Abstract
The author remarks, that in treating a great problem of approximation, such as that presented to us by the investigation of the moon's motion, experience shows that nothing is more easy than to neglect, on account of their apparent insignificance, considerations which ultimately prove to be of the greatest importance. One instance of this occurs with reference to the secular acceleration of the moon's mean motion. Although this acceleration and the diminution of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, on which it depends, had been made known by observation as separate facts, yet many of the first geometers altogether failed to trace any connection between them, and it was not until he had made repeated attempts to explain the phenomenon by other means, that Laplace himself succeeded in referring to its true cause.
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