382 Proceedings of th^ Roi/ul Socicli/. 



nexion with the figure of the earth, has been long solved ; but 

 the mechanical refinements of one of our Fellows have afforded 

 means of estimating with more perfect exactness the force of 

 gravity; — and that pendulum which is so well fitted as a 

 standard of measure, may be admirably applied to acquaint 

 us with the physical constitution of the surface of the earth. 

 I trust we shall have some interesting new experiments on this 

 subject. Our brethren of the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Paris, who have laboured with so much zeal and activity to- 

 wards the measurement of a great arc of the meridian in France 

 and Spain, are, I know, extremely desirous their measures 

 should be connected with those carried on by the command of 

 the Board of Ordnance in Britain ; that the work should be com- 

 pleted by the philosophers of both countries. Should this be 

 done, there will be established, on the highest authority, an 

 admeasurement of nearly twenty degrees, or -j^ of the whole 

 circumference of the earth, from the Shetland Islands to For- 

 mentera, which will be a great record for posterity, and an 

 honour for our own times. 



'* I cannot pass over the subject of the figure of the earth," 

 continued Sir Humphry, " without referring to the late voyage 

 to the Arctic Regions, which has shewn that there is an 

 accessible sea to the west of Baffin's Bay, presenting hopes 

 of greater discoveries, and which has terminated in a way 

 equally honourable to those by whom the expedition was 

 planned, and to the brave, enterprising, and scientific navi- 

 gators by whom it was executed. Such expeditions are worthy 

 the greatest maritime nation of the world ; shewing, that her 

 resources are not merely employed for gaining power or empire, 

 but likewise, for what men of science must consider as nobler 

 purposes, in attempting discoveries which have the common 

 benefit of mankind for their object, and the extension of the 

 boundaries of science. 



** In the theory of light and vision, the discoveries of Huy- 

 gens, Newton, and WoUaston, have been followed by those of 

 Malus ; and the new phsenomena of polarization, which we owe 

 to the genius of that excellent and much-to-be-lamented philo- 



