Mr. Playfair, to prove ftill farther the originality of thefe tables, examines the geometrical principles on which they must neceffarily be conftructed, and points out the neceffity of thefe early astronomers' acquaintance with trigonometry, and particularly with the famous propofition of Pythagoras, whose opinions we have more than once contended were derived from India. There is a remarkable coincidence alfo in the hypothefis refpecting the orbits of the planets, between the fyftem of the Bramins and of Ptolemy, which we think may be attributed to a communication between the Grecian and Indian astronomers, The proportion of the circle's circumference to its diameter, among the Indians, was fuppofed as 3927 to 1250, nearly as accurate as that of Metius, viz. 355 to 113. Our author's conclufions we have in fome degree anticipated: the first we fhall however tranfcribe.

The obfervations on which the aftronomy of India is found. ed, were made more than three thousand years before the Chrif tian æra; and, in particular, the places of the fun and moon, at the beginning of the Calyoug hain, were determined by actual obfervation.

This follows from the exact agreement of the radical places in the tables of Tirvalore, with thofe deduced for the fame epoch from the tables of De la Caille and Mayer, and especial. ly in the cafe of the moon, when regard is had to her accelera tion. It follows, too, from the pofition of the fixed ftars in refpect of the equinox, as reprefented in the Indian zodiac; from the length of the fo'ar year; and, laly, from the pofition and form of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, as well as their mean motions; in all of which, the tables of the Brahmine, compared with ours, give the quantity of the changes that has taken place, juft equal to that which the action of the planets on one another may be shown to have produced, in the fpace of forty-eight centuries, reckoned back from the begin ning of the prefent.

Two other of the elements of this aftronomy, the equation of the fun's centre, and the obliquity of the ecliptic, when compared with thofe of the prefent time, feem to point to a period ftill more remote, and to fix the origin of this aftronomy 1000 or 1200 years earlier, that is 4300 years before the Chritian era; and the time necefiary to have brought the arts of calculating and obf rving to fuch perfection as they must have attained at the beginning of the Calyougham, comes in fupport of the fame conclufion.

Of fuch high antiquity, therefore, muit we fuppofe the origin of this aftronomy, unless we can believe, that all the coincidences which have been cnumerated, are but the effects of chance, or, what inderd were ftill more wonderful, that, fome ages ago, there had arifen a Newton among the Brahmins, to

discover

difcover that univerfal principle which connects, not only the moft diftant regions of pace, but the most rembte periods of duration; and a De la Grange, to trace, through the immenfity of both, its most fubtle and complicated operations.'

The other conclufions are, that the Indian aftronomy depends alfo on tables of a later origin; that the bafis of each set, however, is evidently the fame; that their conftruction implies great knowledge of geometry, arithmetic, and even the theore tical part of aftronomy.

• Such, he adds, are the conclufions that feem to me to follow, with the highest probability, from the facts which have been ftated. They are, without doubt, extraordinary; and have no other claim to our belief, except that, as I think has been fully proved, their being falfe were much more wonderful than their being true. There are but few things, however, of which the contrary is impoffible. It must be remembered, that the whole evidence on this fubject is not yet before the public, and that the repofitaries of Benares may contain what is to confirm or to invalidate thefe obfervations.'

Art. XIV. On the Refolution of Indeterminate Problems. By John Leslie, A, M.-This article is incapable of abridge.

ment.

Art. XV. A Differtation on the Climate of Ruffia. By Matthew Guthrie, M. D. Physician to the Imperial Corps of Noble Cadets at St. Petersburg, F. R. SS. Lond. and Edin. With two Letters from his Excellency M. Epinus, Counf. of State, Knt. of the Order of St. Anne, &c. &c. &c.-Dr. Guthrie remarks, with great justice, that while we have attended to the weather and other circumstances of warm climates, we have neglected thofe of cold ones. He, therefore, gives the hií. tory of the climate of St. Petersburg in the paper before us, referving its phyfical influence for the fubject of another memoir. The winter lafts from the end of September to the beginning of May. There is no obfervable spring, for this period is rendered cold by the heat abforbed by thawing water. The term of the freezing of the rivers is from about the 27th of November to the 19th of April. The congelation, in the mot rapid rivers, is greatly haftened by the ice brought from the more tranquil lakes. The ice is generally 27 inches thick, and, when it breaks, is not much lefs; its weaknefs appearing to be owing to a want of cohesion in the cryftals. The greatest cold of winter is 24 of Fahrenheit: the mean cold of the fame period, in the afternoon and night is +27, and +23 of Fahrenheit refpectively. There are fome folitary inftances of cold equal to 70° of Fahrenheit, meafered with a thermometer of De l'Ifle's; but if it was mercurial, the point must

have been gueffed at, as the mercury would have been frozen. The mean height of the mercury (at about 20 feet above the level of the Neva) was 28.02 Paris inches in winter: its range 1.88 inches. The winter-winds are more frequent from the W. and S. W. than from any other quarter.

The mean quantity of melted fnow and rain does not, in the fix winter months, amount to more than about five inches. It is known, from a former publication by our author, that the frozen cruft on the infide of the windows, on thawing, throws out the mephitic acid. He now informs us, from the experiments of M. Schroeter, that the water of these incruftations is very volatile. In twenty-four hours, while a tea-spoonful of the water of the Neva had loft nothing in appearance, an equal quantity of the window cruft-water had evaporated; hoar-froftwater loft one half; fnow-water about one-third, and the Neva ice-water fomething lefs. Hail and tempefts are uncommon; and even the fevere winters, by the Ruffian precautions, are not inconveniently cold. The air fparkles with the innumerable icy particles fcattered through it.

