E vs ] 
I began then with convincing myfelf by Calcula- 
tion, that the Meridian of the Earth, and of the other 
Planets, is a Curve very nearly approaching to an El- 
lipfis 5 fo that no fenfible Error could enfue by fuppofing 
it really fuch. I had the Honour of communicating 
my Demonftration of this to the Royal Society, 
at the Beginning of the lad Year 5 and I have fince been 
inform'd, that Mr. Stirlings one of the greateft Geo- 
metricians I know in Europe, had infertedL a Dif- 
courfe in the < PIoilofophical TranfaElions, NS 438. 
wherein he had found the fame thing before me, but 
without giving his Demonftration. When I fent that 
Paper to London , I was in Lapland , within the frigid 
Zone , where 1 could have no Recourfe to Mr. Stir- 
lings Difcourfe, fo that I could not take any Notice 
of it. 
The Elliptical Form of the Meridian being once 
proved, I no longer found any thing in Sir Ifaac 
Newton , about the Figure of the Earth, which could 
create any new Difficulty j and I fhould have thought 
this Queftion fufficiently difcufs'd, if the Obfervations 
made under the Ardlick Circle had not prevail'd on 
ns to believe, that the Shape of the Earth was ftill 
flatter than that of Sir Ifaac s Spheroid 5 and if he 
himfelf had not pointed at the Caufes, which might 
make Jupiter not quite fo flat, as by his Theory, and 
the Earth fomething more.. 
As to Jupiter , he fays, fPage 416 of the 3d Edi- 
tion of Thil . Nat . Trin . Math.) that its Equator 
confifts of denfer Parts than the reft of its Body, be- 
caufe its Moifture is more dried up by the Heat of the 
Sun. But as to the Earth, he fufpe&s its Flatnefs to be 
a fmall matter greater than what arifes by his Calcu- 
lation. 
