ee 
226 
At Paris, the cbfervatory ‘has acquired 
Citizen Agouftene. The Minilier of the 
Interior, Citizen Chaptal, has confented - 
_ that the committee of longitude fhould in- 
creafe its expences for this new object ; 
and I have made a Confiderable acquifition 
tn Citizen Giroult, whofe youth and affi- 
duity afford me new fuccours, and leave 
me no other regrets, than that am not 
- ableto procure. a greater number of fuch 
perfons. 
We have mentioned in the Hifory of 
1800, the lofs which altronomy fuftained 
en the 5th or November, in the death of 
Ramfden-: to him we have been indebted 
thefe twenty years for the beft and largeft 
inftruments, for telefcopes the mok perfect, 
and for projects the moft ingenious. 
‘Troughton is now the moft celebrated ar- 
tift in England, and he is preparing to in- 
demnify us for this lofs. He has already 
made many very excellent inftruments, and: 
Citizen Pictet, of Geneva, has lately given 
fome accountofthem, . 
We loft, on the roth of February, Ci- 
tizen St. Jacques de Sylvabelie, Director 
of the Obfervatory of Marfeilles, who was 
diftinguifhed for his learned inveftigations, 
as maybe feen in the Philofophical Tranf- 
actions ; he attained the age of 79, and 
was bufily employed to the lat. An ac- 
count of this able man appeared in the 
Journal of the Lyceum for his depart- 
ment. - 
His place has been filled by Citizen 
‘Thulis, who was a long time Affiftant-di- 
reftor of the Obfervatory. This was he 
who had for profelytes and pupils Citi- 
zens Planpain and Degrand; but thefe 
have both left us,to the great detriment of 
aftronomy. 
In December, 1800, Matteuci died at 
Bologna: to him we are. indebted for the 
Jatter volumes of the Ephemerides de Bo- 
logne, which are carried down to 1810, 
Citizens Ciccolini and Guglielmini, who 
have taken his place, promile new aétivi- 
ty in that obfervatory, to which Manfredi, 
Zanotti, and Matteuci, have given cele- _ 
brity for nearly a century. 
Chaligni died at Madrid: he has been 
long known for obfervations and calcula- 
tions, which have been of great fervice to 
the {cience of aftronomy. 
M. Chevalier, who made capital obfer- 
vations at L:fbon and Bruffels, died at 
Prague. 
On-the 8th of OGober, Gabriel de Bory 
died at Paris, aged 81 years: in-1751, he 
made a voyage to Spain, and in 1753, 
another to Portugal and the ifland of Ma- 
deira, to determine their Giuation, His 
. 
7 
The Hiftory of Aftronomy, by C. Lalande. 
(April 1, 
obfervations.are given in the Memoirs of 
1768, p. 270, and of 1772, fecond part. 
He gave, in the Memoirs of 1770, a De- 
{cription of a Portable Obfervatory: and,> 
in the third volume of Savants Etrangers, 
may be found the Obfervations which he 
made on Mercury’s Tranfit over the Difk 
of the Sun. Since 1751, he has publithed 
a Defcription of a Sea-oftant by Refiec- 
tion; he fpread a tafte for ebferyations in 
‘the royal marine: as chief of a fquadron, 
and governor of the Windward Iflands, he 
had the means of contributing to excite 
emulation, and he always employed them. 
In 1765, he was named a free-aflociate of 
the Academy of Sciences, and in 1798, he 
was elected a member of the Inftitute- 
But the greateft loft which aftronomy 
has fuftained this year was in the death of 
Jofeph de Beauchamp. He was born at 
Vezoul, June 29, 1752. His obferva- 
tions at Bagdad, in Perfia, and on the 
Black Sea, were as difficult for him to 
make, as they were important for us to be 
in pofleffion of. He went out in 1796, as: 
coniul, from France to Mafcate, in Ara- 
bia, and he wrote to me as he was depart-, 
ing: ‘* you will remember my attachment 
to you and to aftronomy,;”” indeed, he 
quitted with regret a country and family 
which he cherifhed, and may be confidered 
as a martyr to the fcience that he loved. © 
He left Conftantinop!e the 2 5th of Septem- 
ber ; we were expecting him with the moft 
easer impatience, when fcarcely had he 
reached the coaft of Provence, before he 
fell a victim to that diforder of which he 
had not been perfectly cured ; he died at 
Nice, November 19, 1801. Eight days 
before his death, the feétion of aitronomy ° 
had appointed him to the vacant place in 
the Inftitute. I publifhed an account of 
his labours in the Momiteur of the 15th of 
December, and in the laft volume of this, 
journal. - 
ma aa 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WAS glad to fee the accounts publifhed 
in your Magazine for January of the 
appearance of the bottom of the crater of 
Mount Vefuvius, becaufe it confirms what 
has long been my opinion, that there is 
nothing to be found there of the leaft im- 
portance; for, as to ‘** primordial fub- 
frances unaltered by fire,” which thefe gen- 
tlemen ‘fay this mountain alone produces, 
it will be difficult to give them credit for 
things which they neither mame nor - 
brought away ; and, if they mean ftones 
worn fmooth by mceflant friction, we have 
| | found 
