sacr. iv.} DISSERTATION SECOND. 125 



the south. 1 All this seemed quite inconsistent with the 

 observations on the pendulum, as well as with the conclu- 

 sions which Newton had deduced from the theory of gra- 

 vity. The Academy of Sciences was thus greatly per- 

 plexed, and uncertain to what side to incline. In these 

 circumstances, J. Cassini, whose errors were the cause of 

 all the difficulty, had the merit of suggesting the only 

 means by which the question concerning the figure of the 

 earth was likely to receive a satisfactory solution, — the 

 measurement of two degrees, the one under the equator, 

 and the oilier as near the pole as the nature of the thing 

 would admit. But it was not till considerably beyond the 

 limits of the period of which I am now treating, that 

 these measures were executed ; and that the increase of 

 the degrees toward the poles, or the oblateness of the 

 earth's figure, was completely ascertained. Cassini, on 

 resuming his own operations, discovered, and candidly ac- 

 knowledged, the errors in his first measurement ; and thus 

 the objections which had arisen in this quarter against the 

 theory of gravity, became irresistible arguments in its fa- 

 vour. This subject will occupy much of our attention in 

 the history of the second period, till which, the establish- 

 ment of the Newtonian philosophy on the Continent, can- 

 not be said to have been accomplished. 



In addition to these discoveries in physical astrononi}, 

 this period affords several on the descriptive parts of the 

 science, of which, however, I can only mention one, as far 

 too important to be passed over in the most general out- 

 line. It regards the apparent motion in the fixed stars, 

 known by the name of the Aberration, and is the discove- 

 ry of Dr. Bradley, one of the most distinguished astrono- 

 mers of whom England has to boast. Bradley and his 



1 Memoires de VAcad. dcs Sciences, 1718, p. 245, 



