thh difcourfe he went back to the moft ancient Aflrono- 
mcrs, and recounted their opinions of the Spherick Figure 
of the Earth, and their methods to know its dimenfion, 
of, which the two moft famous are, firff, that of Eratofir 
hen^s the Cynmany who Hved in the Reign of Ptobmie 
Euergetes Ring of Mgypt : The fecond that of Poffidoniuf 
of Rhodesi, who lived in the time of Pompey the Great, 
After having enlarged on the Methods ufcd by thefe two 
Ancient Philofophers, he proceeded to thofe of the Mo- 
derns, Johannes PerneliuSy and fome others ; And in the 
laft place he related the method of the late Monfiepr Pi- 
card^ of the Academy Royal^ as the moft exadt. Then he * 
fppke of his own Obfervations on the fame lubjed, of . 
tqe ufe he had made of the Satellites of Jtipiter^ more fit 
for this than the Eclipfes of the ,Moon, in that they are 
Eiore frequent 5 and (aid that his Obfervations had beea 
GQnfirmedby the.likemade inC/6i//^. Heftiewed the method 
he took to determine the paflage of the Meridian taken 
from a point in the obfervatory at P^w. By the means of 
Triangles which he made through the whole courfe of his 
j[Qurney, and very exad calculations, he determined the 
place of thi? Meridian, and marked all the confiderable 
places thro which it pafled, from Park to the higheft 
Mountains of the Pyreneans^ which feparate Roujfilhn 
from Catalonia'^ among thefe Mountains he obferved one 
of a prodigious height, it being 1440 Toifes higli. But 
the meft extraordinary Obfervation was that of the in- 
equality of the degrees of the Meridiaa on the Earthy 
which is fucb, that Monfieur Cajjini found that going 
Southward one degree furpafled another an Sooth parr, 
which may give great reafon to doubt of the exad round- • 
nefs of the Earth- Upon this occafion he reported two 
different opinions : the one Monfieurs Huygens and New-^ 
fonythQ other of a Mathematician of Strasbourg named 
Bifmfehmidim. The two former hold that the Earth ia 
flatted towards the Poles, fo that it is fomething^ of the. 
(hape 
