The memoir is remarkable inasmuch as it roused Lagrange, after an interval of inactivity, to compose in his old age one of the greatest of his memoirs, entitled "Sur la théorie des variations des éléments des planètes, et en particulier des variations des grands axes de leurs orbites".
Poisson je pokazal, da se lahko njegovi razultati razširijo na drugi približek in pokazal pot za pomemben razvoj planetne teorije.