EARTH. 
than by admitting less pressure of gravity 
to have caused it. In the revolution of the 
earth, its parts recede from the axis, and 
the equatorial particularly, consequently the 
polar press internally, and raise tlie former, 
till an equilibrium occurs ; hence the form of 
an oblate spheroid, the shorter axis of which 
passes through the poles. Pursuing the 
lights afforded him by nature in a superior 
degree, Newtou calculated the different 
diameters, and found that the equatorial 
exceeds the polar 34 miles and one-fifth. 
This assertion was combated by several 
philosophers on the continent, but it was 
fully confirmed subsequently by the ad- 
measurements and observations of two de- 
putations of mathematicians w'ho visited the 
vicinity of the northern and sou them poles 
in 1733, and agreed in pronouncing them 
flattened, making the difference between 
the diameters as 266 to 263, or as 179 to 
178.Mairy calculations of profound subtlety 
have since been made, but as most of the 
calculators contradict each other, too much 
reliance ought not to be placed on either ; 
those may be found in various publications, 
and particularly in the Philosophical Trans- 
actions, to which brevity compel us to refer 
the very curious reader. 
The magnitude of the earth is subject to 
the same uncertainty as the exact figure of 
it; but repeated endeavours have been 
made to ascertain it with some degree of 
precision. According to Diogenes Laer- 
tius, Anaximander was the first who at- 
tempted this difficult task ; it may be sup- 
posed with no great success, as he lived 530 
years before the Christian sera, though his 
result was adopted till the period when 
Erastostlienes flourished. Aristotle, in 
speaking of this subject says, mathemati- 
cians make the circuit of the earth 40,000 
stadia, probably including the measurement 
of Anaximander. Certain Arabian philoso- 
phers, by the command of their monarch 
Almaimon, afterwards proceeded to the 
plains of Mesopotamia, where they went 
through the process then best known, and 
found that the circumference of the globe 
was from 20,160 to 20,340 miles. 
Professor Snell, of Leyden, measured 
considerable distances between the paral- 
lels about 1620, and thus found one degree 
amounted to 19 Dutch miles, and the whole 
circumference to 6,840 miles. 
Richard Norwood measured the space* 
between London and York with a chain, 
fifteen years afterwards, and on the 11th 
«f June, 1635, old style, he took the sun’s 
altitude at the meridian, with a sextant of 
five feet radius, and found a degree of 69 
miles, one half, and 14 poles, whence he in- 
ferred that the diameter of the earth is 
about 7,966 miles, and the circuit 25,036 
miles. This measurement, though far su- 
perior to those of the ancients, was tried 
by several French mathematicians, who sus- 
pected some slight errors, by the King’s 
command, with a quadrant of 31 feet radius, 
French measure, when they ascertained a 
degree consisted of 542,360 feet. M. Cas- 
sini, jun. acting under the same authority, 
used a quadr ant of 30 feet radius, in 1700, 
with which he obtained the latitude, and 
one of 31 feet for taking the angles of the 
triangles, by which experiment he found 
the degree to be nearly 69i English miles. 
Fi'om these and other attempts of a simi- 
lar nature, to obtain the length of one de- 
gree of the meridian which is to be multi- 
plied by 360, the following mean is gene- 
rally adopted. 
The earth’s circumference, 25,000 miles. 
The diataeter, 7,957|. 
The superficies, 198,944,206 square mites. 
The solidity, 26,393,000,000 cubic miles. 
It is conjectured, besides from the mea- 
surement of the most approved maps, that 
the unexplored portions of the earth and 
seas contain 160,522,026 square miles, the 
inhabited part of the former 38,922,180, 
thus divided, Europe 4,456,065, Asia 
10,768,823, Africa 9,654,807, and America 
14,110,874. 
The attentive and skilful observer of the 
works of nature, whether when employed in 
examining the most wretched or the most sub- 
lime, will find that judgment and infinite wis- 
dom and ingenuity has equally prevailed 
throughout. Can it then be supposed for a 
moment, that the internal parts of the earth 
we inhabit, has received less attention 
from the Creator, than those objects which 
are under our immediate and unimpeded 
inspection? Were it possible to entertain a 
thought so erroneous, we possess strong 
proofs to the contrary, which convince us 
that order and regularity reign beneath us 
in tlie same degree as around us. Before 
the industry, or, more properly speaking, 
the avarice of man, had led him to pene- 
trate as far as his limited powers will per- 
mit towards the centre, he had but few op- 
portunities of ascertaining, and that only 
from analogy, how the different strata of 
the earth was disposed, and connected or 
held together by the vast masses of stone, 
which may be called the bones of this vast 
