WITH THE ENGLISH STANDARb, £>4'5 



impair the ftandards reprefenting it ; while in the formation 

 of thefe ftandards all the precautions have been employed that 

 could be fuggefted by the prefent improved ftate of natural 

 philofophy, and of the arts. 



In England, on the other hand, operations have been car- Operations of 

 ried on for thefe five and twenty years, which are to be the [J c E ^ n f^ m<i 

 foundations of an exa<5t map of Great Britain. Thefe labours, 

 begun by the late General Roy, have been conducted. with 

 much fagacity and precifion ; and the refults are likely to pro- 

 cure very interefting information refpe&ing the figure of the 

 earth. Sir George Shuckburgh, an eminent member of the 

 Royal Society of London, has fuceefsfully employed himfelf 

 in private, in refearches intended to fix the precife length of 

 tbe ftandards, which have ferved as bafes for the meafure- 

 ments made in Great Britain. 



It was therefore to be regretted, that operations fo fimilar, Great advantage 

 conducted in two neighbouring countries, and capable of ac- of an a ^ urat ^. 



P ° r companion of 



quiring anew intereft by comparifon, mould remain uncon* the French and 



nected, for want of an actual ftandard of the meafures of the En sl'fl» ftand - 



ards. 

 one country, which might be tranfported into the other, after 



the definitive determination of the French meafure. This re- 

 gret we had deeply felt at various times when thefe objects 

 were laid before our readers; and we may fay wtth truth, 

 that if the hope of procuring this medium of comparifon was 

 not the only motive of the journey to England that one of us 

 has made, it at leaft greatly contributed to induce him to un- 

 dertake it. 



Our colleague took fome fteps in his paffage through Paris, Means ufed by 

 to obtain an authentic metre, in order to be fubmitted to the M / p5 &et t0 °J>- 

 examination of the Royal Society, to which he has the honour t -,fh ft an dard. " 

 of belonging, but he did not remain long enough in Paris to be 

 able fo fucceed in this attempt'. He took advantage of his 

 longer ftay in England, in procuring from the hands of Mr. 

 Troughton, an artift celebrated for his accuracy in the con- 

 ftruclion and divifion of geometrical and aftronomical inftru- 

 ments, a ftandard rigoroufly conformable to that which he had 

 made for Sir George Shuckburgh, and with which this philo- 

 fopher had compared the principal Englifh ftandards. Our Apparatus by 

 colleague procured alfo from the fame artift the comparative ^ r0U S bt ° n for 

 apparatus of Sir .George Shuckburgh, compofed of two ex- meafures. 

 cellent microfcopes, the one bearing a micrometer which di- 

 vides 



