1804.] 
meridian of France, compared with the 
degree meafured in Peru. It is, however, 
fo Jificult to admit an error of fuch mag- 
nitude, tnat we have requefted informa- 
tion from Sweden on this fubject. 
M. Mechain fet out on the 26th of, 
April, 1803, for Spain, to continue the 
meridian of France to the 39th degree of 
latitude, that is to fay, as far as the Bale- 
arian Iilands. He was accompanied by 
Mechain junior, Dezauche junior, and 
they were joined by M. Chaix, an able 
Spanifh a‘ronomer. 
I gave him an excellent circle of 19 
inches radius, made by Lenoir; a tele- 
{cope of a large aperture was added to it: 
there are twelve large reverberators, and 
he will be able to continue his triangles 
to Majorca and Ivica, though at the dif- 
tance of 93000 toifes from the coaft of 
Catalonia, in the months of January, Fe- 
bruary, and March, which. are thofe moft 
favourable for fuch obfervations. In the 
mean time, he has formed fix fubfidiary 
triangles between Barcelona and Tortofa, 
as detailed in the Moniteur of Novem- 
ber 15. Bur inthe midft of ftorms and 
tempelts, furrounded by thunder, and 
fleeping under a tent upon ftraw, he has 
been obliged, for the purpofe of com- 
pleting his operations, to caufe wooden 
huts to be conftruéted on fummits, the 
climate of which is dreadful. On the 
27th of October he was on the higheft 
peaks of Montferrat for his laft triangle. 
On the 23d of November the whole were 
finifhed; but the brig -deftined to carry 
him to the Balearian Ilands, having loft 
twenty men by the yellow fever which 
broke out at Malaga, was obliged to per- 
form quarantine, and Mechain could not 
proceed thither, though the court of Spain 
bad given the neceflary orders. At 
_length, on the 8th of January, he fet out 
for Ivica, where he will commence’ his 
operations. It feems to be determined 
that the war fhall not prevent this’ uleful 
labour. By thefe means we fha!l have an 
exact mealurement of 12 degrees, the 
mean of which will be the 45th degree, 
tne one we are moft interelted to know, to 
verify {till better our univerfal meafure 
and the magnitude of the earth. 
The obfe: vatory has received fome new 
acquifitions. On the 17th of Auguft a 
meridian telefcope, eight feet long and 
of four inches aperture, and an axis of 
46 inches, made at London by the cele- 
brated Ramiden, was crected, and on the 
6th of September M. Bouvard obferved 
the moon: he oblerved alfo the equinox ; 
and thele operations will net be interrupted. 
Hiftcry of Aftronomy for the Year 1803. 
27 
The miniffer, at my folicitation, caufed 
alfo to be purchafed, and depofited at the 
obiervatory, in the month of Augutt, the 
obfervations of M. Lemonnier, which I 
have not had an opportunity of {eeing : 
they confift of fourreen large volumes. 
The obfervations, which terminate at the. 
3oth of Oétober, 1791, have heen printed 
up tothe 6th of June, 1745; butit is only 
fince the 8th of April, 1755, that they were 
made with the mural quadrant of 72 feet. 
As thofe of Bradley are printed only for 
1750—1755, and as thofe cf Dr. Matke. 
lyne do not begin till the month of May, 
1765, there is a gap of nearly ten years ; 
to fupply which we have recourfe to the 
obfervations of M. Lemonnier, though 
not fo correct as thofeof Greenwich. But 
Lemonnier obferved more ftars. [ pro- 
pole to unite to this depofit the obferva- 
tions of Picard, Louville, Lacaille, Bou. 
guer, Bailly, and d’Agelet, which are in 
my hands. 
The aftronomy of the planets has this — 
year made fome progrefs. M. Delambre 
has reconftructed tables of the fun, by in- 
troducing fourteen new equations, furnifh- 
ed him by the theory of Laplace, and cal- 
culating 500 oblervations of Bradley and 
Matkely ne. 
The tables of the moon of M. Burg 
have been cerreéted, by introducing new 
pofitions of the ftars, and the equation of 
180 years, found by Laplace. M. Burg 
has found the longitude of the moon for 
18or tobe gs an.5O aaa!) ofa 
o°8", and the fecular motion 10° 70° 52! 
4.375\'. | 
On the 1% of November, M. Burck- 
hardt prefented the refult of his calcula- 
tions, in which he found 4:6” lefs than 
the long:tude given by M. Burg, whofe 
tables come duwn only to the 17th of No- 
vembct. 3 
i. and anom. 18041, 3° 15° 1! 1277" | 
O80 B56) x5 G70!" 
Secular mot. 10s 7° 52’ 45°5"! [| 6s 389 
gl! 
The difference arifes from the new 
equation of M. Laplace, which M. Buig, 
perhaps, made too {mall, 
The eciipfe of the fun, which took 
place onthe 16th of Auguft, was obfeived 
almoft every where; it turnifhed us with 
the verification of feveral longitudes, and 
gave us a ligcrous agicement inthe tables. 
IT have made new tables ot Mercuiy 
and Venus, by employing the perturba- 
tions, or inequalities, produced by the 
attraction of the other planets. M. de 
Laplace had given the equations eliimated 
by M, Bouvard. 
E2 M. Burck- 
