THE EARTH. 



457 



Fig. 8. 



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WEIGHT OF THE EARTH. 







It was at a recent epoch in the progress of knowledge that the problem to 

 ascertain the weight of the globe of the earth, or the actual quantity of matter 

 it contains relative to some known standard, was solved. 



The researches of Newton had established the general fact that the weights 

 of bodies were the exponents of their masses or quantities of matter, and that 

 the weights themselves were nothing more than the attractions which the 

 bodies in question suffered from other bodies near them. 



Toward the end of the last century, two philosophers of great eminence in 

 England the celebrated Cavendish and Dr. Maskelyne achieved the solu- 

 tion of this problem by different methods ; and the accordance of the results 

 which they obtained is the best test of their accuracy and truth. 



The method of Dr. Maskelyne consisted in comparing the attraction which 



