ASTRONOMY.
Ptolemy’s account of the astronomical knowledge of Hippar-chus , 11.
Ptolemy, the principal Astronomer of the first century, 12.
Ptolemy, the inventor of a system of Astronomy , which was im-plicitly credited for many ages by all nations, ibid.
The Arabs become proficients in Astronomy, 13.
The caliph A1 Mansar, and his grandson A1 Mamun, great encou-ragers of the sciences, ibid.
Alferganus and Albategnius, two eminent Astronomers of the ninthcentury, 14.
Uhig Beg, grandson of the celebrated Tamarlane, a great profi-cient in Astronomy , 15.
The settlement of the Moors in Spain , the means of the enlarge-ment of the sciences in Europe , 16.
The emperor Frederic 11. an encourager of learning, ibid.
Alphonso, king of Castile, a great Astronomer, and encourager ofAstronomy, 17.
Roger Bacon, an English monk , published several tracts relativeto Astronomy , ibid.
Vitello, a Polish Astronomer, ibid.
Purbach greatly improved the Astronomy of the fifteenth cen-tury, 18.
Regiomontanus, the pupil of Purbach , considerably advanced thescience of Astronomy , 19 .
John Werner, the first who proposed the method of finding thelongitude at sea, by observing the Moon ’s distance from thefixed stars, 20.
The celebrated Nicolaus Copernicus restored the old Pythagorean system of Astronomy , which from him has ever since beencalled the Copernican , 21.
The science of Astronomy very greatly improved after the deathof Copernicus , by Schoner, Nonius, Appian, Gemma, Frisius,Rothman, Byrgius, the Landgrave of Hesse , &c. &c. 22.
Tycho Brahf, a Danish nobleman, a verv eminent Astronomer ,ibid. " .
Tycho Brahe , an excellent observer, and also the inventor of asystem of Astronomy which bears his name, ibid.
Kepler , a very great Astronomer of the seventeenth century, 23.
M right, Napier, Bayer, &c. great proficients in Astronomy , 24.
Mercator , Maurolvcus, Maginus, Homelius, Schultet, Stevin,Galileo, Thomas and Leonard Digges, John Dee , RobertFlood, Harriot, &c. greatly cultivated the principles of Astro-nomy, 25.
The ever-meniorable invention of Telescopes made in the begin-ning of the seventeenth century, ibid.
Galileo, Harriot, Huygens , Hook, Cassini, Ac. rapidly advancethe knowledge of Astronomy by means of the telescope, ibid.
Mr. Horrox, and Crabtree, the first upon record that ever ob-served the transit of the planet Venus over the disk of theSun , 26.
Ilevelius, the contemporary of Dr. Hook, a famous Astro-nomer, ibid.
Huygens and Fontana greatly improved the construction of tele-scopes, 27.
Cassini discovered the five satellites of Saturn , &c. by means oftelescopes of 200 and 300 feet focus, ibid.
The micrometer invented by Gascoigne, ibid.
’Fhe idea of making telescopes of reilectors first skirted by Mar-sennus, ibid.
Sir Isaac Newton, a very eminent Mathematician and Astro-nomer, 2S.
The speculative past of Astronomy carried to a very high degreeof perfection by the labours of Sir Isaac Newton, David Gre-gory , Keil, and others, ibid.
Astronomical instruments and time-pieces greatly improved byGraham, ibid.
Th» reflecting telescope of Gregory and Newton improved byHadley, ibid.
The constructing and dividing of large astronomical instruments,carried to great pirfectionby Bird, 29.
Reflecting telescopes improved by Short, and refracting ohes bvDollond , ibid. . _
Roemer, a celebrated Danish Astronomer, first made the importantdiscovery of the progressive motion of light, ibid.
Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal at Greenw ich, a great ob-server, ibid. '
Yol, i.—xo. 22.
Cassini, the first French Astronomer Royal , contributed verymuch to the advancement of Astronomy, 29.
Dr. Halley, the second British Astronomer Royal , very rapidlyadvanced the knowledge of this science, 30.
A dispute respecting the figure of the Earth taking place, twodegrees of the meridian were measured, the one under theequator, and the other within the arctic circle, ibid.
Dr. Bradley, the third British Astronomer Royal , a very accurateobserver, 31.
Tlie very important discoveries of the aberration of light, and thenutation of the Earth ’s axis, made by Dr. Bradley, ibid.
Clairault, D’Alembert, Euler , Mayer, Simpson, andWahmsly,improved the lunar theory, 32.
De La Caille, the French Astronomer Royal , published to theworld a very excellent set of Solar Tables, together with a greatvariety of very interesting observations, ibid.
Bianchini, Boscovich , Frisi, Manfredi, Zanolli, &c. eminent Ita-lian Astronomers, ibid.
Wargentin, Blingenstern, Mallet, and Planman, Swedish Astro-nomers, ibid.
Euler , Mayer, Lambert, Grischow, &c. eminent German Astro-nomers, ibid.
Great preparations made for observing the two transits of Venus ,of 1761 and 1769, and the result of the observations, 33.
Bliss, the fourth British Astronomer Royal, ibid.
Bliss succeeded by the learned Nevil Maskelyne , the present Bri-tish Astronomer Royal , 34.
The new planet Georgium Sidus discovered by Dr. Herschel,who has since made a great variety of other singular disco-veries, 35.
An account of the discovery of the four new planets, Ceres , Pal-las, Juno, and Vesta, 36.
Historical accounts and lists of the principal authors and writers onAstronomy , 37.
The more modern and popular books on Astronomy , ibid.
PART I.
Of the Systems of Astronomy, and the Appearances ofthe Celestial Bodies , (38——*211.)
Sect. I. Of the most obvious celestial Phenomena,(38-44.)
The common phenomena of the Sun, Moon , and stars, 38.
The monthly phases of the Moon , 39.
The Stars preserve their relative distances from each other, &c.&c. 40, 43.
The common phenomena of the planets, together with their cha-racters, 41.
A brief account of the comets, 42.
The various points and circles in the sphere, explained and illus-trated, 44.
Sect. II. Of the principal Systems of Astronomy,(45-51.)
Formation of various hypotheses to account for the dillerentphenomena of the heavenly bodies, 45.
Of the Egyptian System, ibid.
Of the Ptolemaic System, 46.
Of the Semi-Tychonic System , 43.
Of the Pythagorean, Copernican , Newtonian, or Solar.System, 50.
Enumeration of the different phaniomena which prove the truthof the Newtonian System, 51.
Objectionsagainst the Newtonian Svstem answered, ibid.
Galileo’s plain experiment in vindication of the Earth ’s motion,ibid.
Sect. III. Of the Orbits and Motions of the PrimaryPlanets, (52-102.)
The Sun proved to be the centre of all the planetary motions, 52.
The supposition of the ancient Astronomers that the planets movedin circular orbits w ith uniform motions, 53.
Kepler ’s discovery, that the six primary planets revolve about theSun in ellipses, having the Sun in one of the foci, 54.
4 R Kepler’s