3&3 HijlwyofAjlroii'jniyforl'jcfi. 



way fix or feven hundred trees which interrupted the view of 

 the fignals. 



On the 17th of April he let out to raeafure the hafe from 

 Melun to Lieurfaint; a laborious operation, to which fo much 

 attention was paid that, though a (lifted by feven perfons, 

 they meafured only 180 toifes a day. 



On the 3d of June the meafurement of the bale of three 

 leagues, 6075 toifes, was finifhed at Lieurfaint. 



On ihe 30th of June C. Delambrc fet out to meafure the 

 bale of Perpignan, which was terminated bv the middle of 

 September. At the fame time C. Mechain finifhed his tri- 

 angles between Rodez and Carcafibne, after being cxpofed 

 to illnefs, impediments, and delays of every kind. Being 

 more unfortunate, and lefs robuftthan his colleague, his zeal 

 ferved only to torment him the more. 



On the 17th of November they at length arrived at Paris, 

 after finifhing their calculations, from which it appeared that 

 the two bales perfectly agreed. Thus this immenfe cnter^ 

 prife of a new meafurement of the earth, begun in the month 

 of June 1792, by our two ableft allronomers, is at length 

 terminated ; and we fhall foon have the remits fo much 

 wanted, for the fize and figure of the earth, and perhaps for 

 its irregularities. Thei'c two allronomers mean alio to de- 

 termine again the latitude of Paris, which I had fixed at 

 48 50' 15' three years ago, from two hundred obfervations, 

 made with an agronomical circle, for which we ate indebted 

 to C. Eorda, by diminiihing the refraction of Bradly one 

 fecond, and this is all the uncertainty that remains. 



The grand labour of determining the poiHion of the ftars, 

 begun in i;Sr, has been carried to 47,000; and there re- 

 mains only 2000 to complete the tour of the heavens as far 

 as the lower tropic. By taking two degrees beyond it, there 

 will be 50,000. C. Lefrancais propofes to finifh this labour 

 next winter. Comets are at prefent the only part of aftro- 

 nomy in which little progrefs has been made; but it is now 



about 



