of Cambridge in New England. 503 
eclipfe was sbferved by him and feveral other gentlemen, at 
liis houfe, Auguft 5, 1766, at which I was prefen t and afiift- 
ing, being then a refident graduate at Harvard College : this 
eclipfe, Sir, I find that you obferved at Greenwich. By your 
obfervations in the printed volume, a copy of which the Royal 
Society was fo generous as to fend .to Harvard College, which 
was received the Lift fpring, and for which the College is very 
grateful, I find the beginning of the eclipfe was feen by you 
at 5 h. 29' 56" P.M. and the end at 7 h. n ? 27 " P.M. apparent 
time. At Dr. wintiirop’s houfe at Cambridge, lat. 42 0 25' 
N. the beginning of this eclipfe was obferved at 1 1 h. 3/ 23^ 
A.M. and the end at 2 h. 45' 9" P.M. apparent time. Allow- 
ing for the fpheroidal figure of the earth, and going through 
the paralla&ic calculations and dedu&ions, I find the difference 
of meridians between Greenwich and Cambridge, by the ob- 
fervations of this eclipfe, to be 4I1. 44' 2 z'\ 
In the tranfit of Venus, in 1 769, the internal contaft was 
obferved by Dr. winthrop at 2 h, 47'' 30" apparent time, and 
by Mr. hitchins, at the Royal Obfervatory, at 7 h. zS 7 57" 
apparent time. Allowing the fun r s parallax on the day of the 
tranfit to be 8-' / ,3.8, I find by calculation from thefe obferva- 
tions, that the difference of meridians between Greenwich and 
Cambridge is 4 h. 44' 1 2". The reafon of my taking Mr. 
hit chi ns’s obfervation is, your faying, that the telefcope 
which he ufed was much fuperior to all the others which were 
made ufe of at that day at the Obfervatory ; and to its greater 
excellence and diftinClnefs you attribute the difference of 26'' 
by which Mr. hitchins faw the internal contaCt before you. 
There feems to be the greater propriety, when comparing the 
American obfervations of that phenomenon with thofe made 
at Greenwich, to take that where the ohferver was peculiarly 
V9L, LXXL U uu aided 
