54 SURVEY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
“It will be seen by this table, that had the observed height of Saddle Mount depended 
on this chain of levels alone, it would have been about two feet less than the mean; and 
the greatest difference between any height as given by this table, and the same height 
as determined from a mean of all the observations brought to bear upon it, is at Tuft’s 
Hill station, where the difference is nearly six feet.” 
SECTION V.—-LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES OF TWENTY-SEVEN PLACES IN MASSACHUSETTS, 
ETC., AS DETERMINED, SOLELY, BY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS, WITH PREFATORY 
REMARKS, BY R. T. PAINE. 
THE operations for ascertaining the latitudes and longitudes by astronomical observa- 
tion were accomplished, without assistance, by Robert Treat Paine, Esq., under an ap- 
pointment from Governor Lincoln. Mr. Paine’s account of his labours and their results 
is contained in the following report, made to Governor Everett, of which a copy was 
furnished to me, and is now, for the first time, presented for publication. 
To His Excellency Epwarp Everett, Esa. 
Sir,—I have the honour herewith to present 1o the Executive of Massachusetts a table 
of the latitudes and longitudes of twenty-seven places, (twenty-three of which are in the 
said state, and the remainder in its immediate vicinity,) deduced by me from many thou- 
sand observations, made in pursuance of a resolve of the Legislature thereof, passed. 
in 1830. 
Being, sir, of opinion that a concise and popular explanation of the manner in which 
these observations were made would not be altogether unacceptable either to the Execu- 
tive or the Legislature, I have taken the liberty to preface the report with the following 
remarks. 
With the highest respect, 
Tam, your Excellency’s obedient servant, 
R. T. Paine. 
Boston, March, 1838, 
For the determination of the position of any place on the surface of the earth, it is 
necessary that two things should be known; namely, its latitude or distance north or 
south from the imaginary line or circle called the equator, and its longitude or distance 
east or west from another imaginary line or circle, which passes at right angles to the 
former, through some other place, which is assumed to be the first meridian. 
Several methods have been proposed by which the latitude might be ascertained, but 
no one is as simple, or more accurate than that of measuring, with a suitable instrument, 
the altitude of the sun or other celestial body whose declination is known, when on or 
near the meridian. Indeed, so simple is this method, that when only an approximation 
to the truth is wanted, as at sea, a single altitude will give a result sufficiently exact; but 
