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FLAMSTEED . 665
NOTE 55.
DR. EDMUND HALLEY.
Dr. Edmund Halley, the eminent English astronomer, was born
in 1656. He first studied the languages and sciences, but at length
devoted himself exclusively to astronomy. In 1676, he went to the
Island of St. Helena to complete the catalogue of fixed stars by the
addition of those that lie near the south pole ; whence he returned
to England in 1678. In 1683 , he published his theory of the
.
magnetism of the compass. He supposes the obe to be a great
magnet, with four magnetical poles, or points of attraction; but
afterwards, thinking that this theory was liable to great objections,
he obtained in 1798 the command of the “Paramour Pink ,” with
orders to seek by observations to discover the rule of variations,
and to lay down the longitudes and latitudes of His Majesty’s
settlements in America. Having made observations at St. Helena,
Brazil, Cape Verd, Barbadoes, the Madeiras, the Canaries, the
coast of Barbary, and many other latitudes, he returned home
in 1700, and in 1701, published a general chart, showing at one
view, the variation of the compass in all those places. After having
made other journeys through Europe, and collected additional obser
vations, he returned to England in 1703, when he was made professor
of geometry in the University of Oxford , and received the degree of
LL.D. In 1713, he was made Secretary of the Royal Society ; in
1720, Astronomer Royal at the observatory at Greenwich ; and in
1720, a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris. His principal
works are: 1. Catalogus Stellarum Australium . 2. Tabulæ Astrono
mice . 3. “ An Abridgment of the Astronomy of Comets," &c. Con
cerning Swedenborg’s connexion with Dr. Halley, see Document 44,
p. 222, Document 45, p. 227, and Document 200, p. 578.
NOTE 56.
FLAMSTEED.
John Flamsteed, a celebrated English Astronomer, was born at
Derby in 1646. In his early youth he was a zealous student of
astronomy; and on becoming acquainted in London with Newton
and Halley, he was in 1676 appointed by King Charles II, astronomer
at the newly erected observatory (Flamsteed House) at Greenwich.
There he continued to be a most industrious observer of the starry
heavens till the time of his death in 1719, when he was succeeded
by Halley.55 He long delayed the publication of his observations;
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