The Ruffian fummer is extremely hot, producing languor and liftneffnefs even in those who have formerly lived in Bengal. Fahrenheit's thermometer ranges from 85° to 41°. The mean heat of the climate is estimated at 2% of Reaumur, nearly 38 of Fahrenheit. The mean height of the barometer in fummer is 28.04 Paris inches. One fingular inftance of the power of art over nature we must transcribe.

There is a dish to be found at the tables of Moscow during winter, which will fcarcely be credited by the rest of Europe, when it is remembered that the climate is nearly as fevere as at Peterburg, viz. afparagus, reared in the open air, the production of a fpecies of Ruffian gardening, which merits being known.

In autumn, the afparagus beds are covered with mars, and buried by the falling fnow, which is most abundant in this climate, fo as to preferve the plants from being frozen, until they are wanted. When a bed of them is to be thrown into vegeta tion during winter, it is done by cutting a deep and broad trench all around it, down to the unfrozen earth, which is fill. ed with fmoking dung, taken out of the middle of a large dunghill; the old mats, covered with fnow, are then removed, and dry ones put in their place, and upon them a thick layer of warm dung, leaving only fmall apertures for the plants to push through.'

The mean heat of the fprings is nearly that of the air 38°, On trying the heat of the earth, the thermomete fuddenly rofe 4 degrees of Reaumur, feemingly owing to a fhower, which

Dr.

Dr. Guthrie explains from the latent heat of the water, as there was no fun in the interval; without reflecting, that the heat of the air was 7°, which must also be the heat of the rainwater; so that, instead of being an instance of evolved, it is only one of communicated heat. The hygrometer fhowed a greater degree of humidity in a fine fummer evening than in the most rainy weather.

Two Letters from M. Epinus follow, on fome curious inftances of natural electricity. He attributes it to the great drynefs of the air, for the cold has precipitated the water, before its admiffion into the hot rooms, by which its attraction for water is increased: while the dry waxed floors infulate a person completely. This dry air, attracting the perfpirable matter, produces alfo, he thinks, the languor, &c. after a continuance of fevere cold; but this languor is felt in other countries, where the air is not confined, and is more probably owing to deficient irritability. The Papers of the Literary Clafs we must examine in another Number.

(To be continued.)

(Con

A General Hiftory of the Chriflian Church, to the Fall of the Western Empire. By J. Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. cluded from p. 164.),

IF

F the establishment of Christianity and its connection with the civil power, by which it was fupported, afford, in one view, the fubject of triumph to the believers in Chrift, in another we muft agree with Dr. Priestley, it was injurious. The connec

tion of the civil and religious fyftems in a state we think of importance to the existence and to the credit of each: when, however, the former takes the lead, and dictates opinions, which are to be the basis of the other, it is not only employed out of its own fphere, but impedes free enquiry, and the propagation of true religion. This confeffion may, perhaps, be applied to the controverly respecting the repeal of the telt-act, and we may be charg ed with fome inconfiftency on the fobject: it is néceffary only to remark, that, in the church of England, the articles were not framed by the civil power: they are declaratory only of the national fyftem, and established by that power as the criterion of distinction. It was the opinion alto of the legislature,, that every person employed in offices of trust should be a member of the national church, and the teft was eftablished, not to force the opinions of men, for the toleration was complete, but merely to ascertain that the perion appointed was such as the legiflative power had chofen. The firft eftablishment of Chrifti

anity, by the power of Conftantine, was attended by the more obvious appearance of influence. We have seen, that eccentric fpirits had began to wander from the pale, and to introduce fome refinements of theory, and fome abfurdities of practice. 'The religion of Chrift was too plain and fimple to please minds accuftomed to intricate and trifling fpeculations: the doctrines revealed were fometimes above human comprehenfion; and, inftead of a placid acquiefcence, or a refpectful attention, they were canvaffed with an indecent minuteness, or commented on with all the trifling diftinctions of logical difcuffion. When Conftantine placed himself at the head of the ecclefiaftical establishment, he thought it tended to his own honour and the dignity of the church, whofe doctrines he had embraced, that Chriftians fhould not be divided in their fentiments, or combat against each other with a more violent and unrelenting zeal than had been employed against them by the Pagans. Unfortunately, ftrife and contention had already taken place; the feeds of difcord had been fown in good ground, and the crop was abundant. Though the Donatifts were foon filenced, the Arian controverfy continued, notwithstanding all the fecret influence, the addrefs and policy of the emperor to promote his wifhed-for union. In the firft conference, and afterwards in the Nicene council, he appeared with dignity and impartiality to recommend a friendly difcuffion, and to perfuade to amity and usion; but there is little doubt of his opinion influencing a great part of the affembly, and his secret emiffaries employing the whole force of the imperial authority to bend the council to his wifhes. Had Conftantine been confiftent, Arius would probably have been filenced, and his fect for a time fuppreffed: in the interval, however, the emperor's opinions feem to have been changed, and he secretly countenanced thofe whom he had formerly oppofed. The whole of Dr. Priestley's account of this reign deferves attention, for it is executed with great care. Perhaps he brings forward too often the disadvantages which he thinks attend the interference of the civil power; yet it is certainly employed with the ftricteft propriety, in preventing the confequences of too exuberant zeal, or the tumultuous exertions which have fometimes difgraced fectarifts. Of the particulars of the council of Nice, events fo often detailed, we need not give a minute account. The number of bishops attending it has been multiplied or diminished by different authors; but the three hundred and eighteen, who figned the decree, were certainly not the whole number. We should rather think with Eutyches, that these we were felected by the emperor to frame it, and a tacit acquiefcence from the reft was all that was required by Conftantine, who, perhaps, was glad to escape from direct oppofition and indecent clamour.

Dr.