( ii9 ) 
(by Eucl. 47. 1 .) becomes only equal to F D or D G = 
1 3^0,7 Toifesjand its Double, or FG the whole Bale, will 
be but 2701,4 Toifes, lefs than the former by iio,< 5 Toi- 
fes. This Error is fo great (fo much more than the Diffe- 
rence of 31 Toifes for a Degree) that tho’ Ifuppos’dthe 
Lines found by Trigonometry, which terminate at the 
Top of the Mountain, to be much longer than the Hy- 
potenufe A B, yet there will be Error enough to make 
the 43th Degree of Latitude appear much fhorter than 
it is. Suppofing (becaufe of the Length of the Lines 
A B, or the great Diftance from which the Mountain 
might be obferv’d) that thefe Errors were four times 
lefs than I made them 3 yet, at that Rate, one mult ad 
near 20 Toifes to the 44th Degree of Latitude, and take 
away above 30 from the 43th Degree, which will make 
the 44th of 57080 Toifes, and the 43th, of only 3703° - 
and this will give a Difference of 50 Toifes:, fo that it 
an Angle can be taken to two or three Seconds, to 
which 32, or 48 Toifes, are faid to anfwer upon the 
Surface of the Earth, fuch a Difference might be vih- 
ble. And much more fo, if other Errors ot the fame 
Kind fhou’d happen to have been made the fame Way 3 
or if thofe Errors were nearer my firfl Suppolition than 
this laid. Nay, tho’ the 43th Degree of Latitude may 
be 1 3 Toifes' bigger than the 44th, it might by this 
Means appear to be conliderably lefs- 
Such a Miftake might be the Occafion of making t.te 
Hypothefis of the Earth being an 1 oblong Spheroid, eipe- 
cially becaufe in this Hypothecs, the Degrees diftei 
mold in Length from one another about the 45 th Degree^ 
and when once an Hypothefis is fet on E oot, we are 
too'apt to draw in Circumffances to confirm it 3 tho\ 
perhaps, when examin’d impartially, they may rather 
weaken than ffrengthen our Hypothefis ; otherwife, the 
Author’ of the Hiftory of the Royal Academy , for the 
I i 2 fear 
