Endnote 50
Part II, §18. Instead of reckoning a star's right
ascension by referring it to the equator, it was reckoned by observing
the degree of the zodiac which southed along with it. This is expressed
in the first `Table of fixed stars' in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ii. 3. 3 (fol.
70, back) by the phrase `cum gradibus, quibus celum mediant'; the other
co-ordinate of position was the star's declination from the equator, as
in the modern method. The ancients also used the co-ordinates of
longitude and latitude of a star, the longitude being reckoned along the
ecliptic, and the latitude along great circles through the poles of the
ecliptic; as appears from the second Table in the same MS.