C 5° ] 
nomers employ’d in their Meafurements, and of which 
they found a Degree of a great Circle contain’d: 
57060s what more is requifite for concluding that a 
Degree of a great Circle contains 104 ~ Werjls ? And 
what remains towards the Perfection of the Geogra- 
phy of Rujjia , in the moft minute Detail that can be 
enter’d upon, but to employ this Meafure of JVerfts> 
Sagenes , and Englifb Feet, (if you pleafe) in adtual 
Meafurements* and to confbuft the Charts by the 
moft exaft Methods of Geometry * taking care to fet 
them down right, as to their true Bearings, and to 
regulate them by the moft exaCt Aftronomical Obfer- 
vations of Longitude and Latitude that can poffibly be 
made. 
It muft be confefs'd, we fh.ould be very happy, if in 
the Geography of Rujjia we were arrived at this 
Pitch 5 not only in the general Map, but likewife in 
that of any particular Diftrift whatsoever, the neareft 
and of moft Concern to us. But befides that we are 
as yet far from pretending to this * I will now make 
appear that it is not pofTible to attain it, without un- 
dertaking an equal, and even a greater Work than all 
that has been hitherto done in France and elfewhere, 
towards the Meafurement of the Earth. I am myfeif 
affrighted at the very Thought of what I propofe, and 
am under Apprehenftons that it will give the fame 
Pain to thofe of the Company, who know, as well as 
I, the prodigious Labour, in which this Work muft 
engage the Undertakers. But what is not a Perfon 
capable of undertaking for the Glory and Intereft of 
her Imperial Majefty, when excited by the Benefits 
fhe heaps on the Academy, and by the Angular 
Protection her Minifters grant to this Body and the 
Sciences 
