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 CASSINI CASSINO 65 suits. His explanation of the lunar libration was more complete and accurate than any pre- viously given, and is considered one of his finest achievements. He was the first who carefully observed the zodiacal light, although he did not, as is frequently asserted, discover it. In 1684 he discovered the first and second satellites of Saturn, and a medal was struck in commemora- tion of the event, with the legend Saturni Satel- lites primum cogniti. In 1 693 he published new tables of the satellites of Jupiter, which were a considerable improvement upon those which he had previously published in 1668. He had long been in possession of all the data necessary to determine the velocity of the transmission of light; but when the announcement of the dis- covery was made by Olaus Romer, Cassini re- jected it. He revisited Italy in 1695, accom- panied by his son. The survey of an arc of the meridian of Paris, which had been commenced in 1669 by Picard, and continued to the north of Paris by La Hire in 1683, was completed by Cassini to the south as far as Roussillon in 1700. He continued his observations until a few years before his death, when he became totally blind. Cassini left a great number of writings, some of which have never been published; but very many appeared in the Journal des Savants and in the Memoires de V Academic. None of them are now consulted except in so far as they may contain records of facts and observations. He nowhere gives evidence of any acquaintance with the writings of Newton, and it has never been ascertained whether he re- jected or adopted the Copernican theory of the solar system. He left an autobiography, which was published in 1810 by his great-grandson Cassini de Thury. II. Jacques, son of the pre- ceding, born in Paris, Feb. 18, 1677, died on his estate of Thury, April 16, 1756. Some papers on optics by him and an elder brother, who was killed at the battle of La Hogue, were published in 1691. In 1694, when only 17 years of age, he was chosen a member of the academy of sciences, and the following year ac- companied his father to Italy. He then trav- elled in Holland and England, where he made the acquaintance of Newton and many other distinguished men, and in 1696 he was made a member of the royal society. He participated with his father in the survey of the meridian, which he continued to Mt. Canigou in the ex- treme south of France, and afterward north- ward to Dunkirk. On the death of his father he succeeded him at the observatory, and was maitre des comptes. In 1720 he published a work on the magnitude and form of the earth. He determined the times of revolution of the satellites of Saturn then known, first observed the inclination of the orbit of the fifth (now the seventh), and determined very nearly the variation of the obliquity of the ecliptic and the length of the year. In 1740 he published Elements d" 1 astronomic. Like his father, he was an excellent observer, but little of a philos- opher. He seems to have been inclined toward the Copernican system, to have had hardly any acquaintance with the theories of Newton, and to have been ignorant of the discovery of aber- ration by his contemporary Bradley. III. Cesar Francois (CASSINI DE THUBY), son of the pre- ceding, born in Paris, Jan. 17, 1714, died Sept. 4, 1784. He became a member of the academy of sciences in his 22d year, assisted his father in the survey of the meridian, and succeeded him as director of the observatory and maitre des comptes. His greatest work was the immense topographical map of France, upon which he labored for a large part of his life. It was fin- ished by his son. Like his father and grand- father, he was an accurate and industrious ob- server, but contributed nothing to the advance- ment of astronomical science. IV. Jaeques Do- minique, count de Thury, son of the preceding, born in Paris, June 30, 1748. died there, Oct. 18, 1845. In 1770 he published an account of a voyage made by order of the king to test the chronometers of Le Roy, and the same year was admitted a member of the academy of sciences. He succeeded his father as director of the observatory. In 1787 he was associated with M6chain and Legendre in the operations to connect by a series of triangles the observato- ries of Greenwich and Paris. He completed the great map of France which his father had left unfinished, and on Oct. 13, 1789, he presented it to the national assembly as an aid in the new division of France into departments. In 1793 the national convention decreed that the ob- servatory should no longer be under the control of one person, but of four, who should each serve in rotation for a year. Cassini and three of his pupils were appointed. He refused to submit to this, and on Sept. 6 of the same year he resigned. He was ordered to quit the ob- servatory within 24 hours, and the next year he was imprisoned for seven months. On recov- ering his liberty he retired to his estate, aban- doned astronomy entirely, and refused to take any part in the scientific operations undertaken by the government. V. Alexandra Henri Gabriel, a French botanist, son of the preceding, born in Paris, May 9, 1781, died of cholera, April 16, 1832. He commenced astronomical studies at an early age, but soon abandoned them and de- voted himself in great measure to the study of botany, and published a large number of papers upon various parts of that science. He also held several judicial offices, being in the latter years of his life a member of the court of cas- sation. In 1827 he was made a member of the academy of sciences, and in 1830 a peer of France. CASSINO, a game at cards in which four are dealt to each player, four being also placed on the board. There are generally four players. The greatest number of cards counts 3 points, and of spades 1 ; the 10 of diamonds, great cassino, 2 ; the 2 of spades, little cassino, 1 ; and each of the aces 1. The object is to take as many cards as possible. A player may take from the board any card corresponding to one