ON THE USE OF THE PRECEDING TABLES.

TABLE I.-By this Table the Sun's rising and setting may be found in any part of the kingdom. Find the Sun's Declination, north or south, in the Calendar pages, for the day required: then look into the first column of this Table for the corresponding number of degrees; and in the same line, under the latitude of the place required, will be found the hours and minutes of the Sun's setting; subtract the same from twelve hours, and you have the time of his rising : double the hours and minutes of setting, and you have the length of the day: subtract the same from twenty-four hours, and the remainder is the length of the night.-This process gives the Sun's rising and setting to apparent time: to which, if the equation of time, given in the Calendar, be applied, the result will be the true clock time.

TABLE II. and TABLE III.-From these Tables the approximate Time of the Southing of the principal Fixed Stars may be found as follows:-Add to the Mean Solar Time of the Southing of the First Point of Aries, the hours and minutes of the Right Ascension of any given Star, the result will be the Mean Time from Noon of its Southing, or passing the Meridian. When the result exceeds 24 hours, then subtract from it 24 hours, and the remainder will be the time sought from Noon. It is almost unnecessary to say, when the Southing of a Star comes out 13 hours, it is the same as one o'clock in the morning, and when 14 hours, two o'clock, &c.

Note. This method will answer equally for the Southing of the Planets by using their Right Ascension, as given on the top of the Months of the Calendar; and when this is done, if with the Planets' Declination you take the corresponding hours and minutes (having regard to the latitude of the place) from Table I., and subtract the same from their Southing, you have the time of rising; and by adding, the time of setting.

TABLE IV.-If to the time of High Water at London Bridge, as given in the Calendar, you add the hours and minutes corresponding to any place mentioned in this Table, you have the time of High Water at that place. At Aberdeen Bar, the Time of High Water happens 11 hours 5 minutes after the Time of High Water at London; at Aberdovy, 5 hours and 23 minutes after; at Aldborough, 8 hours and 38 minutes after, &c., &c.

Astronomical Characters, used in this Almanack, explained.- The Sun, The Moon, Mercury, Venus, & Mars, 2 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or the Georgium Sidus, Aries, Taurus, II Gemini, Cancer, Leo, my Virgo, Libra, m Scorpio, 7 Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, 8 Moon's Ascending Node.

SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSES IN 1845.*

WITHIN the revolution of this year, agreeably to correct astronomical computations, four eclipses will take place, in the following order :

:

The first is a partial eclipse of the Sun, on Tuesday, the 6th of May, in the forenoon; visible throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

The following type, adapted for Greenwich, will serve, tolerably well, any part of England. At this place I find the eclipse will begin at 31 minutes past 8, in the morning greatest obscuration, or middle of the eclipse, 37 minutes past 9. when four digits and nearly two-thirds will be eclipsed on the Sun's north limb; and the eclipse will terminate at 47 minutes after 10 o'clock, mean solar time.

The second is a total eclipse of the Moon, on Wednesday, the 21st of May, and will happen in the afternoon, while the Sun is considerably above the horizon, and of course must be invisible to us. The eclipse will begin at 17 minutes past 2, and will end at 31 minutes after 5.

The third is an annular eclipse of the Sun, on Thursday, the 30th of October late in the night, and therefore invisible to Great Britain, &c. The ecliptical conjunction of the Sun and Moon will take place at 42 minutes past 11 o'clock. The fourth and last is a partial eclipse of the Moon, commencing on the nigh of Thursday, the 13th, and ending in the morning of Friday, the 14th of November; and will be visible, if clouds interfere not, throughout the whole of Great Britain, Ireland, &c.; for I find at the time of the first contact of the Moon with the dark shadow of the Earth, or, in other words, of the beginning of the eclipse, the Moon will be vertical in latitude north 17° 40', and longitude from Greenwich 7° 50'; and at the end of the eclipse she will be in the zenith in latitude north 17° 58', and longitude west 40° 3'. From these calculations, the extent of the visibility of this eclipse may be easily traced on a terrestrial globe.

east

*These Eclipses, and all the rest of the Astronomical Computations in this Almanack, are made for the meridian and latitude of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, except otherwise expressed.

The following type, adapted for Greenwich, will serve, without perceptible error, any part of our island:

Begins.

The eclipse will begin at Greenwich at 10 minutes past 11 at night; the middle, when eleven digits out of twelve on the Moon's northern limb will be eclipsed, will be at 49 minutes past 12; and the eclipse will end at 28 minutes after 2, in the following morning.

This eclipse will commence at Penrith, Kirkoswold, Gamblesby, Keswick, &c., in Cumberland, 1 minute before 11; middle, 38 minutes past 12; and will terminate at 17 minutes after 2 o'clock of the next morning.

Note.-The above I have added for the use of those of my friends residing among" the snow-capped fells" of those wild and romantic districts, toiling from day to day, yet to whose credit it may be said,

"Their minds are taught to stray

Far as the solar walks and milky way:"

who view with contemplation and pleasure the eclipses and other astronomical phenomena, while our globe, revolving round the Sun, measures out, at the behest of the Deity, our days, nights, seasons, and years.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY OVER THE SUN.

V

ON Thursday, the 8th of May, the planet Mercury will pass over the Sun, when he will appear like a little round black spot upon the solar disc, part of which will be visible to us. Mercury will enter upon the Sun at 1, according to the annexed type, at 19 minutes past four in the 1 afternoon at six o'clock the planet will appear at 2; the middle of the transit will take place at 35 minutes past 7, the distance of the centres being 9' 12": about this time the Sun will set at Greenwich, Mercury appearing at 3. The transit will end at 51 minutes after 10 o'clock at night.

