PRECIPITATE

These points have now receded 30° from the constellations to which they then corresponded. The vernal equinox now happens when the sun is in Pisces, the summer solstice when he is in Gemini, the autumnal equinox when he is in Virgo, and the winter solstice when he is in Sag it tar i us. Astronomers, however, still employ the term f he first point of Aries to denote the position of the vernal equinox. On this account the sign^ of the zodiac, or ecliptic, which are fixed in respect of the equinoctial points, must be carefully distinguished from the constellations, which are moveable with respect to those points. (See Airy's Mathematical Tracts; Encyc. Brit., art. " Prece ion; " Wondhouse's Physical Astronomy; La Place, Me can i que Celeste; Poi on, Sur le Mouvement de la Terre autour de son Centre de Gravite, in the Mem. de. VAcad. des Sciences de Paris, torn. vii. 1829.) PRECl'PITATE. (Lat. praeceps,^ Page 984