a compression of the earth towards the poles. Mean-while, Bouguer and his party were prosecuting a similar work in Peru, under extraordinary difficulties. These were caused, partly by the localities, and partly by the ill-will and indolence of the inhabitants. The place selected for their operations was in an elevated valley between two principal chains of the Andes. The lowest point of their arc was at an elevation of a mile and a half above the level of the sea; and, in some instances, the heights of two neighboring signals differed more than a mile. Encamped upon lofty mountains, they had to struggle against storms, cold, and privations of every description, while the invincible indifference of the Indians, they were forced to employ, was not to be shaken by the fear of punishment or the hope of reward. Yet, by patience and ingenuity, they overcame all obstacles, and executed with great accuracy one of the most important operations, of this nature, ever undertaken. To accomplish this, however, took them nine years; of which, three were occupied in determining the latitudes alone.[5] I have recited the foregoing facts, in order to give you some idea of the unwearied pains which astronomers have taken to ascertain the exact figure of the earth. You will find, indeed, that all their labors are characterized by the same love of accuracy. Years of toilsome watchings, and incredible labor of computation, have been undergone, for the sake of arriving only a few seconds nearer to the truth. The length of a degree of the meridian, as measured in Peru, was less than that before determined in France, and of course less than that of Lapland; so that the spheroidal figure of the earth appeared now to be ascertained by actual measurement. Still, these measures were too few in number, and covered too small a portion of the whole quadrant from the equator to the pole, to enable astronomers to ascertain the exact law of curvature of the meridian, and therefore similar measurements have since been prosecuted with great zeal by different nations, particularly by the French and English. In 1764, two English mathematicians of great eminence, Mason and Dixon, undertook the measurement of an arc in Pennsylvania, extending more than one hundred miles. [Illustration Fig. 12.] [Illustration Fig. 13.]