regard to the sun or a star, were thus determined. The astrolabe continued long in use, but not so long as the quadrant described by Ptolemy; this in a larger form, is the mural quadrant, which has been used up to the most recent times. It may be considered surprising 15, that Hipparchus, after having observed, for some time, right ascensions and declinations, quitted equatorial armils for the astrolabe, which immediately refers the stars to the ecliptic. He probably did this because, after the discovery of precession, he found the latitudes of the stars constant, and wanted to ascertain their motion in longitude. To the above instruments, may be added the dioptra and the parallactic instrument of Hipparchus, and Ptolemy. In the latter, the distance of a star from the zenith was observed by looking through two sights fixed in a rule, this being annexed to another rule, which was kept in a vertical position by a plumb-line; and the angle between the two rules was measured. The following example of an observation, taken from Ptolemy, may serve to show the form in which the results of the instruments, just described, were usually stated. "In the 2nd year of Antoninus, the 9th day of Pharmouthi, the sun being near setting, the last division of Taurus being on the meridian (that is, 16 Del. A. A. ii. 248. 15 Del. A. A. 181. 5 equinoctial hours after noon), the moon was in 3 degrees of Pisces, by her distauce from the sun (which was 92 degrees, 8 minutes); and half an hour after, the sun being set, and the quarter of Gemini on the meridian, Regulus appeared, by the other circle of the astrolabe, 57 degrees more forwards than the moon in longitude." From these data the longitude of Regulus is calculated. From what has been said respecting the observations of the Alexandrian astronomers, it will have been seen that their instrumental observations could not be depended on for any close accuracy. This defect, after the general reception of the Hipparchian theory, operated very unfavourably on the progress of the science. If they could have traced the moon's place distinctly from day to day, they must soon have discovered all the inequalities which were known to Tycho Brahe; and if they could have measured her parallax or her diameter with any considerable accuracy, they must have obtained a confutation of the epicycloidal form of her orbit. By the badness of their observations, and the imperfect agreement of these with calculation, they not only were prevented making such steps, but were led to receive the theory with a servile assent and an indistinct apprehension, instead of that rational conviction and intuitive clearness which would have given a progressive impulse to their knowledge. Sect. 4.-Period from Hipparchus to Ptolemy. We have now to speak of the cultivators of astronomy from the time of Hipparchus to that of Ptolemy, the next great name which occurs in the history of this science; though even he holds place only among those who verified, developed, and extended the theory of Hipparchus. The astronomers who lived in the intermediate time, indeed, did little, even in this way; though it might have been supposed that their studies were carried on under considerable advantages, inasmuch as they all enjoyed the liberal patronage of the kings of Egypt". The "divine school of Alexandria," as it is called by Synesius, in the fourth century, appears to have produced few persons capable of carrying forwards, or even of verifying, the labours of its great astronomical teacher. The mathematicians apparently they obobservations are of of the school wrote much, and served sometimes; but their little value and their books are expositions of the theory and its geometrical consequences, without any attempt to compare it with observation. For instance, it does not appear that any one verified the remarkable discovery of the precession, till the time of Ptolemy, 250 years after; nor does the statement of this motion of the heavens appear in the treatises of the intermediate writers; nor does Ptolemy quote a single observation of any person 17 Delamb. A. A. ii. 240. made in this long interval of time; while his references to those of Hipparchus are perpetual; and to those of Aristyllus and Timocharis, and of others, as Conon, who preceded Hipparchus, are not unfrequent. This Alexandrian period, so inactive and barren in the history of science, was prosperous, civilized, and literary; and many of the works which belong to it are come down to us, though those of Hipparchus are lost. We have the "Uranologion" of Geminus1, a systematic treatise on Astronomy, expounding correctly the Hipparchian Theories and their consequences, and containing a good account of the use of the various cycles, which ended in the adoption of the Calippic period. We have likewise "The Circular Theory of the Celestial Bodies" of Cleomedes 19, of which the principal part is a developement of the doctrine of the sphere, including the consequences of the globular form of the earth. We have also another work on "Spherics" by Theodosius of Bithynia 20, which contains some of the most important propositions of the subject, and has been used as a book of instruction even in modern times. Another writer on the same subject is Menelaus, who lived somewhat later, and whose Three Books on Spherics still remain. One of the most important kinds of deduction from a geometrical theory, such as that of the doctrine of the sphere, or that of epicycles, is the calculation of its numerical results in particular cases. With regard to the latter theory, this was done in the construction of Solar and Lunar Tables, as we have already seen; and this process required the formation of a Trigonometry, or system of rules for calculating the relations between the sides and angles of triangles. Such a science had been formed by Hipparchus, who appears to be the author of every great step in ancient astronomy"1. He wrote a work in twelve books, "On the Construction of the Tables of Chords of Arcs;" such a table being the means by which the Greeks solved their triangles. The Doctrine of the Sphere required, in like manner, a Spherical Trigonometry, in order to enable mathematicians to calculate its results; and this branch of science also appears to have been formed by Hipparchus 22, who gives results that imply the possession of such a method. Hypsicles, who was a contemporary of Ptolemy, also made some attempts at the solution of such problems: but it is extraordinary that the writers whom we have mentioned as coming after Hipparchus, namely, Theodosius, Cleomedes, and Menelaus, do not even mention the calculation of triangles, either plane or spherical; though the latter writer24 is said to have written on "the Table of Chords," a work 21 Delamb. A. A. ii. 37. which is now lost. 22 A. A. i. 117. |