Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late president of the American Philosophical Society, &c. : $b interspersed with various notices of many distinguished men : with an appendix, containing sundry philosophical and other papers, most of which have not hitherto been publishedBarton, William
History
Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late president of the American Philosophical Society, &c. : $b interspersed with various notices of many distinguished men : with an appendix, containing sundry philosophical and other papers, most of which have not hitherto been published
In the year 1714, the parliament of Great Britain offered a reward for
a like discovery; and if the method, to be proposed, should determine
the longitude to twenty geographical miles, the premium was to be
twenty-thousand pounds sterling. The act of parliament established a
board of Commissioners of the Longitude. Several other acts were
passed, in the reigns of Geo. II. and III. directed to the same
purpose. Finally, in the year 1774, all those acts were repealed, by
one offering separate premiums for finding the longitude; either by
the lunar method, or by a watch keeping true time,—or by any other
method practicable at sea. This act proposes as a reward for a
time-keeper, 5000_l._, if it determine the longitude to one degree or
sixty geographical miles,—7500_l._, if to forty miles,—and 10,000_l._,
if to thirty miles. If the method be by improved Solar and Lunar
Tables, constructed upon Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation, the
author is to receive 5000_l._; provided such Tables shall show the
distance of the Moon from the Sun and Stars within fifteen seconds of
a degree, answering to about seven minutes of longitude, after making
an allowance of a half a degree for the errors of observation. The
Commissioners have the power of giving smaller rewards, at their
discretion, to persons making any discovery for finding the longitude
at sea, though it may not be within the above limits.
The set of Solar and Lunar Tables which were sent to the Board of
Longitude, about the year 1763, by the widow of the celebrated
astronomer, Tobias Mayer, were honoured with a reward of 3000_l._
sterling, by an act of the British parliament, in consideration of
their great usefulness in finding the longitude at sea.
Footnote 87:
See Mr. de Zach’s great work, entitled, _Tabulæ Motuum Solis novæ et
correctæ_, &c.
Footnote 88:
For the use of such readers as may not be acquainted with the Latin
language, the following translation of the above is given, from the
original of Mr. de Zach.
“Concerning the means of determining the longitude, this is not the
proper place to treat: of one, however, the marine or nautical
time-keeper, it will not be foreign to our purpose to say something.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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