﻿ARTICLE 
  XV. 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  Difference 
  of 
  Longitude 
  of 
  several 
  places 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  

   as 
  determined 
  by 
  observations 
  of 
  the 
  Solar 
  Eclipse 
  of 
  November 
  30th, 
  

   1834. 
  By 
  Edward 
  H. 
  Courtenay, 
  Professor 
  of 
  Mathematics 
  in 
  the 
  

   University 
  of 
  Pennsylvania. 
  Mead 
  October 
  16th, 
  1835. 
  

  

  The 
  interest 
  felt 
  by 
  the 
  American 
  Philosophical 
  Society 
  in 
  relation 
  

   to 
  the 
  late 
  remarkable 
  Solar 
  Eclipse, 
  as 
  expressed 
  by 
  the 
  appointment 
  

   of 
  a 
  committee 
  to 
  collect 
  accurate 
  observations 
  thereon, 
  has 
  induced 
  

   the 
  belief 
  that 
  a 
  careful 
  calculation 
  of 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  principal 
  results 
  

   furnished 
  by 
  those 
  observations, 
  might 
  prove 
  acceptable 
  to 
  the 
  Society. 
  

  

  From 
  the 
  report 
  of 
  the 
  committee 
  above 
  referred 
  to, 
  it 
  appears 
  that 
  

   observations 
  of 
  the 
  times 
  of 
  commencement 
  and 
  termination 
  of 
  the 
  

   eclipse 
  were 
  made 
  at 
  Philadelphia, 
  Baltimore, 
  Norfolk, 
  the 
  University 
  

   of 
  Virginia, 
  Cincinnati, 
  the 
  Friends' 
  School 
  near 
  Philadelphia, 
  German- 
  

   town, 
  and 
  at 
  West 
  Hills, 
  Long 
  Island, 
  a 
  station 
  of 
  the 
  coast 
  survey. 
  The 
  

   termination 
  was 
  also 
  observed 
  at 
  Nashville, 
  Tennessee. 
  Many 
  of 
  these 
  

   observations 
  were 
  made 
  by 
  persons 
  whose 
  well 
  known 
  skill 
  and 
  experi- 
  

   ence 
  are 
  a 
  sufficient 
  guarantee 
  of 
  the 
  accuracy 
  of 
  their 
  results 
  ; 
  and 
  

   they 
  all 
  appear 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  with 
  great 
  care. 
  

  

  The 
  most 
  useful 
  purpose 
  to 
  which 
  observations 
  of 
  this 
  kind 
  are 
  ap- 
  

   plicable, 
  is 
  the 
  determination 
  of 
  the 
  difference 
  of 
  terrestrial 
  longitude 
  ; 
  

   and 
  although 
  the 
  method 
  is 
  doubtless 
  inferior 
  in 
  point 
  of 
  accuracy 
  to 
  

   that 
  of 
  occultations, 
  and 
  probably 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  corresponding 
  transits 
  of 
  

   the 
  moon 
  and 
  stars, 
  yet 
  the 
  results 
  which 
  it 
  furnishes, 
  when 
  obtained 
  

  

  