458 Mr. Riddle's Remarks 07i Mr. Burns's lleply. 



unquestionably ; and 1 have no evidence to offer from my ex- 

 periments with the deflagrator, which has any tendency to 

 pi'ove that diamond globules can be produced. I am not of 

 course disposed to deny that there is much room for scep- 

 ticism on this subject. Robert Hake. 



LXVIII. Remarks on Mr. Burns's Repli/ on the Double Al- 

 titude Problem, by E. Riddle, Esq^. 



To the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 

 Sir, 

 A S Mr. Bums admits that the method which he proposed 

 ■^^ for finding the latitude is inapplicable unless the true ap- 

 parent times are given, and lie jww perceives that before these 

 times can be known the latitude must be discovered by some 

 otha- process, he admits therefore that I was right in stating 

 that his "proposed solution is not a solution to the problem 

 at all," — we are on that subject perfectly agreed. 



On another point however, and that a more important one, 

 I shall simply contrast a paragraph in Mr. B.'s Ibrmer com- 

 munication with one on the same subject in his reply. In his 

 former letter, when speaking of the data on which he proposed 

 to found his solution, he says, " All that is necessary to be 

 known is, the time, the interval between the observations, and 

 the altitudes ; all of which, iVom the improved state of our 

 chronometers and other instruments, may be known with the 

 greatest exactness." This is all that he says on the subject. 

 But in his reply he says, " When I mentioned the chronometer, 

 I did so, not for the purpose of deducing from it the apparent 

 time, but merely to determine the interval." 



I pointed out that Mr. Burns was wrong in attributing the 

 discrepancies between the results of calculations by his me- 

 thod, and the approximate method of Dr. Brinkley, to the 

 principles of the latter method, and Mr. B. now admits that on 

 this point he was wrong; but, by way of apology for his mis- 

 take, he says that he has discovered " that the interval given 

 in the Doctor's example is incorrect;" or, as he afterwards 

 varies the charge, "the data in Dr. B.'s example are incon- 

 gruous." 



Now this apology is a singularly unfortunate one ; for the 

 data on which the Doctor's solution is founded, are the alti- 

 tudes, the declination, and the interval; all of which are in ex- 

 act accordance with the true latitude, 27° 59' 16". The true 

 apparent times are S** and 6'', having, as they ought, the 

 same difference as 2^ 55'" 1'2^ and 5^ 55"' 12% the approxi- 

 mate 



