[ 34 ] 
Toifes each Degree $ as may be feen ia the large 
Treatife publifh'd in a feparate Volume, as a Sequel 
to the Memoirs of th z Royal Academy of Sciences of 
Warts for the Year 1718. Thefe Reafons did not 
hinder Sir Ifaac from perfifting in his firft Opinion of 
the figure of the Earth flatted at the Poles, as appears 
in the 2d and 3d Editions of his Frincipia y publifh’d 
In 1713 and 1726 : And 'tis very furprizing, that by 
this very Figure of the Earth he demonftrates a certain 
Motion it has, to explain in the Copernkan Syftem 
the Preceffion of the Equinoxes, or the apparent Mo- 
tion of the fixt Stars in Longitude. Sir Ifaac finds 
the Inequality of the Degrees on the Meridian, in fc 
little an Extent as that of France , not fenfible enough 
to be poflibly determin'd by immediate Obfervationsr 
and he is of Opinion, that we ought more to rely on 
the Obfervations of the dimple Pendulum, and on the 
other Principles which he has built upon, to conclude 
the Earth flatted at the Poles. 
In 1720, Monf. Makan attempted to reconcile the 
two different Hypothefes of Sir 7 ) 2 ^ and ^A.CaJfmi , 
by imagining that the Earth, at its Creation, being 
without Motion, was of a much more oblong Figure 
than that which 'Cajfini thinks it has at pr.efcnt 3 fo 
that it might have been reduced to that which it 
now ha.s, by the diurnal Motion on its Axis, &c\ 
JBut Dr. ^DefagulierSy who is of Sir lfaac y s Opinion, 
has made appear, in the Thilofophical Tranf act tons 
for 3*725, N* 5 388. that Mr. Matrons Suppofition 
is contrary to the Laws of Motion 5 and has moreover 
^propofed feveral confiderable Doubts on the Obferva- 
tions and Suppositions employ'd by M. Caffint in his 
determination of the Earth's Figure in 1718. 
As 
