2l6 OF THE EQUATION OF TIME.

motion is equable, and its distance from theearth always the fame.

Then, because the motion of the star is al-ways uniform, and the motion of the fun, inthis point of his orbit, is the flowest, it is plainthat whilst the meridian revolves from H to H,according to the order of the letters Id, I, K, L,the fun will have proceeded forward in his orbitfrom A to F ; and the star, moving with aquicker motion, will have gone through a largerarc, from a to f: from which it is plain, thatthe meridian E H will revolve sooner from H toh, under the sun at F, than from Id to k, underthe star at f-, and consequently it will be noonby the sun, sooner than by the clock.

As the sun moves from A towards C, theswiftness of his motion will continually increase,till he comes to the point C, where it will bethe greatest. But the star, notwithstanding this,will gain so much upon the sun, soon after hisdeparture from A, that the increasing velocityof the fun will not bring him up to the equallymoving star, till the former comes to C, and thelatter to c; or when each of them has gone justhalf round its respective orbit; and as they arethen in conjunction, the meridian E H, revolvingto E K, will come to the fun and star atthe fame time ; and consequently it is noonby them both at the fame instant.

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