EARTH. 



the equator, and although the heat of a 

 climate lengthens pendulums, and im- 

 pedes their motion, yet that of Cayenne 

 was by no means sufficient to produce so 

 considerable a difference, which cannot 

 otherwise be accounted for than by ad- 

 mitting less pressure of gravity to have 

 caused it. In the revolution of the earth, 

 its parts recede from the axis, and the 

 equatorial particularly, consequently the 

 polar press internally, and raise the for- 

 mer, till an equilibrium occurs; hence 

 the form of an oblate spheroid, the short- 

 er axis of which passes through the poles. 

 Pursuing the lights afforded him by na- 

 ture in a superior degree, Newton cal- 

 culated the different diameters, and found 

 that the equatorial exceeds the polar 34 

 miles and one-fifth. This assertion was 

 combated by several philosophers on the 

 continent, but it was fully confirmed sub- 

 sequently, by the admeasurements and 

 observations of two deputations of mathe- 

 maticians who visited the vicinity of the 

 northern and southern poles in 1735, and 

 agreed in pronouncing them flattened, 

 making the difference between the diame- 

 ters as 266 to 265, or as 179 to 178. Many 

 calculations of profound subtlety, have 

 since been made, but as most of the cal- 

 culators contradict each other, too much 

 reliance ought not to be placed on either; 

 those may be found in various publica- 

 tions, and particularly in the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions, to which brevity com- 

 pels us to refer the very curious reader. 



The magnitude of the earth is subject 

 to the same uncertainty as the exact 

 figure of it ; but repeated endeavours 

 have been made to ascertain it with some 

 degree of precision. According to Dio- 

 genes Laertius, Anaximander was the 

 first who attempted this difficult task ; it 

 may be supposed with no great success, 

 as he lived 550 years before the Christian 

 aera, though his result was adopted till 

 the period when Erastostfyenes flourish- 

 ed. Aristotle, in speaking of this subject, 

 says, mathematicians make the circuit of 

 the earth 40,000 stadia, probably includ- 

 ing the measurement of Anaximander. 

 Certain Arabian philosophers, by the 

 command of their monarch Almaimon, 

 afterwards proceeded to the plains of 

 Mesopotamia, where they went through 

 the process then best known, and found 

 that the circumference of the globe was 

 from 20,160 to 20,340 miles. 



Professor Snell, of Leyden, measured 

 considerable distances between the paral- 

 lels about 1620, and thus found one de- 



gree amounted to 19 Dutch miles, and 

 the whole circumference to 6,840 miles. 



Ui chard Norwood measured the space 

 between London and York with a chain, 

 fifteen years afterwards, and on the 1 1th 

 of June, 1635, old style, he took the sun's 

 altitude at the meridian, with a sextant 

 of five feet radius, and found a degree of 

 69 miles, one half, and 14 poles, whence 

 he inferred that the diameter of the earth 

 is about 7,966 miles, and the circuit 25,036 

 miles. This measurement, though far su- 

 perior to those of the ancients, was tried 

 by several French mathematicians, who 

 suspected some slight errors, by the 

 King's command, with a quadrant of 3 1 

 feet radius, French measure, when they 

 ascertained a degree consisted of 542,360 

 feet. M. Cassini, jun. acting under the 

 same authority, used a quadrant of 10 

 feet radius, in 1700, with which he ob- 

 tained the latitude, and one of 3 1 feet for 

 taking the angles of the triangles, by 

 which experiment he found the degree to 

 be nearly 69 English miles. 



From these and other attempts of a si- 

 milar nature, to obtain the length of one 

 degree of the meridian which is to be 

 multiplied by 360, the following mean is 

 generally adopted. 



The earth's cireumference,25,000 miles. 



The diameter, 7,957f 



The superficies, 198,944,206 square 

 miles. 



The solidity, 26,393,000,000 cubic miles. 



It is conjectured, besides, from the 

 measurement of the most approved maps, 

 that the unexplored portions of the earth 

 and seas contain 160,522,026 square 

 miles, the inhabited part of the former 

 38,922,180, thus divided,Europe4,456,065, 

 Asia 10,768,823, Africa 9,654,807, and 

 America 14,110,874. 



The attentive and skilful observer of 

 the works of nature, whether when em- 

 ployed in examining the most wretched 

 or the most sublime, will find that judg- 

 ment, and infinite wisdom and ingenuity, 

 has equally prevailed throughout. Can 

 it then be supposed for a moment, that 

 the internal parts of the earth we inhabit 

 has received less attention from the Crea- 

 tor, than those objects which are under 

 our immediate and unimpeded inspec- 

 tion ? Were it possible to entertain a 

 thought so erroneous, we possess strong 

 proofs to the contrary, which convince us 

 that order and regularity reign beneath us 

 in the same degree as around us. Before 

 the industry, or, more properly speaking, 



