[ 6? ] 



Amidst errors of fuch magnitude how can we difcover truth ? 

 is an obvious queflion. It has often employed my thoughts, and 

 I take the liberty of fubmitting the refult to the Academy. 



Kfinall portion of the earth's fpherical furface may be accu- 

 rately reprefented by a map drawn on a plain furface, and the 

 menfuration of fuch map, by the ordinary methods ufed by 

 furveyors, will give the area of the country it reprefents, with 

 fufficient corredlnefs : but in maps of extenfive regions the rule 

 no longer holds, and the impofllbility of juftly delineating any 

 confiderable portion of a fphere on a plain has induced geo- 

 graphers to have recourfe to the various methods of projeiSlion, 

 fuch as the flereographic, orthographic, &c. Maps conftrudled 

 on fuch principles may give the relative fituaCion of places, 

 with refped; to bearing, meridians and parallels, but cannot 

 convey any accurate idea of form or fuperficial contents : 

 they are, at beft, but diftorted refemblances, and the greater 

 the extent they embrace the greater the diflortion, and the 

 more incorredl the area : to fuch maps a fcale cannot be appli- 

 ed, and they are confequently totally unfit for the purpofe of 

 menfuration. 



That the area of even a fingle kingdom of moderate di- 

 menfions muft differ very confiderably from that of its map, will 

 be evident from confidering the different methods of conflrudl- 

 ing the latter. 



I 2 The 



