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 lAl. Procced'uigs of Learned Societies. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT STOCKHOLM. 



In the sitting of the 13th of April M.Mclanderhjelm read 

 an account of the expedition recommended by his Swedish 

 raajestv in the bcainning of the year 1801, for the purpose 

 of solvlnir in a decisive manner the problem in regard to 

 the figure" of the earth, which is of so much importance to 

 astronomy. The king for the accomplishment of this object 

 appropriated the sum of 5000 rix-doUars, and appointed two 

 members of the academy, Messrs. Ofverbom and Svanberg, 

 to perform the requisite operations. These gentlemen im- 

 mediately proceeded to the neighbourhood of the polar circle 

 to prepare every thing necessary for the operations : such as 

 observatories for the two remotest stations ; signals on every 

 convenient point in the extent of twenty-two Swedish miles j 

 and a series of triangles as convenient as the situation of the 

 country would admit. After making these preparations they 

 returned again to Stockholm to receive one of Borda's circles, 

 constructe^d at Paris by Lenoir under the inspection of De- 

 lambre, together with two metres, and a Peruvian toise of 

 iron which the French National Institute presented to the 

 Swedish Academy of Sciences. These articles, however, did 

 not arrive before the beginning of December at Stockholm, 

 where Messrs. Ofverbom and Svanberg made preparations for 

 their new journey. But as the academy foresaw that two 

 persons would not be sufficient to superintend all the indi- 

 vidual parts and details of this operation, which required so 

 much accuracy. Dr. Holmquist of Upsal and Mr. Palander 

 of Abo were appointed to unite themselves Lo Messrs. Of- 

 verbom and Svanberg, and to assist them in their labour. 

 These gentlemen set-out together in the beginning of the 

 year 1602 ; and immediately on their arrival at Tornea pre- 

 pared the iron rods which were destined for measuring the 

 base line, and made ready for the measurement. The place 

 on the river Tornea used as a base in 1736 was again made 

 choice of for the same purpose. Eight weeks were employed 

 in this operation, from the middle of February to the middle 

 of April. The centigrade thermometer often stood at 23, 

 26, and even 30° under the freezing point. It was neces' 

 sary to measure with the greatest accuracy all the angles 

 belonging to the series of triangks^a labour they were ob- 

 liged to defer till summer, which in that climate is exceed- 



S4 ingly 



