$30 
freth application, may be removed by the 
fame authority. ; 
That, for the purpofe of allowing the 
librarians fufficient time to infpe& the 
books at the end of each quarter. (accord- 
ing to the order, dated 1748) all books 
be kept in the library on the day appoint- 
ed for their return, and the whole of the 
day following. 
That the above orders be printed, and 
hung up in the library.—Such are the or- 
ders. ne 
Thefe orders, it will be naturally hoped 
by every one, did not originate in a wan- 
ton abufe of power, nor in a felfifh and 
interefted defire to keep thefe national 
treafures from public notice. On enqui- 
ry, it will be found that the true and im- 
mediate reafons were the unreafonable de- 
Jays in returning books to the library; and, 
were an accurate ftatement given. of the 
books miffing on the various furveys 
which have been made, the number would 
be found very great. Suffice it to fay, 
that fuchdelays and mal-praétices prepared 
the way for the above orders. It fhould, 
at the fame time too, be known, that the 
oy of Cambridge has been always 
diftinguifhed for a liberality not only to 
its own members, but to others: and of 
this liberality numerous inftances could be 
produced—that, in cafes where perfons 
have been employed in works, which re- 
quired the ufe of books in the Public Li- 
brary, the moft ample conceffions have 
been ufually made; and that the con- 
du& of Mr. Marfhall, who attends at the 
library, exceeds all praife, as well for his 
friét integrity in the difcharge of his of- 
fice, as for his refpectful courtefy to 
ftrangers. E.R. 
a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
HISTORY Of ASTRONOMY for the YEAR 
x. (1802) read at the ATHENEUM of 
PARIS, DEC. 30, Jy JEROME LA- 
LANDE. 
F it were a matter of furprize laft 
year, to fee the Hiftory of Aftronomy 
begin with an account of the difcovery of 
a new planet, it is not lefs fo, that another 
fhould have been obferved in the courfe 
ot the prefent year. It was indeed by ac- 
cident, that this laft planet was difcover- 
ed; but fuch fortunate accidents can only 
happen to intelligent and indefatigable 
aitronomers. 
At nine o’clock in the evening of the 
z8th of March, 1802, Dr. Olbers was at- 
tending at Bremen to the planet Piazzi, 
en which aftronomers had employed them- 
Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 1802. 
[May 1, 
felves for the preceding year. He was 
examining, with his telefcope, all the {mall 
ftars in the wing of Virgo, with a view 
of afcertaining their feveral pofitions, in 
order that he might the more readily de- 
termine the fituations of the planet. 
While he was obferving the twentieth ftar 
of Virgo, near which he had feen the pla- 
net in the month of January, he was fur- 
prized to fee near this ftar, which is of © 
the fixth magnitude, another fmall one of. 
the feventh.. Knowing that it was not 
there at the time of his firft obfervations, 
he haftened to afcertain its pofition ; but, 
during the two hours in which he was em- 
ployed in making obfervations, he per- 
ceived that in that fpace of time it had- 
changed its place. The two fucceeding 
nights afforded him ample means of de- 
termining its motions, which he found to 
be at the rate of 10’ perday. As foonas 
he had made public this interefting obfer- 
vation, aftronomers took the earlieft oppor- 
tunity of attending to this new ftar, and 
of calculating its orbit. Dr. Gaufs, a 
very able geometrician, of Brunf{wic, cal- 
culated the elements of the orbit, and Ci- 
tizen-Burckhardt employed himfelf on the 
fame bufinefs. 
On the 4th of June, C. Burckhardt fi- 
nifhed his calculations, and found its re- 
volution would be completed in four 
years, feven months, and twenty-feven 
days; its diftance 2.785, or 288 millions 
of miles ; its excentricity 0.2463, which 
produces an inequality of 28° 25’; its in- 
clination to the orbit 34° 51/3 its node 
58 22° 284 its aphelion ro 2° 3'5 and 
the epoch of its longitude for the year. 
1802 48 23° 10’, 
In November, C. Burckhardt gave to 
the public the refult of obfervations made 
up to the zeth day of September, 1802 5 
from this we find the 
Yrs. M. D. 
Revolution to be - 4g 7Aa8 
Diftance - = 2.7699 
Excentricity - = 0.2463 
5, (OE aim 
Inclination = © 34 38 Oo 
Node : 5 22 27°35 
Aphelion - - 100) 82, age > 
Epoch (1802) 4 23 21 38 
Equation - i eS 
The fame gentleman alfo calculated the 
perturbations of the planet Olbers, which 
amount to many degrees, and will of courfe 
require changes in the preceding elements. 
M. Gaufs has publifhed, in Zach’s Journ- 
al for September, an ephemeris of this 
planet up to the firft of July, 1803. But, 
az 
