52 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [July, 



The result of his trials to determine the length of the seconds 

 pendulum in London was given in a preceding volume of the 

 Transactions ; but in the present paper he corrects an error ia 

 his previous determination from his not having accurately ascer- 

 tained the specific gravity of his pendulum. 



He took the opportunity of his experiments to verify Col. 

 Mudge's determination of the latitudes at Clifton, Arbury Hill, 

 and Dunnose, which Don Joseph Rodriquez, in an ingenious 

 paper published in the Phil. Trans, for 1812, had supposed erro- 

 neous to the amount of about five seconds, in order to get rid of 

 a very remarkable anomaly observed by Col. Mudge ; namely, 

 the degrees of the meridian instead of increasing with the latitude 

 actually decreasing. The result of his observations is a confir- 

 mation of the latitudes of those places as already determined by 

 Col. Mudge ; so that Don Joseph Rodriquez's explanation turns 

 out insufficient. 



Capt. Kater in the present paper gives a minute account of his 

 apparatus, and of the different observations which he made. 

 The following table exhibits the ultimate results of his trials 

 which appear to have been conducted with every possible atten- 

 tion to accuracy ; 



Article V. 



Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Mai/ 18. — A paper by his Excellency Governor Sir Stamford 

 Raffles was read, entitled " Some Account of the Dugong." 

 The general form of this animal resembles that of the other 

 cetaceaB. The skin is smooth, and about three-quarters of an 

 inch thick, with a few scattered hairs, and the head is small ia 

 proportion to the size of the animal. There are two thick tusks 



