LONG ISLAND LONGITUDE. 



537 



banquet. His principal attention was directed, 

 however, to the study of grammar, criticism, elo- 

 quence, and antiquities. At the invitation of queen 

 Zenobia, he went to Palmyra to instruct her in Greek 

 learning and to educate her children. He was 

 likewise employed by her in the administration of 

 the state, by which means he was involved in the 

 fate of this queen. For when Zenobia was taken 

 prisoner by the emperor Aurelian, and could save 

 her life only by betraying her counsellors, Longinus, 

 as the chief of them, was seized and beheaded, A. D. 

 275. He suffered death with all the firmness of a 

 philosopher. Of his works, among which were some 

 philosophical ones, none is extant, except the trea- 

 tise On tlie Sublime, which goes under his name, and 

 this is in a state of mutilation. It illustrates, with 

 great acuteness and taste, the nature of the sublime 

 in thought and style, by rules and examples. The 

 best editions are those of Pearce (1724), of Toup and 

 Ruhnken (Oxford, 1778). Benj. Weiske's edition 

 appeared at Leipsic, 1809. There is an English 

 translation of it by Wm. Smith. Longinus is usually 

 called Dionysius, but this has arisen from the negli- 

 gence of editors. The manuscript copy of the trea- 

 tise On the Sublime, in Paris, and one in the Vatican, 

 bear the inscription in Greek, By Dionysius or Lon- 

 ginus, which appeared in the first printed copies as 

 Dionysius Longinus. The Florence manuscript 

 bears the inscription Anonymous. Some critics 

 have ascribed the work to Dionysius of Halicarnas- 

 sus, others to another Longinus, while others confess 

 that the author is uncertain. 



LONG ISLAND, or NASSAU ISLAND; an isl- 

 and belonging to the state of New York, extendiug 

 120 miles in length, and varying from ten to twenty 

 miles in breadth. On the west, it is divided from 

 Staten Island by the Narrows, and from Manhattan 

 Island by the East river. On the north, East river 

 and Long Island sound separate it from the main 

 land. Its eastern extremity is Montauk point. On 

 the south, it is washed by the ocean. Lon. 71 47' 

 to 73 57' W. ; lat. 40 34' to 41 10' N. Like 

 other insular positions, its climate is more mild than 

 that of the adjacent continent. The island is divided 

 into three counties King's, Queen's and Suffolk. 

 Sag Harbour is the principal port. The south side 

 of the island is flat land, of a light, sandy soil, bor- 

 dered, on the sea coast with large tracts of salt mea- 

 dow. The soil, however, is well calculated for 

 raising grain, especially Indian corn. The north 

 side of the island is hilly, and of a strong soil, adapt- 

 ed to the culture of grain, hay, and fruits ; and the 

 eastern part is remarkably adapted to the growth of 

 wood, and supplies, in great part, the city of New 

 York with this article. This ridge forms Brooklyn 

 and other heights, known in the revolutionary war. 

 The principal towns and villages on the island are 

 Brooklyn, Jamaica, Sag Harbour, Flatbush, Flushing, 

 Satauket and Huntington. 



LONG ISLAND SOUND ; a bay, from three to 

 twenty-five miles broad, and about 120 long, extend- 

 ing the whole length of Long Island, and dividing it 

 from Connecticut. It communicates with the ocean 

 at both ends, and may be considered as extending 

 from New York on the west to Fisher's Island on 

 the east. On its northern shore are the towns of 

 Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Milford, 

 New Haven, Say brook, New London, Stonington,&c. 

 It receives the Connecticut, Housatonic, Thames, and 

 other rivers. 



LONGITUDE, GEOGRAPHICAL ; the distance 

 measured, according to degrees, minutes, seconds, 

 &c., on the equator, or a parallel circle, from one 

 meridian to another, which is called the first, or 

 prime meridian. Longitude is divided into eastern 



and western. It is altogether indifferent through 

 what point we draw the first meridian, but it must DC 

 settled what point we adopt. In Germany, the Is- 

 land of Ferro (q. v.) is generally adopted,' in France, 

 the observatory at Paris ; in Britain, that of Green- 

 wich ; in Berlin, that of Berlin; in the United States, 

 the meridian of Washington is sometimes taken as 

 a first meridian. Some geographers reckon from the 

 first meridian 180 degrees west, and the same number 

 east ; others, on the contrary, reckon the longitude 

 from the west to the east, the whole length of the 

 equator, to 360 degrees. The longitude of any 

 place, together with the latitude, is requisite for the 

 determination of the true situation of the place upon 

 the earth. From the form of our earth, it follows 

 that the degrees of longitude must always decrease 

 towards the poles. The degrees of latitude, on the 

 contrary, are all taken as equal to each other, and 

 each amounts to sixty geographical miles. The 

 measure of a degree of longitude upon any parallel 

 of latitude is found by multiplying the length of a 

 degree on the equator by the co-sine (taking radius 

 equal to 1) of the latitude of the parallel. The longi- 

 tude shows the difference of time between any place 

 and the first meridian. The sun performing his appar- 

 ent revolution in twenty-four hours, a place which lies 

 fifteen degrees farther to the west than another, will 

 have noon one hour later. Places whose difference 

 of longitude amounts to 180 have opposite seasons 

 of the day, since in the one place it is mid-day, and 

 in the other, at the distance of 180, it is midnight 

 at the same moment. The difference in longitude of 

 any two places may be also determined by observa- 

 tions of the time of certain celestial phenomena, taken 

 at both places, such as eclipses of the moon, occulta- 

 tions of fixed stars, and, in particular, the eclipses of 

 Jupiter's satellites ; and, vice versa, we can, from the 

 difference of longitude of two places, accurately 

 ascertain the difference of their time. 15 upon the 

 parallel circle corresponding to one hour, 1 gives 4 

 of time, 15' give 1' of time, 15" give 1" of time, &c. 

 The difference of longitude between Boston and 

 London may serve as an example. This difference 

 is 71, 4', 9" ; consequently, noon at London is 

 four hours, forty-four minutes, and six seconds ear- 

 lier than at Boston. The determination of longi- 

 tude at sea, at any moment, is highly difficult and 

 important. The British parliament, in 1714, of- 

 fered a reward of 20,000 for an accurate method 

 of finding the longitude at sea, within one half of a 

 degree ; but this act was repealed July 15, 1828. A 

 watch which should preserve a uniform motion, was 

 the most suitable means that could be afforded to the 

 navigator, who might, from the difference of the time 

 of noon on board the ship, and the time by the watch 

 immediately determine the difference between the 

 longitude of the place for which the watch was re- 

 gulated, and that wherein the ship then was. Har- 

 rison was the first who invented a chronometer of 

 the requisite accuracy. Upon the first voyage, it 

 deviated only two minutes in four months. Other 

 artists followed, namely, Kendall, Mudge, Berthoud, 

 Le Roy, &c.; and Arnold and Emery have lately 

 prepared such accurate chronometers, that they have 

 been used for the determination of longitude upon 

 land, as well as at sea, with great success. Never- 

 theless, astronomical observations furnish the most 

 exact methods of determining longitude. As eclipses 

 and occultations are comparatively rare, and are 

 somewhat difficult of calculation, the distances of 

 the moon from the sun or some of the fixed stars have 

 been adopted for the calculation of longitude, because 

 these can be measured almost every night, and an 

 accurate knowledge of the moon's orbit is the only 

 thing requisite thereto. 



