194 MEASURING APPARATUS OF THE 



others went to Torneo in Lapland— permission having been obtained from 

 the Swedish Government for that purpose. 



Both these expeditions were fitted out with the best instruments 

 then to be obtained, at the expence of the French Government, The 

 operations under the equator occupied upwards of ten years, and those of 

 the polar circle about two. 



One cannot too much admire the determination and constancy with 

 which the French Government seems to have been actuated on that occa- 

 sion. The onus prohandi did not lie with them more than with us, per- 

 haps not so much so — nature and fortune had bestowed upon England the 

 greatest philosopher mankind ever saw, and our ancestors must bear the 

 reproach of having neglected as unworthy of them that pre-eminence in 

 science, which had it fallen to the lot of any other nation in Europe, would 

 have been looked on as a high source of pride. It is very true Sir Isaac 

 Newton was recompensed, whilst living, by a lucrative post at the Mint, 

 and it is equally true that monuments have been erected to him in West- 

 minster Abbey, and elsewhere ; but the best monument which a grateful 

 country could have bestowed on this most eminent and distinguished of 

 her sons, would have been to establish the truth of the doctrines he had 

 promulgated by actual experiment, instead of leaving them entirely to the 

 mercy of strangers. 



Not to dwell too much upon these preliminary matters, it will now be 

 advisable to explain what the figure of the earth has to do with the subject 

 on which we started, for it is desirable to show that this is not merely a 

 speculative point for the philosopher to amuse himself with in his closet, 

 but one of actual practical utility, according to the conception which 

 I have of the meaning of that term. 



