[ 8 ] 
that, if they were fuch, as M. CafTmi, and fome other 
academicians, made in France, of the meafure of a 
parallel of latitude, they could not be much depended 
on ; that method being liable to fevera obvious incon- 
veniencies. But he infills, that, with the excellent in- 
ftruments, which were ufed, and, conlidering the dis- 
tinguished fkill of the obfervers, as well at the polar 
circle as in France, and at the equator, the error upon 
one degree of the meridian could not exceed 6 o or 
70 toifes ; which is a degree of exaCtnefs not only 
Sufficient for the determination of the firft queftion, 
viz. whether the fpheroid of the earth is flat or 
long ; but likewife to found an agreement between 
the obfervations and the theory, as near as can be ex- 
pected or delired. 
7. The work itfelf is divided into ten chapters : 
I. De obfervationibus circa telluris figuram haCtenus 
inftitutis. 
II. De principiis et hypotheflbus quibufdam. 
III. De rotatione corporum, et vi centrifuga. 
IV. De mutationibus ex motu circulari ortis. 
V. De attraCtione corporum rotundorum. 
VI. De comparatione gravitatis in variis homogeneae 
fphaeroidis locis. 
VII. De figura terrae. 
VIII. De gradibus meridiani et parallelorum. 
IX. De loxodromiis nautarum, de parallaxi lunae, 
et aliis ex eadem theoria pendentibus. 
X. De theorias et obfervationum confenfu. 
8. In chap. 1. we have a fhort hiftory of the in- 
quiries, that have been made into the magnitude -and 
figure 
4 
