Dr. Charles Hutton on the mean density of the earth. 277 
The other experiment, by Mr. Cavendish, was by observing 
the attraction on small pendulous balls, of two inches di- 
ameter, by larger ones of ten inches diameter, as compared 
with the attraction of the earth on the same. 
By some strange mistake, or perversion, for many years, 
it was customary among certain persons, to withhold the 
mention of my name, with regard to the great share that I 
had in the experiment on Schehallien. But from certain com- 
plaints which I have made, some little justice has lately been 
awarded to me on that head ; though still, it would seem, 
with reluctance, as the opinion is promptly assumed that the 
latter small experiment is susceptible of the greater accuracy, 
and the numbers in its result gratuitously adopted as nearer 
the truth than that of the former. As this is an opinion 
which I have never been able to bring my mind to acknow- 
ledge, and as it is a matter of great importance in the present 
state of physics, I have been desirous to draw the attention 
of philosophers to a closer consideration of the subject, with 
a view to a more deliberate and impartial decision of this 
point. 
From the closest and most scrupulous attention I can em- 
ploy on this question, the preference, in point of accuracy, 
appears to be decidedly in favour of the large or mountain 
experiment, over that of the small balls. It is indeed true, 
that though the large mass of the mountain must yield an 
immensely greater force than a small ball, yet it may be 
said that this advantage must be balanced, either wholly or 
in great part, on the score of distance, as the plummet is 
acted on at a great distance from the centre of the mountain, 
while the balls are approached very near together ; so that 
