Page:Mécanique céleste Vol 1.djvu/30

xxiv It will be divided into two parts. In the first part, I shall give the methods and formulas, to determine the motions of the centres of gravity of the heavenly bodies, the figures of those bodies, the oscillations of the fluids which cover them, and the motions about their centres of gravity. In the second part, I shall apply the formulas found in the first, to the planets, satellites, and comets; and I shall conclude the work, with an examination of several questions relative to the system of the world, and with an historical account of the labors of mathematicians upon this subject. I shall adopt the decimal division of the right angle, and of the day, and shall refer the linear measures to the length of the metre, determined by the arc of the terrestrial meridian comprised between Dunkirk and Barcelona.