Bradley J. Account of a new discovered motion of the Fix'd stars // Phil. Trans. 1728. 35. Р. 637-641.

Bradley J. Account of a new discovered motion of the Fix'd stars // Phil. Trans. 1728. 35. Р. 637-641.

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POSTSCRIPT.

AS to the Observations of Dr. Hook, I must own to

you, that before Mr. Molyneux’s Instrument was erected, I had no small Opinion of their Correctness; the Length of his Telefcope and the Care he pretends to have taken in making them exact, having been strong Inducements with me to think them fo. And since I have been convinced both from Mr. Molyneux's Observations and my own, that the Doctor’s are really very far from being either exact or agreeable to the Phenomena ; I am greatly at a Lofs how to account for it, I cannot well conceive that an Instrument of the Length of 36 Feet, constructed in the Manner he describes his, could have been liable to an Error oS near 30" (which was doubtleSs the CaSe) if rectified with fo much Care as he reprefents.

The Observations of Mr. Flamjieed of the different Distances of the Pole Star from the Pole at different Times of the Year, which were through Mistake looked upon by fome as a Proof of the annual Parallax of it, seem to have been made with much greater Care than thofe of Dr. Hook. For though they do not all exactly correspond with each other, yet from the whole Mr. Flamjieed concluded that the Star was 35" 40" or 45" nearer the Pole in December than in May or July: and according to my Hypothefis it ought to appear 40" nearer in 'December than in June. The Agreement therefore of the Observations with the Hypothesis is greater than could reasonably be expected, considering the Radius of the Instrument, and the Manner in which it was constructed.

 


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