36 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



means for finding the longitude. This Committee 

 gave in a report explaining different means by 

 which the longitude could be found, and recom- 

 mending encouragement for the construction of 

 chronometers as likely to lead to a better solution 

 of this important problem of navigation than any 

 other that had been or could be devised. In 

 consequence of this report, an Act of Parliament 

 was passed offering prizes of i,ooo/., I5,ooo/., and 

 2O,ooo/., for the discovery of a method for deter- 

 mining the longitude within 60, 40, and 30 miles 

 respectively : " one moiety or half part of such 

 " reward or sum shall be due and paid when 

 " the said commissioners, or the major part of 

 " them, do agree that any such method extends to 

 11 the security of ships within 80 geographical 

 " miles of the shores which are places of the 

 " greatest danger, and the other moiety or half 

 " part when a ship, by the appointment of the said 

 " commissioners, or the major part of them, shall 

 " thereby sail over the ocean from Great Britain to 

 " any such part in the West Indies as those com- 

 " missioners, or the major part of them, shall choose 



