[289]. See Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia, written in the year 1781.
[290]. A considerable portion of this letter, in the beginning, is occupied with matters of business.
[291]. Mr. Bond must have been mistaken, in the date he has assigned to the election of Dr. Rittenhouse; or, perhaps, the date of the diploma has reference to the time of nomination: the variance in these dates is, however, unimportant.
The diploma, which is in Latin, being done on copper-plate, is in the usual form. It has the signatures of eight of the Fellows of the Society, besides those of the President and one of the Vice-Presidents.
[292]. The continuation of the 6th volume of the American Philosophical Transactions (published in 1809) contains various observations on the Annular Eclipse of the 3d of April, 1791, made at Greenwich, Paris, Cambridge in New-England, Philadelphia, and George-Town in Maryland. A recapitulation of the results of the longitudes of Philadelphia and Cambridge, west from Paris, is made from the Transit of Venus, in 1769; the Transits of Mercury, in 1782 and 1789; this Annular Eclipse of the Sun, in 1791, and a Solar Eclipse, in 1806; the mean results of which, give
| The Long. | of Philadelphia, | W. from Paris, | 5h 10′. | 01″,2 |
| Do. | of Cambridge, | Do. | 4. | 53. 53 |
These observations were communicated to the Philosophical Society by Don Joseph J. Ferrer, of Cadiz, a very respectable astronomer, and a foreign member of the Am. Philos. Society.
[293]. In the annular eclipse of the sun, on the 3d of April, 1791, as observed at Philadelphia by Mr. Rittenhouse, the formation of the ring is stated at 6h 46′ 11½″ A. M. true time; and its rupture, at 6h 50′ 28″. “I have,” says Mr. Lalande (in his Additions, 1797,) “reduced the conjunction of it to 7h 41′ 19″, and the difference of meridians 5h 10′ 3″, greater by 7″ than that given by Mr. Rittenhouse. This duration of the ring, gives for the latitude in conjunction 44′ 57″, which confirms the value of the diameters of the sun and of the moon, that I have given in the 3d edition of my Astronomy, and the diminution that I make in the eclipses, 3½″ for the ray of the sun, and 2″ for that of the moon. I have subtracted one minute of the time marked in the third volume of the Transactions of the Society of Philadelphia, for the formation and the rupture of the ring; but this correction was pointed out to me by the termination of the eclipse, as well as by the difference of meridians, which was ascertained by the Transit of Venus over the Sun.”
[294]. Mr. Lalande was first appointed to that station, in the year 1761. “The College of France,” heretofore styled “The Royal College of France,” was originally founded in the year 1530, by Francis I. but letters patent were issued in favour of it in 1772, by the unfortunate Louis XVI. The present edifice, finished in 1775, gave new activity to the ancient establishment; and Lalande viewed it, when he wrote his Astronomie, as having been one of the best schools in the world for the sciences, but principally for astronomy.
[295]. The original letter was politely presented to the author, by his venerable friend, the profound Lawyer and distinguished Patriot to whom it was addressed. On that occasion, Governor M‘Kean expressed himself in terms of the highest respect and kindest regard for the memory of Dr. Rittenhouse, as one of his friends, whom, while living, he greatly valued for his talents and esteemed for his virtues.