530 The Account of a 
each of them, for the purpose of denoting the exact points over 
which the centres of the staffs were placed ; therefore the 
angles which we have given, as being the directions of the 
meridians with respect to those points, can be examined with- 
out the trouble of firing lights at Beachy Head and Dunnose. 
There is, however, another method of determining whether 
61182 fathoms be nearly the length of a degree of a great circle 
upon the earth's surface ; this may be done by observing the 
directions of the meridians at Shooter's Hill and Nettlebed, 
whose distance is already determined, being 242731 feet nearly. 
The points marking these stations are not likely to be soon 
removed, and can be found without difficulty. 
SECTION SIXTH. 
Of the Distances of the Stations from the Meridians of Greenwich, 
Beachy Head, and Dunnose ; and also from the Perpendicu - 
lavs to those Meridians. 
art. 1 . 
In operations of this kind, the usual method of obtaining the 
distances of the stations from a first meridian, and from a per- 
pendicular to that meridian, is by drawing parallels to those 
lines through the several stations, and then proceeding in a 
manner similar to that of working a traverse, after the bear- 
ings of the stations, with respect to those parallels, have been 
deduced from the angles of the triangles. This mode of com- 
putation might be considered as accurate, if the surface of the 
earth to the whole extent of the triangles was reduced to a 
flat : and it will not produce very erroneous results, if the series 
