107 



3. The soundings are expected to be furnished by the Coast Survey. 



4. The fine Troughton sextant used by Mr. Paine is 8J inches in radius. 



5. In computations relative to three-sided figures in the vertical, the phrase 



"vertical triangles" is not objectionable. 



6. Will be answered in the sequel. 



7. All the results are stated. Cooking, on the contrary, consists in sup- 



pressing unfavourable results, or altering the immediate data of instru- 

 ments; not in rejecting results that differ too much from the mean. 



8. Mr. B. refers to Mr. Hassler's Arithmetic, 8th edition, pages 127 and 128. 



9. Mr. B. admits the difficulty of determining the value of a degree perpen- 



dicular to the meridian from the convergency of the meridians in low 

 latitudes. He should not have adopted his result, had it differed much 

 from that of the chronometers. 



10. Mr. B. refers to the tables of comparison. 



11. Mr. B. finds the average discrepancy between Mr. Paine's and the trigo- 



nometric results to be only about Os.4 in time, omitting Pittsfield and 

 Williamstown, where they amount respectively to 2s.O and 1s.3, and too 

 far exceed the mean to be ascribed to errors of observation. They 

 are also in the right direction to indicate an attraction of the plumb line 

 towards the stations, which are on the west side of a mountain, 2000 

 feet high, and 20 miles broad. 



12 & 13. Mr. B. refers to the results derived from the use of Bessel's ele- 

 ments of the spheroid, which do not exhibit any important discrepancy. 

 Mr. Borden's elements, derived from the Massachusetts Survey, cor- 

 respond with Bessel's almost as closely as it is possible to compare two 

 scales together. 



14 & 15. Mr. Borden refers to Mr. Paine's Report, from which it appears that 

 the numbers on p. 65 refer to single readings. 



16. Mr. Borden prefers the method used by himself; inasmuch as his results 



are obtained from the elements of the survey alone, without any " a 

 priori" supposition respecting the dimensions of the spheroid, which 

 Mr. Hassler's method requires. 



17. Mr. B. leaves the chronometric comparisons to speak for themselves. 



18. Mr. Borden admits that many of the Township Surveys were imperfect. 



The "camera lucida" was not used by Mr. B. for topographical pur- 

 poses — had never before heard the instrument mentioned in connexion 

 with topography. 



19. The statement of the cost of the Survey was furnished by Mr. Borden, in 



answer to the inquiries of the Committee, and is derived from the do- 

 cuments on file in the Department of State. 

 Mr. Borden, having thus noticed Mr. Hassler's objections, proceeds to 

 remark, that it was to him a source of regret that better instruments had not 

 at first been procured by the State, — that they would have been productive of 

 greater economy, dispatch and confidence in the precision of the results. His 

 aim, however, had been to attain the greatest possible precision which the in- 

 struments permitted, and he had submitted the results to the Society as nearly 

 in their original form as was possible in a brief notice. He could not but 

 hope that the work would soon be further tested by the extension and pro- 

 gress of the Coast Survey. 

 T 



