1803] 
the value of eveiy thing is fo well under- 
ftood, the proprietors or cultivators of 
land fhould alone miftake their interefts ; 
and upon the general principles of trade, 
that product is beft for the country which 
yields the greateft profit. It may be 
added, that one great article of food, pe- 
culiarly fuited to the climate, 7s grown 
here in great abundance and perfection, 
viz.potatoes that admirable refource againtt 
fcarcity, and which is now aneceffary of 
this ifland, 
I might extend my remarks to fome ora- 
torial flourifhes in this Defcriptive Sketch, 
which will doubtlefs raife a fmile in the 
Lencafhire-men ; but they are not of con- 
fequence enough to occupy more of your 
room. I remain, Sir, your’s &c. 
N,N. 
+ 
— a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
CCEPT a diagram, ruder than I 
could with, of the Tran/it of Mercury. 
I have reprefented the Planet in three 
places ; as firft appearing, and paffing the 
clufter of /pots, and as difappearing be- 
tween two large ones. Underneath is 
a feale of 4 hours, marked with cor- 
re{pondent places of the Pianet on the 
dife. 
% was not proportionally larger to the 
fpots than the dot which reprefents it dif- 
appearing ; but it affumed then an oblong 
appearance as a {pot going off. 
Solar eq. for the day, 15° 59/ 8”. 
The two {pots near the weftern edge 
were nearly fimilar to the Planet. 
The fky had been fo cloudy that the 
Tranfit was not obfervable here till 
3.41.30, by a watch rectified as near as I 
could to folar time the precedtg day, by 
eo obferyation of the © onthe meridian 
ine, ; 
~ 
Diagram of the Tranfit of Mercury— Aftercids. 479 
% was firft diftinétly vifible, h ’ 4 
in the fituation marked, round 
and well defined, - 3.41.30 
% Was feen by meand Mrs. 
Loft, ~ - 9-26. 
% Invifible onaccount ofclouds, 10.162. 
@ had nearly come in contact 
with theloweft {pot, - —.33.39 
Internal contaét, - 11.38. 
© on the meridian, - +39 
Complete emerfion, ~ 11.40. 
We obferved with an 18-inch refleétor of 
Short’s, 
A 21-foot of Matthew Loft’s, 
Gilbert’s compound fun-gla{s, which gave 
a pale yellow image, : 
Compound fun-glais by Blunt, which 
gives a pale white. 
Powers: of the firft about 50 and 7o.—Of 
the fecond, about go. - 
I had only one of Cavallo’s pear] micro- 
meters, extending about 4 the field, and 
of this I made little ufe. 
Telefcopes of lower powers were ufed 3 
but % was not well vifible with them.— 
% often was invifible when the clouds did 
not conceal the fpots. 
Trofton, 8th Dec. 1802. C. Lorrr. 
— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Oz ASTEROIDS, a5 @ CLASS of “ASTRO= 
NOMICAL BODIES. 
N .addition to what I faid ‘before, I 
would remark that the Piazzi Planet is 
much larger compared with Mercury than 
Mercury is to Jupiter ; indeed more than 
three times that proportion : and confe- 
quently the Star difcovered by Dr.Oibers, 
whether Planet or Comet, is not belowthe 
{cale of relative difference already alcer- 
tained in the Planetary Syftem. 
It in axy celeftial boay, thining by re- 
fie&ed \ight, ana revolving round the Sun 
asacentre, the leaf? axis is /bortcr, and 
the greaieft longer, than that of a given 
planet, is not fuch body a Comet ? And 
may not this be accepted as an aftronomi- 
cal definition ?” 
Ox the Comet. 
Of the Cometobferved by Mr. Mechain, 
the furnifher of the article has inadver- 
tently given but ove piace. This is the 
more to be regretted, as it leaves both the 
rate and the line of motion unalcertained. 
By the account it feems to have been r¢- 
trograde at the time of the laft obferva- 
tion ; but fufficient is not ftated to enable 
a judgment to be formed, whether its real 
motion in its orbit be dive orretrograde,. 
Its divection to the North would have fa- 
cilitated the view of it, had not fo much 
2 time 
