( 211 ) 
For if he had confider’d, he wou’d have found his Ar- 
gument in other Words to be this. Becaufe Bodies , 
that move in a Circle , always endeavour to recede 
from the Axis of their Motion ^ therefore the IV ater , 
by that Endeavour , comes nearer to the Axis of its 
Motion ; which is abfurd. But Dr. Burnet , after- 
wards, alter’d his Opinion, as I am credibly inform’d. 
Having thus given my Reafons for difapproving of 
Monf. Cajfini’ s Opinion, concerning the Figure of the 
Earth 1 come now to confider Sir Ifaac Newton % 
who makes it higher at the Equator, than at the Poles j 
but before I enter upon it, I beg Leiveto quote a Para- 
ragraph out of the Hiftory of the Royal Academy for 
1713. Thefe are the Words of the Author. “ Rea- 
“ fonings drawn from the different Lengths of a Pen- 
« dulum in different Climates, or from the Inequality 
« of the Centrifugal Force arifing from the Diurnal 
« Motion of the Earth, are, perhaps, too nice to pro- 
<• duce a certain Convi&ion ; nay, perhaps, we are not 
44 well enough allured of the Principles, and the 
c ‘ Confequences may fometimes be different. And 
tC therefore it is evident, that the beft Way in this En- 
“ quiry, is only (as Monf. Cajfini does) to make ufe 
« of unqueftion’d Obfervations, which ferve dire&ly 
tc to decide the Queftion. 
That Monf. Cajfini has not made ufe of unquefiond 
Obfervations , and the Meafures, he mentions, are not 
able to decide the Queftion, appears from what I have 
already faid. We muft therefore fliew, whether the 
Principles, from which Sir Ifaac Newton has deduced 
his Figure of the Earth, are fully prov’d or not : Whe- 
ther the Conclufion drawn from them is plain and evi- 
dent j and whether the Experiments on Pendulums, 
that confirm the Theory, are eafy to be made, and may 
be depended upon. 
Tho’ 
