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XI. A Letter from Dr. Hutton ro ///e Mrtr^j/w De Laplace, 

 on several Astronomical and Philosoplikal Subjects. 



Ur. Hutton having of late years perceived some illiberal at- 

 tempts made, in his own country, unjustly to deprive him of the 

 honour of his calculations to determine the density and mass of 

 the earth; and even a seeming attempt of the same kind else- 

 where ; he deemed it necessary to address the following letter to 

 M. De Laplace, on observing a similar recent appearance in the 

 Connaissance des Terns of the years 1821 and 1^22. 



" Bedford-Row, London, April 9, 1819; 



" My Lord AL\rqtjis, — I have for many years most anxiously 

 U'ished to have the honour of paying my respects to you in per- 

 son ; but as there is no prospect of n)y being ai)Ie to make a 

 journey to France, i)eing now in my 82d year, it only remains 

 to address you in writing, and to reciucst that you will accept the 

 homage of a sincere lover of those sciences which you have con- 

 tributed so essentially to advance, with the highest honour to 

 yourself, as well as advantage to the scientific world. 



" An opportunity has just offered for conveying tliis letter to 

 Paris, and I avail myself of the same to request your acceptance 

 of a copy of my " Tracts on Philosophical and Mathematical 

 Subjects," which I beg to present to you as a small but sincere 

 token of the high respect which I entertain, in common with 

 the rest of the world, for your genius and talents. 



" In these Tracts, I wish particularly to call your attention to 

 the leading article in the second volume, " On the Density of 

 the Earth ;" and to express my wish that you, who have already 

 effected such profound investigations of its figure, and the doc- 

 trine of its tides, would pursue the inquiry respecting its density, 

 so as to correct the errors, or confirm the truth, of my labours. 

 Indeed it seems to me surprising that similar experiments and 

 operations have not been hitherto made in France, where science 

 in every other department has been pursued with the most lau- 

 dable zeal and the most distinguished success. 



"As you must naturally feel an interest in whatever relates tn 

 this important undertaking, I beg here to state certain circum- 

 stances which led to it, with a general account of the manner in 

 which the operations were conducted ; and shall conclude by 

 pointing out a slight mistake in the Connaissance des Terns for 

 1821, page ^30, line 2, where my labours, in the solution of 

 this important problem, are ascribed to Dr. Masholvne, a credit 



Vol. -)."). No, 2(i2. fW-. ISVO. V ' which 



