Mr Harvey on the Method of Minimum Squares, 3Q1 
E‘=: 0.001554 + €(4.912) 
E“ = 0.000391 + € (2.720) 
E“* = — 0.001612 + € (0.048) 
— 0.000663— € (2.914) 
== 0.0003^3— € (4.765) 
^tnd we shall have for the equation of the minimum^ 
0 = 0.009010 + €(62.726), 
from which results € = • — 0.0001436 * ; and hence the 
45th degree = 28500 (! — €)= 28504.09; 
which sufficiently accords with the adopted determination ; but 
then the errors E^, E**, &c. expressed in seconds, become , 
E*=3''06,E^*=0"00, E“'=— 5"83, E'''=— 0"88, E^=3"62. 
These errors are greater than they were in the case of the abso- 
lute minimum; the greatest of them falls on the latitude of 
Evaux, and the least, which is zero, on that of the Pantheon. ; 
Finally, the anomalies in the latitudes, which undoubtedly 
ought not to be attributed to the observations, depend probably 
on the local attractions which act so irregularly on the plumb- 
line. A defect of homogeneity in the strata near the point where 
the latitude is observed, is sufficient to occasion it ; and th^ 
same circumstance which causes the apparent zenith to approach 
the south or the north, may also cause it to deviate some seconds 
towards the west, which explains the inequalities we have also 
observed in the azimuths. 
From the anomalies it results, that the length of the arcs of 
the meridian is less proper for the determination of an univeiv 
sal measure than that of the pendulum ; and it is not surprising 
that some observers, in other , respects very exact, have not 
agreed in the measures they have taken of the degrees of the 
meridian ; since, in consequence of local attractions, the lati^ 
tildes of two places equally distant from the equator, may differ 
from each other by several seconds. 
Plymouth, > 
29^^ July 1822. j 
* I find for the equation of the ngiinimum 0 = 0.009014?, and € = — 0.000 J4?37 ; 
jjtlsp the error E* = 3".05, and 3".63. H. 
