on the Attraction of Spheroids, fyc. 247 



served, that in the investigation published in this Journal for 

 September 1827, there is no mention made of strata infinitely 

 thin, nor of the addition or subtraction of such strata. 



After all, the question is not about this or that principle of 

 Hydrostatics, nor this or that theory. The real question is, 

 Whether the investigation I have published, more especially in 

 this Journal as above cited, is, or is not, rigorous and exact ; 

 and whether I have been able to deduce, from the supposition 

 that there is an equilibrium, the conditions without which it 

 cannot subsist, and which are sufficient to determine the figure 

 of the fluid. The proper way of answering this question is to 

 examine the solution itself. And as this is the fairest way 

 of deciding the matter, so it is the shortest and the easiest ; 

 for the whole investigation is divided into distinct propositions, 

 which hardly occupy three pages of this Journal; and it in-* 

 volves no nice nor intricate point of analysis, which is often in- 

 troduced because the true principles of the problem have been 

 viewed in an improper light. One thing at least is certain, 

 that M. Poisson has not succeeded in detecting any flaw in 

 my reasoning; and the animadversions of the present critic 

 leave the matter just where it was. 



I shall immediately set about reviewing all that I have writ- 

 ten on this subject, in order to correct any inaccuracies that 

 may have escaped me, and to clear up any obscurities that may 

 have occurred in taking a new view of a difficult subject. I 

 hope to be able to guard my theory against the objections and 

 attacks to which it has hitherto been liable, in a short work 

 which I will address to the Royal Society; thinking that, 

 amidst the more interesting and fashionable objects that oc- 

 cupy their attention, that learned body will not entirely pro- 

 scribe a capital part of the philosophy of Newton, which is 

 still very imperfect, notwithstanding the researches of so many 

 philosophers. I have also another reason for making this 

 destination of my work : the Royal Society, as the public pro- 

 moters of science, have imposed upon them the duty of se- 

 curing to every one the discoveries he may make. 



But the author of the critique in the Bulletin is not content 

 with animadverting on what I have done; he is obliging enough 

 to carry his attention to what he supposes I am doing. I as^ 

 sure him, however, that he has been misinformed about the 

 nature of my present occupations, and that he entirely mis- 

 conceives my views of the equilibrium of a planet of variable 

 density. This problem I have solved long ago; and the re- 

 sult of my investigation has already appeared in this Journal 

 for July 1826. My analysis is not indeed published; because 

 it is too bulky for the pages of this Journal, in which I have 



been 



