DEGREF 
theory of aberration and nutation was rot known. Their 
fec&tor proving defeGive, they were obliged to alter its con- 
Rrution, and after much lofs of time, they adopted the expe~ 
dient ra ec sting a new one, and obferving at the fame time 
at each ftatio 
in their epaatane and by repea 
Orionis, obferved at eee a oe they 
determined the intercepted arc to b , and the 
fure of a degree 56,750 toifes. 
obfervations, to determine the oarptatde of the arc between 
ora and Cuenga. But the latter, being ordered on profef- 
fional duty, quicted the party for a period of sd ple 
odin continued to ebferve alone, the 
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tal 
ee traiyas ten 
gave the amplitude beaea Mota a nd eee g° 30° 62", 
and the degree 56,768 toifes 
Bouguer fet off firft on his return to Europe; he followed 
nearly the fame route by which he went, and arrived in France, 
e 
containing many valuable difquifitions, 
aietomical and be with a learned inveftigation 
rth. 
oth 
Pt: ate problems relative to the figure of the ea 
am 
t had taken place, not only relating to 
the great work in ek he had been engage » but alfo his 
own adventures, and obfervations on the n f the coun- 
try, and its Yoha bitants, climate, nal hiftory, &c. 
His work is divided into two parts ; one, * Introduction Hif- 
torique,” containing the hittorical part of this anteceiting 
voyage, written in a moft pleafing and animated ftyle; the 
other, ** Mefure des trois premicrs Degrees du Meridien,” is 
dedicated to the obfervations immediately relative to the 
obje& — the expedition. 
wo Spanith officers —— by the way of Cape 
1740. on Antonia de Ul- 
ng in his paflage, and brought : 
all the refpe& due 
2 was admitted a Fellow 
him 
printed at per dates in two cues. quarto. This mak, 
hike that of Condamine, is extremely interefing, containing: 
a great variety of amufing matter, befides the account of 
their own operations, relative ] i meafure hee the sera 
— 
which deftroyed coy oe cities of Ca oe 
is j s Eur 
appointed him diredtor of the royal marine academy 
Cadiz. 
ted h 
the other academicians had done, which is ick to 
petted, as he is fai 
ntry, and travelled to 
Pee from which place he ae to his wife to join him, 
She, with her brothers and family, were to peo the cor 
i as Condamine had done before, the river of the 
The whole party loft themfelves in fe immente 
defers. of South America, and madam Godin, after feeing 
her brothers and moft of her attendan‘s perifh one by one 
with hunger and — arrived after a journey of unparal- 
lelled diftrefs aa danger fa ee at her deftination. Her fi 
lar adventures are aii 
damine in 1773, entitled, 
oo and a Aftats, we were employed in 
he idee to Per 
Juffien, the botanit, nadine ftaid fome time after the de-- 
parture of 8, toincreafe his codeGion of plants, 
and other o a of natural hiftory, returned to France, but 
publithed no feparate account of his voyage. Seniergue, 
their furgeon, ie affaffinated at Cuenga, during the celebra- 
tion of a bull fea 
Three fae meafures had now been obtained with 
great labour and difficulty at the equator, in the latitude 
45°, and at the ar€lic circle, and no os 
mained as to the oblate figure of the 
was very far fr sae, cecum afcertained. It became 
evident that che confiderable error had been committed in 
the meafurement formerly made in France. The aftrono- 
of 
re-examination of Picard’s operations. The 
fame fector as in Sweden, and by a carefi 
This was fuppofed to arife from the gale! cof the: 
meafures, and not is ee a care 
t fo ha appenes sea 
oe fo that 
truth. Tod 
to exifti n Perpigna 
kirk, it was refolved to undertake thie great a a fecor 
time: it is the lefs neceffary to enter into the details of ais 
operation (known by the name of Le Meridien verifié), as it 
has been again re-meafured within thefe few years paft, with 
a degree of precifion that would have appeared incredible to 
the aftronomers formerly employed in the fame operation. 
We ought, however, to mention that Caffini de Thury and 
La Caille undertook a complete revifal of all the former 
=" meafured two new bafes, divided the arc into four 
0 
aule, at the 
Cape of Good Hope, meafured an arc of die meridian, 
found the degree in latitude 33° 18’ fouth = 57,037 toifes, 
As La Caille was furnifhed with very imperfect initruments, 
we flall enter into no further detail of thefe operations, 
which 
t 
