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PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY

AND

GEODESY:

INCLUDING

THE PROJECTIONS OF THE SPHERE

AND

SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.

For the Use of the Royal Military College.

BY

JOHN NARRIEN, F.R.S. & R.A.S.

PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS, ETC. IN THE INSTITUTION.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

NOTICE.

THE Publishers of this work beg to state that it is private property, protected by the late Copy-
right Act, the 5 & 6 Victoria, c. 45. They beg also to state that any person having in his pos-
session, within the United Kingdom, for sale or hire, one or more copies printed abroad of any
English work protected by the Act referred to, is liable to a penalty, which, in cases affecting
their interests, they intend to enforce.

The Public are farther informed that the Act 5 & 6 Victoria, c. 47. s. 24. prohibits the im-
portation of all works printed in foreign countries, of which the copyright is not expired. Even
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N.B.-The above regulations are in force in all the British colonies and dependencies, as well
as in the United Kingdom.

LONDON:

Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE,
New Street-Square.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Treatise on Practical Astronomy and Geodesy, including Spherical Trigonometry, is the fifth of a series which is to constitute a General Course of Mathematics for the use of the gentlemen cadets and the officers in the senior department of this Institution. The course, when completed, will comprehend the subjects whose titles are subjoined:-I. Arithmetic and Algebra. II. Geometry.* III. Plane Trigonometry with Mensuration. † IV. Analytical Geometry with the Differential and Integral Calculus and the Properties of Conic Sections. V. Practical Astronomy and Geodesy, including Spherical Trigonometry. VI. The Principles of Mechanics, and VII. Physical Astronomy.

Royal Military College,

1844.

*

* Published.

Ready for the press.

PREFACE.

THE courses of study pursued at the military and naval seminaries of this country have, within a few years, been greatly extended, in order that they might be on a level with the improved state of the sciences relating to those branches of the public service, and also that they might meet the necessity of qualifying officers to conduct the scientific operations which have been undertaken, both at home and abroad, under the authority of the government. An education comprehending the higher departments of mathematics and natural philosophy has also been found necessary for the qualification of such as have been, or may be, appointed to superintend Institutions established in the remoter parts of the British empire for the purpose of promoting the advancement of physical science, and of preserving or extending its benefits among the European, and, in certain cases, the native inhabitants of the countries.

An attempt to supply the want of a treatise on the elements of Practical Astronomy and Geodesy is what is proposed in the present work; which, it is hoped, will be found useful to the scientific traveller, and to persons employed in the naval or military service of the country who may accompany expeditions to distant regions, where, with the aid of portable instruments, they may be able to make observations valuable in themselves, and possessing additional importance from their local character. The extent to which the subjects are here carried will probably be found sufficient for the proposed end, and may be useful in preparing the student for the cultivation of the highest branches of astronomical science.

A brief notice of the phenomena of the heavens forms the commencement of the work; but no more of the merely descriptive part of astronomy has been given than is necessary for a right understanding of the subjects to which the processes employed in determining the elements are applied. A tract on spherical trigonometry constitutes the third chapter;

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