obfervations, 
in Germany, aftronomy continues te 
be in a ftate of great activity. Thejoure . 
ney of M. Le Barow de Zach, from Bre- 
men to Lilienthal, has excited new zeal: 
the Society which was formed for invefti- 
gating the heavens, continues to be en- 
gaged in this bufinefs; and I have reafon 
to hope that, inthe approaching fummer, 
I fhall fee an aftronomical Congrefs af- 
fembled in Germany, as was the cafe in 
1798. In the midft of the horrors of 
war, the French have difplayed their zeal 
for the {cience of aftronomy.: When Ge- 
neral Moreau was at Crem{minfter, he 
fixed a notice upon the celebrated obfer- 
vatory at that place, declaring that who- 
ever fhould injure this fanétuary cf {ci- | 
ence would incur the penalty of death ;— 
the obfervatory was preferved, as well as 
the convent of Benediétins. It is flatter- 
ing to the French nation, to have Gene- 
rails fo diftinguifhed for their love of the 
{ciences. 
The Academy of Peterfburg has 
fought for an obferver: but Burg and 
Wurm have been retained by their own 
Sovereigns, and that fine obfervatery is 
ieee fill 
3 
