345 
Measurement of three Degrees of the Meridian . 
Moreover it does not follow that the latitudes of two places 
are correct, because the declinations of the stars deduced from 
them correspond ; for the deviations caused by local attrac- 
tions, or from any other source, are made to disappear in cor- 
recting the declination, but remain uncorrected in the latitude 
of each. 
Lieut.Col. Mudge is also of opinion, that the irregularity in the 
value of his degree may be ascribed to deviation of the plumb- 
line, occasioned by local attractions. This is certainly very 
possible, and may be decided by an examination of all circum- 
stances on the spot. But if there be really an error of 1" in 
the extent of the whole arc, this should rather be ascribed to 
some defect in the observations themselves, than to any ex- 
traneous source ; for the observations of different stars give 
results that differ more than 4 seconds from each other., 
I shall now conclude this Memoir, by expressing a wish, 
which men of science in England have it more in their power 
than any others to gratify ; I mean by making new measure- 
ments in the southern hemisphere. Those which have been 
made hitherto in the northern hemisphere are extremely sa- 
tisfactory by their agreement, and give us great reason to 
presume that the general level of the earth’s surface is ellip- 
tical, and very regularly so; and hence we might expect the 
opposite hemisphere to be equally so, and to be a portion of 
the same curve. Nevertheless the degree measured at the 
Cape of Good Hope by Lacaille, in latitude 33° 18' appears 
to indicate an ellipse of less eccentricity, or of greater axis; 
for the linear extent of 57037 toises, corresponds to the mea- 
sure of a degree in latitude 47® 47' in the northern hemisphere*. 
If now we calculate the arc as before, with an oblateness of 
