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384 TRAVELS
« effe& of their united attra@ions: but this even mutt have been
“ yery infenfible; fince, according to the higheft eftimate admif=
* fible, the fum of all the mountains from which any effec might
«« be fufpected, cannot be greater than a cubic league. Now this
*« mafs being fuppofed of a denfity double the mean denfity of the
“ earth, and its center of attraCtion at five leagues diftance from
“ Kittifvaza, and ten from Tornea, could not produce on the
‘* plumb-line a greater deviation than 0’.3438 at Kittifvaza, and
«0.0369 at Tornea; whence it follows, that the total effe@ of
*« this alteration could have been only 0’.4298, and confequently
** the correction which ought to be made in the length of a de-
** gree of the meridian, fuch as has been meafured by the French
** academicians, would be only 6’.3575 to be added inftead of a
*¢ hundred toifes, which it has been fuppofed ought to be deducted.
** T believe, then, I may affirm, that on my part there can be no
*¢ fufpicion of an error as to this fubject, and that there 1s truly
«* {ome error in the meafurement of 1736: the caufe of this may
“be fairly attributed to a defect in the fextant or quadrant, or
«€ perhaps, which is no lefs probable, to fome uncertainty in the
«‘ bafe. Upon the whole, in order to fettle all thofe doubtful
‘* circumftances, it feems abfolutcly neceflary that this meafure-
« ment fhould be wholly executed anew.”
*¢ To all this, give me leave to add one remark, which I had
“¢ occafion to make at Tornea, and which, I imagine, well merits
me the attention of the learned.
«* We’know that the French aftronomers determined, at each
‘ {tation,
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