Letter from Mr. Rittenhouse to Professor Mayer of Manheim, in Germany.
Philadelphia, August 20th. 1779.
Sir,
I am directed by the Philosophical Society to acknowledge your letter of the 24th of April, 1778, and to return you their thanks for communicating the Observations it contains, wishing you success in further prosecuting so curious a Discovery. They likewise embrace this occasion to replace the volume of their Transactions which shared the fate of your more valuable papers.
This country having been the seat of war, our meetings have been interrupted for two years past, and the publication of a second volume thereby prevented; but as the Society is again revived, and we have materials for the purpose, it will not be much longer delayed.
You will please to accept, by this conveyance, a discourse delivered some years ago before the Philosophical Society, which I the rather present you with, because I, therein, gave my opinion that the fixed stars afforded the most spacious field for the industry of future Astronomers, and expressed my hopes that the noblest mysteries would sometime be unfolded in those immensely distant regions.[[A40]] Your excellent discovery has proved that passage to be well founded, and I shall be happy in hearing farther from you on this subject. It is unnecessary for me to suggest to you a comparison between the many Observations you have made, in order to determine whether the several changes observed will agree with any imagined motion of our system. Those you have communicated seem to favour such a supposition. I am, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant.
David Rittenhouse, Vice-President.
Some Remarks of Mr. Rittenhouse, on the famous Problem of Archimedes.[[A41]]
To the Printers of the Pennsylvania Gazette.