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584 [Doc. 200.
SWEDENBORG AS A MAN OF SCIENCE.
F.
SWEDENBORG’S REPLY TO MAGISTER HIORTER’S CRITICISMS.*
1. It is quite true that I used the full latitude instead of
its complement, but then I made an addition in the 14th, and
a subtraction in the 22nd operation ; when yet in those com
putations where I use the complement of the latitude, a sub
traction is demanded in the 14th, and an addition in the 22nd
operation.
It follows thence that after having taken the full latitude
once, and not its complement, I was compelled to do so con
stantly; it was therefore quite unnecessary to amplify one ob
servation into seven or nine, and to fill therewith a whole
sheet, which yet has been done.
At the outset when I took the computations for my printed
work in hand, I found that they had to be instituted in
this manner upon approaching the north and south poles after
1720 ; yet I was under no obligation to inform the public
about this. No other change has been introduced.
2. With regard to my having assumed the latitude of Upsal
to be 59° 50’, and not 59° 52’, I leave it to others to decide
which of these agrees most with the fact; yet as this does
not cause quite one minute’s difference in the result, it ought
not to have been dwelt upon so much.
3. With regard to the longitude, I stated in the
in the paper which
was first presented, that I received my information from the
celebrated astronomer Flamsteed, when he compared two ob
servations of a lunar eclipse taken by the late Professor
Elfvius with his own.
4. The cause of my having introduced into the 16th opera
tion a wrong complement of the co-tangent, viz. 9.79435, in
stead of 9.76435, is due to an error in Vlacken’s tables; but
there does not arise from this so large a mistake as is pre
tended, viz. 8° 38’ instead of 33° 40’, when yet it produces
* Read before the Academy of Sciences on Feb. 1, 1741.
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