APPENDIX. 4'?'^ 



Additional notes. 



SINCE the publication of the firft volume, the theoretic eftima- 

 tion of the altitude of the White Mountains, mentioned vol. I. p 28th and 

 rgth, has been examined by barometrical obfervations ; of which, Mr. N. 

 Bowditch, an able mathematician of Salem, Maffachufelti, has favored me 

 with the following account : 



" The juftnefs of vour remarks relative to the height of the White Hills, 



• in your hiftory of Vermont, has been corroborated by fome late baromet- 

 ' rical obfervations. The obfervations were iriade by a party confiding 



• of Dr. Cutler, profclTor Peck, and feveral other perfons befides myfelf. I 

 ' did not afcend to the fummit of the higheft peak, but Dr. Cutler and 

 « profeffor Peck did ; and on the 28th of July, 1804, at two P. M. they 



• found the Barometer to fland at 23 in. 39 inches, and Farenheii's 



• Thermometer at 54 degrees. At the fame time at the foot of the moun- 



• tain. at MelTervy's houfe, the Barometer (toed at ig, in. 13, and the Ther* 

 ' mometer at B6. At Salem and Bofton, 20 or 30 tect above the level o? 



• the fea, the Barometer at that time flood at 30 in. 10 ; Thermometer at 



• 82. On the syth of July, 1 805, at 8 A. M. the Barometer at Meffjrvy's 



• flood at 29 in. 13, and the Thermometer at 86. In Salem at the fame 



• time the Barometer flood at 30 in. oa, and the Thermometer at 68. 

 « From 3 comparifon of the obfervations at Meffervy's with thofe at Salem 

 ' and Boflon, I find (hat the former place was elevated about 164 fathoms 



• above the level of rhe fea. And by the comparifon of the obfeivations at 



• the top of the mountain with that at Meffervv's, I find that the height a- 



• bove Meffervy's was about 1026 fathoms. So that the whole height a- 



• bove the level of the fea was about 1 190 fathoms, or but little more than 

 ' feven thoufand feet. On the whole we may conclude that the higheft 

 ' point of the White Hills, is in round numbers not far from/even thoufand 



• feet above the level ot the fea." LetUr of May 30, i8o8. 



In Vol. I. p. 462, 1. 22, the followmg remark refpefting Dr. Franklin 

 fhould have been inferted. 



But among all their Philofophical writers, it was in Franklin that the 

 genius of fcience rofe to the greateft height, and appeared with the bright- 

 eft luftre. Trained up to the labors and profcffion of a Printer, and with- 

 out the advantages of education or wealth, this man by his difcoverics in 

 eltftricity, attained an eminent rank among the improvers of fcience ; and 

 entailed a durable reputation both on himfelf, add on his country, la no 

 philofophical di'covery had the human mind afted with greater energy 

 and boldnefs, thsn when he conceived the idea of gaining accels to th<; 

 treafures, and giving a dircftion to the thunderbolts of heaven. Daring \n 

 defign, he wasaccuiatc and fuccelsfu! in the grand experiment : ."^nd the 

 year 1752 will be long remembered in the annals of fcience, as the time 

 ■when the lightning was firft drawn down from the heavens by the mofl 

 fimple of all contrivances, bv Franklin's Kite at Philadelphia. 



In Vol. II, p. 37, an account is given of the capture of Ticondcroga by 

 colonel Ethan Alien. The following is his account of that affair : 



" The firft fyftematical and bloody attempt at Le.xington, to enaflve A- 

 merica, thoroughly elcftrified my mind, and fully determined me to take 

 a pan with my cotmiry. And while I was wifhing for an opportunity to 

 fignalize myfelf in its behalf, diredfions were piivatcly fent to me from the 

 then colony, now ftate of Connefticut, to raife the Green Mountain Boys, 

 and if pofTiblc with them to furprife and take the fortrefs of Ficondero^a. 

 This cnterprife I cheerfully undertook ; and after firft guarding all the Icv- 

 eral paffcs that lead thither, to cut off all intelligence brtween the gar.'itoa 

 and the country, made a forced march from Bennington, and arrived at 

 the lake oppofite Ticondcroga, on the evening of the ninth day of M^y, 



