Such was the state of the observatories at Paris in 1792. At present, Delambre is the chief of the impe rial university. Messier succeeded him at the Royal College, now the College of France. M. Burckhardt is astronomcr at the Military School ; Le Francois La lande resides at the Place de Cambray ; and Bouvard and Arago superintend the Imperial Observatory.
The Marseilles Observatory has been rendered fa mous by- the observations of Sylvabelle, and by the number of comets observed in it by M. Pous.
The Toulouse Observatory is deserving of notice from the zeal and ability with which M. Darquier cul tivated astronomy. In this city, too, observatories have been built by M. Gaupuy and M. Bonrepos. Here, indeed, astronomy has been more successfully cultivat ed than in any other provincial city of France. The prin cipal observatory is under the superintendence of M. Vidal.
At Lyons, the College Observatory, which was built by Father St. Bonnet, is a very fine edifice, on an ele vated situation.
At Dijon, M. Necker, about the year 1730, converted tbe tower of the King's Lodge to an observatory, where the Abbe Bertrand made very accurate observations.
At Montpellier there has long been an observatory on one of the towers of the city, in svhich M. Ratte and Poitevin have distinguished themselves as very accurate observers.
At Beziers, the bishop's palace was converted into an observatory, where some interesting observations have been made by M. Bouillet, particularly on thc ring of Saturn.
At Avignon, an observatory was built by Father Bonfa, in 1683. Hc has been succeeded by a number of able observers.
At Strasbourg, Brackenhoffer, Professor of .Mathe matics, had an observatory, in which he has been suc ceeded by Herrenschneider in 1790.
At Bordeaux there is an observatory, 75 feet high, and 20 feet square. It is situated in the finest part of Tournay, and here M. Turgot procured a complete set of observations to be made on the length of the pendu lum oscillating seconds, upon which Boscovich has written an interesting memoir.
At Brest, a small observatory was built for the Naval Academy, and plans have been set on foot for erecting a more considerable edifice.
At Rouen, there is an observatory belonging to M. Bouin, in which there has been made a number of good observations.
At Montauban, the Duc de la Chapelle founded an observatory, where he himself has made many accurate and interesting observations, particularly of the transit of Venus over the sun in 1769.
German Observatories.
In Germany, a great number of observatories have been established, and that country has produced several very able astronomers.
At Berlin, Frederick I. King of Prussia, founded an observatory in 1711, under the direction of Leibnitz, at that time President of the Academy of Sciences there. It consists of a large, steady, square tower. It was here where Grischow and Kies made various observations, and where Lalande observed about 1752. He raised great stone pillars, to which were attached the north and south mural quadrants. Frederic II. added a very fine building to it, in which the meetings of the Aca demy of Sciences of Prussia were held. AI. Bode, who has been many years the astronomer-royal here, has dis tinguished himself as an accurate observer, and as the publisher of the most complete celestial atlas extant, accompanied with a well arranged catalogue of the stars, and an interesting. history of the constellations.
At Konigsberg there is an observatory under the able direction of M. Bessel, who, to his former instruments, has added a great meridian circle by Reichenbach, of which a plan and description is given in the first volume of Bessel's astronomical observations. He has given a small, though very accurate, catalogue of the principal fixed stars.
At Vienna, the Empress Alaria Theresa built an ob servatory for the unisersity, about the year 1755, and furnished it with many excellent instruments. There is also one belonging, to the college, built and ondowed by the Jesuits in 1735, furnished with very fine instru ments, chiefly made by British artists, and superintend ed by very able observers. The reputation of the uni versity observatory was maintained for m3ny yeirs by the Abbe Maximilian Hell, who .conclucted the Ephc meris of Vienna, which is now continued by Treis.