330. ALMANACS, Value of Old.—
But
why, you will ask, do I send you old almanacs,
which are proverbially useless? Because, in
these publications have appeared from time to
time, some of the most precious things in astronomy.
I have searched out those particular
volumes which might be valuable to you on
this account. That of 1781, contains De la
Caille's catalogue of fixed stars reduced to the
commencement of that year, and a table of the
aberrations and mutations of the principal
stars. 1784 contains the same catalogue with
the nebuleuses of Messier. 1785 contains the
famous catalogue of Hamsteed, with the positions
of the stars reduced to the beginning of
the year 1784, and which supersedes the use of
that immense book. 1786 gives von Euler's
lunar tables corrected; and 1787 the tables for
the planet Herschel. The two last needed not
an apology, as not being within the description
of old almanacs. * * * The volume of 1787
gives you Mayer's catalogue of the zodiacal stars.
To Dr. Stiles. Washington ed. i, 363.
(P.
1785)
