The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-03-07 00:00:00

V.

wai a mechanical, the other a scientific 'node of or-
riving at the same conclusion. In 17ti-1, a Mr.
Meyer published tables so extremely useful, awe
brought to such a degree of arcuracy, that Puha-
inent, though no particular rewind had been pro-
mised for.this species of invention, thonclit proper
to.directil;oooi. to be paid to him. though lie Vim-
self did not live to enjoy
.their Idwiality. By the
means of those tables, and of the iiniirwit-tt
meters, the longitude was now found, within a
fraction. lye famed, by some of the log.boiiks cf
hie ftisjevy's ihips, that ail extraordinary degree of
correctness had been arrived at. , The lig
kind by a chronometer, was discovered to ia::;
very little from the real loagi:iiile, if lie ”it;;Ilt
allows, .to use that popular expression, since, in-
deed, there was no real longitude. Suppose, for
instance, the true longitude of St. lirleiii, oat
5. deg. 4 min. 30 sec.--Cird. Martin carried it opt
. 5 dug. 3i min. 31.1 see. Capt. Haywood 5 dev. Jo
Hilo. its Majesty's Alp Beiceplialus agreed ex.
actly with-the true lime, 5 deg. 43 min. 30 sec.—
thriag a poetical expression—
'' So wide is art, se narrow haulms v;rw,"
-• !night Lay, thiltioo long despaired of object
of scieutilic.repearc the was now dis-
, erivered.. Within so small is fraction lead the coin-
putationsbeen u-
carried, that for practical mu-poses it
was discovered. Still met:bifocal instruments were •
liable to decay--and to improve the lunar method,
was still a great subject fur legislation. What had
been already dune shrived the treat utility of
offering rewards. The ',lngres' prius.
cipally owing to the exertions of this cnunir),
and the suggestiona of the immortal Newton.--
ur so Muth had been done, wliut was the object
his itiotioti, it might be asked ? IPaiit.iritrnde,l by
'it to throw a reflection on the present member. s
the Board or Longitude ? Certainly it was very E:r
from his intrritioli to reflect on such well-kilowii
respectable

twines as that of Vince owl his coadju-
tors ; they were too well known in the 5t.i..,..,:f...:
'world to' be tirketed by any obiervais.ai °lbis, were
lie-inclined to. detract - their merits. But it
would be ellsove that it was not right that the
inierd should not contain a single scientific mew her
'twitter din the Universities. His irstettlion wits to
'lelistre•the ptescot mentbere on the establishment, awl
to add lik more; to-riiiive, in fact, the original Act;
'to ;told inen who; residing iti or mar the metropolis.,
atight •give respectable and efficacious support to
;the views with winch the Board was framed. IVlsett
1. his object was considered, that it was to proutiiiii
"tisw ettdrof its formation—to coact strength emit
*entity an its operations—to consolidate!! the rite'
'Winning to the principal end for which the nerd
e.
.;arse constitutedit could nut be supposed Witneint
the smallest imputation on its. existing mi;nilwria.
It could tint be looked upon .as present:lntuit to
Ngitete a 'abject nut discussed its Parliament fur
near a hundred years. Dr. Mit-kelyot, in the
;year 1767; .cotonienetrol the Nuutied Abannart..
'Through the whole of his life it was urigurted with
reat aeturaey, stud the entire applubation of all
derested in (lie putArciitirm. But lie hail luelcat
Idsrottgli it Loeb., and was sorry to sat . that fault-
.less as it bad Leen, it did wit of late maintain its
character. la the work for the present year thrift
'were nn less thati.eighteen errors reirtiiiqr„ to the
places of the suit aticl moult, and the co.anptitatiniiv
in at flying sheet at the rad of the work, unit lii ot
eetaituf edition of the same no les. titan fully. lie
would not olo.his duty, or met its u way bow 'g of
.hintsell, not to tame that The.Nutif led .4 linunitel
wan now a bye mord among literary men. Ile-
Ironld state a curious fact on the subject he haul
lately read in the "tiew4taperr...- A Captain of a
Trawl, b Ito the West [tubes.. thought, for the
lake of curiosity, to try the table:. leaving Chatham.
lira short time lie found himself in a longitud.e,
itrtri hy the tables which he certainly thought
could not be true ; fortunately he made Pelts-
inoutit—weist to a maker and vender of the alma..
lucks, who told titan it was only a typograpluert
oirefr, and corrected it by a stroke of his pen, sierid-
lug lam out to the West Indies with' the alumna( is
tuld'all its mistakel. The truth was; the'errors
were typogrophicul, not scientitie. Be ineutioned
this to-exculpate the literary men connected onto
theWiirk.' They were professional men. having miler
v ,
importaut *vocations; and ti could not to be expect-
. ad that they could either make the computation.,
or eximitte them' The method pursued wit.,
the Astronomer firiyal inade the observant:m.-
Ikt furnitlied them to persons called computers, who.
performed the operation imported by heir mime—
and the computations then passed throttles the
hands of a man called a comparer. Pt is this last
individual' who ought to be responsible fur what-
ever imperfections Anigin be found in the alma-
neck. But be was a person not recognised -by
the Acts—his office wits not legally ktiowii. !letters
it lbllostetc diet errors aboonded in whist oirg;it
to be eSpechiltt. antsibeit off. other prodioctimis;
void of errdr." What lie liad stated shrived the
absolute 'necessity • that. a pereon should be, se.
(acted mid paid by authority of Parlininent, to
superintead the composition of the work alluded
to. • Another topic he washed to advert to. ' 'flit
partite,betweeu the Pacific and Atlantic Oceurts.
snit* 'the reign. of' t;ei.o. 11. had been a c nisi-
(*able object of reee.ttreh with all the wo -Id; but
particularly commercial men. To stimuls.e to Iles
discovery, 20,000/. had been vested by Act of Par.
•liattietst as a reward also in the Board of Longi-
tude. He need Aot 'telt the ' flOuie this had never
beets claimed. Another object of treat curiosity
roil:, iutresttgatiou was the approach to the North
Pole. This too had engaged the attention silt
labours of Parliament. It kid bean itet forth in tt:c
Act 30th 'of Cleo.. 111. that "where** whalers had
opportunities of ifigiroeching the North Poole, it was
provided'that Whinevet; Captain of a whaler should
approach within 10 degrees of it should be eutilled
to a reward of 10,0001.; but the Legislature had beet.
inconsistent, for another Act on theft subject utterly
opposed' Mid 'prevented the benefit held out by the
drat froM being pursued or chinned. The Act apt.
cifyilig the oath to be taken by the Captain of eve; y
whaler going out, regoited him to sweet-lion in It.,
app.:ouch to the North Pole fie Avoir:ct be Ito u.ittii he
no other motive or prospect of advantage but the h .
Wrests of the owners. 'ibis enactment was obviously
at variance with the offer of a reward. To recoeCde
the two Acts, and Make an exception iii the oath iii
favour of the rewind propottedby Patti .111111.!Illt, Wag
~of the views 'of the Bill. It remained to state
opt object more. It was proposed to add to the
Board three scientific peesons residing in or near to