THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH, and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



^ 



[FIFTH SERIES.] 

 MA Y 1881. 



XLV. On a Proposal addressed to the Academy of Sciences of 

 St. Petersburg, by General Schubert, relating to the Russo- 

 Scandinavian arc. By 0. Struve. [Translation*.] 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 

 Gentlemen, 



IN offering to you the accompanying translation of a paper 

 which was first read nearly twenty years ago, I cannot 

 but feel that some explanation is requisite. This will, it is 

 true, be partly met at once by pointing out the authorship ; 

 but in addition to that, I may perhaps be allowed to give the 

 assurance that the lapse of time has in no way diminished, but 

 rather increased, its intrinsic importance. That the paper 

 was originally somewhat controversial will not detract from its 

 interest, especially as the issue will certainly be regarded by 

 some as still undecided. For the rest, I think it desirable 

 that the opinions of such high authorities as the authors should 

 even now be made accessible to English readers, in their own 

 tongue. 



The science and practice of geodesy are alike confined in 

 England to a small and, I fear, constantly diminishing, section 

 of the community. But the question which is argued in this 

 paper requires no very intimate acquaintance with geodetical 

 technicalities or secrets, to enable the reader to understand 

 what the main issue is; and there are few sensible arguments 



* From the Bull. Acad. Sci. St. P^tersb. 1861, torn. iii. pp. 396-424. 

 The original appeared in German. 



Phil Mag. S. 5. Vol. 11. No. 69. May 1881. 2 A 