N.B. Persons who are not in possession of telescopes

with

2

3

Mercury from the beginning of this phenomenon to the time of sun-set, through a piece of window-glass, smoked over the flame of a lamp or candle; which will also prove an excellent medium through which to observe the visible eclipse of

the Sun.

FAIR AND FOUL WEATHER TABLE.

IMPROVED AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE LATE REV. ADAM CLARKE, LL.D. THIS Table, and the accompanying Remarks, are the result of many years' actual observation: the whole being constructed on a due consideration of the attraction of the Sun and Moon in their several positions respecting the Earth; and will, by simple inspection, show the observer what kind of weather will most probably follow the entrance of the Moon into any of her Quarters, and that so near the truth as to be seldom or never found to fail.

1. The nearer the time of the Moon's Change, First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter, is to MIDNIGHT, the fairer will the weather be during the seven days following.

2. The space for this calculation occupies from ten at night till two next morning. 3. The nearer to MID-DAY, or NOON, these phases of the MOON happen, the more foul or wet the weather may be expected during the next seven days.

4. The space of this calculation occupies from ten in the forenoon to two in the afternoon. These observations refer principally to Summer, though they affect Spring and Autumn neary in the same ratio.

5. The Moon's Change, First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter, happening during six of the afternoon hours, i. e., from four to ten, may be followed by fair weather: but this is mostly dependent on the WIND, as it is noted in the Table.

6. Though the weather, from a variety of irregular causes, is more uncertain in the latter part of Autumn, the whole of Winter, and the beginning of Spring, yet, in the main, the above observations will apply to those periods also.

ECLIPSES OF JUPITER'S Satellites, mEAN TIME, 1845.

The mean height of the Barometer for the year was 29-886 inches, and the Thermometer in the shade 49-92 degrees. The depth of rain was 25-730 inches. The coldest day at Greenwich was the 15th of February, and the hottest the 5th of July. October was the wettest, and December the driest month

of the year.

Note.-September was particularly dry and warm, and December unusually dry and mild, with the Barometer very high and steady. January 13th, at 1h. P. M., the Barometer was down to 28:18! The following remarks, for 1843, were communicated to me by Mr. Fancourt, taken from his Journal, kept at Empingham, near Stamford :-JANUARY. The frosts in this month were neither long nor severe, but the weather was often windy and stormy; and on the 13th the barometer was unusually low, (28-15); which was followed by a deep snow on the 14th. FEBRUARY was a cold, frosty month, with considerable falls of rain and snow. MARCH: the first ten days were dry and frosty; afterwards changeable to the end: thunder on the 21st. APRIL came in rainy, and was chiefly showery throughout: snow on the 10th, 11th, and 13th, and on the 25th thunder. The fieldfares were last seen on the 16th, and the swallows returned on the 17th. MAY: the first four or five days were fair and pleasant, afterwards very wet, with hail and thunder at times: on the 12th the martins were first seen; the swift on the 14th, and the cuckoo on the 20th. JUNE: the first half of this month was very rainy; but after the 13th fair and fine: about the 21st wheat began to come into ear. JULY was a showery month, with frequent thunder-storms: the greatest heat was on the 5th. AUGUST was wet, and rendered remarkable on account of the dreadful tempest of thunder and lightning on the 9th: it began before 8 o'clock in the morning, and continued throughout the day, and until after 1 o'clock in the morning of the 10th: it was not a single storm, but a succession of storms: the wind veered repeatedly, and during the day blew from all the points of the compass: there fell large hailstones, and torrents of rain, which inundated the cellars and low rooms. Previous to this storm it was expected that the harvest would be unusually late, but soon after the storm the grain became ripe. SEPTEMBER was dry, and often hot. OCTOBER was attended with several sharp frosty mornings: this month was often windy and wet, which made the wheat seed-time late: the swallows were last seen on the 16th; fieldfares returned on the 22d, and the Royston or grey crow on the 31st. NOVEMBER was generally dull and rainy, and occasionally frosty. DECEMBER was distinguished by very dry fine weather, more like Spring than Christmas; and the ear was often arrested by the loud note of the missel-thrush, while perched on the top twig of some neighbouring tree. The total depth of rain for the whole year was 24 13 inches, and the mean height of the thermometer at 2 P. M. was 53 degrees. The coldest day was the 16th of February, and the hottest the 5th of July; and the prevailing wind was the south-west.

Rain fallen at Preston, in Lancashire, in the year 1843, communicated by my friend, Mr. M. Holden, Lecturer on Astronomy, &c.

Inches.

4.2000

Inches.

6.3125 - 2.6125 2.4375

Inches.

April 6.5250 May

June

March

- 1.2750

Inches.

Spring Quarter - 11.3625

September 0-4500

Total: 40-6375 inches.

1 October 9.0750 November

December - - 1.0250

Autumn Quarter 13.6750

Monthly average, 3.3864 inches, or 17026 hogsheads per statute acre; or

4256 tons in the whole year.

THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE YEAR, 1845.

The Spring Quarter begins March 20,5h.45m.aft. | The Autumn Quarter beg. Sept. 23, 4h.53m.mo. The Summer Quarter beg. June 21, 2h.43m. aft. The Winter Quarter beg. Dec. 21, 10h. 26m. aft.

LAW TERMS, 1845.

Hilary Term begins Jan. 11, and ends Jan. 31. | Trinity Term begins May 22, and ends June 12. Easter Term begins April 15, and ends May 8. Michael. Term begins Nov. 2, and ends Nov. 25.