552 Sir george shuckburgh’s Obfervations 
lefs decifive, the trigonometrical meafurement is alfo lefs 
accurate from the diftance; and, laftly, to fuppofe the 
flate of the atmofphere precifely the fame with refpedt 
to weight in two places twenty miles afunder, is, I am 
afraid, a pojlulatum too hazardous to grant. I therefore 
fay, that all thefe obfervations confirm the fame truth, 
that the atmofphere is lighter than Mr. de luc prefumed 
it. What had already been done may feem fufficient for 
the eftablifhment of this fadt; for I have always held, 
that a few obfervations, well made and faithfully related, 
do more in the interpretation of nature, than a multi- 
tude of crude, carelefs, and immethodical experiments. 
But I have not done: I wiflied to put this matter out of 
all doubt, and accordingly undertook another expedition 
to the fummit of Mont Saleve, on the 18th of Septem- 
ber, and in a colder temperature : the experiments then 
made, with their refults, were as follows : 
The difference of adtual height by the two barometers 
was 2828.9 f eet > the barometer N° 1. ftanding higher 
than N 0 2. by +,0038 inch, when compared at the bot- 
tom of the mountain. 
Com-' 
