250 On the Erroneous Geographical Position of 



H. J. De La Beche, the author of several excellent works on 

 geology, is now employed on the southern counties of England. 

 He has, I have been informed, completed a geological survey of 

 Devonshire, and that of Cornwall is considerably advanced. 

 These counties have, many years ago, been surveyed trigono- 

 metrically, by the Board of Ordnance, at the public expense, and 

 this survey, too, and the engraved maps, are also corrected to 

 the present time, at the expense to the country of about one 

 thousand pounds annually. 



Again, there are, I believe, about 1200 men now employed 

 on a survey of Ireland at the public expense. The great tri- 

 angles were all completed some time ago, and the subordinate 

 ones, together with a complete survey with the chain, are now 

 in progress. Some of the engraved maps are already finished 

 and on sale, and those of the whole country, in the course of a 

 few years, will be completed. 



Is it fair and equitable that the claims of Scotland alone should 

 be entirely overlooked ? Was there no friend, no representative 

 of the interest of Scotland connected with the Goverment, to 

 urge her claims when the trigonometrical survey of this coun- 

 try, was postponed, and the surveyors transferred to Ireland ? 



That these are not exaggerated assertions, I now shall attempt 

 to prove by the state of our maps, charts, atlasses, and the re- 

 corded latitudes and longitudes of some of the most important 

 points of the sea coasts of our country. 



In Head rick's View of the Mineralogy, &c. of the island of 

 Arran, its distance from the nearest point of the island of Bute 

 is said to be about twelve miles. In Mr John Paterson's account 

 of Arran, published among the Prize Essays of the Highland 

 Society, this distance is stated at about nine miles. In Thom- 

 son's County Atlas of Scotland it will measure above six miles, 

 while in the Scottish Tourist's Guide, the same is given at Jour 

 miles ; that is, the same distance is given at twelve miles, nine 

 miles, six miles, and four miles ! ! ! 



The following is a specimen of the varieties in the latitude and 

 longitude of Pladda Light, near the southern shore of Arran: 

 Norie's Navigation, 1835, Lat. 55 32' Of' N. Long. 5 4' 0"W. 



Lynn's Nautical Tables, 1825, 55 30 540 



Vidal's Chart, . . . 55 26 10 5 6 48 



While the true are, 1836, 55 25 33 57 <> 



