New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-09-14
WEIGHING THE EARTH.
ny PROFESSOR RICHARD A. PROCTOR

on rus rAHtu's CRusr NOTICED ON THE IA
ctrtC COAST.
Whatever opinion may be formed In Europe re-
rectig Mr. iogans statement that Amerloa-oi
all countries Ia the world-mght with least loHH oe
incloscd within u wall and left 60 her own Immense
and varied resources for nil tho n"ce'sarlcn ana
,nost of the uxuros of life It is certain that Euro
mean men Of science cannot but envy their Ameri'
can fcllow-workcra the wide range of obseryauonal
resources which they possess, In astronomy, ia
geology, and above all in meteoroogy, the United
States has immense advantages over every nation
i'm Europe and In the oneness of laws and IAN
guage this country has an advantage over Europe
as whole. | was particularly struck by tins clr-
cumstance in considering recently some evidence
communicated to me by Professor Davidson, OF the
United States Gcodetical Survey IN California III
large portions of the Eastern and Middle states the
observing conditions for astronomical survey are
the same 80 far rs they depend on the structure
of the carth's crust, as those eNlStua
IN Great Britain and Europe. But IN California
there Is a region where the earth's crust has been
disturbed by forces so sturcndous that theN may
be regarded rs cosrlcal. The great range of the
Rocky Mountains with the singular contrast OF
inclination ON their eastern and western Hanks
led up To ON the one side by slope 40 gradual thdt
over large portion of the approach to the range
isscarcely noticeable and.on the other side 10y one
SCALE on the earth-tclls us of forces of uphcaval
and contraction unmatched probably save IN the
Himalayas and Andes
Ii was natural to EXPECT that in such n region
Astronomical observations would be pursued under
difficulties. II we consider the way in which the
mass of hearth was estimated by Maskeyne I'm the
weil-kn0wn Schehalien experiments II Will be
inferred that in the ncighborhool Of SO mighty
range as the Rocky Mountains, with the
do III. Ia a
which would elsewhere be regarded as a
range of mountains. but beside the Rookie,
seem merely as hills. strangely marked deyiatons IN
the direction of gravity would he caused ~ the
attractions of the great masses forming these
mountains. The deviatols would always he d.
rected one would suppose. toward the mountain
mass so that east of the Rocky Mountains the de
Walton would he westward, while west of that
rince it would he eastward In the Schehaliien
experiment., not only had this been noticed. but the
amount of the dev alton had been such that when
combined with a consideration ofthc mean
density of the mountain 70 had led TO a determine
ton of the carths mean density consistent with the
anticipation, of Newton and subsequently con-
filmed by the independent and thor ughr trust
worthy labors of Cavendish, Reich aud Bailv
Bur il now appears that this apparently successful
solution of the problem Of we CHING Tine earth can
be regarded only as q happy accident
sCurHsIuTN IMPLEMENTS.
.-.iud,,o,io,s of l,.ol cho,,.s I'M tl,o dirortion
-. ,n, lit, l,t s,,llt,tbo ,str,,r,,,.r
o. go ~" ,,.,., e.. +,.,....i.,s 49,,
my 'i 49,, ...i...,,,,,, ..r
lI.,' ,,,,.,,. Inc ,..,i, ,.,,,,, ,I1 b.,
49,. ,n.......i..,r,,, ir,L.r. had t.., ,,ouu-
tain mass. if the mean density of Schchnlhcu wore
thatof thc whole earth the plumb lines would hc
i,'i' | 49, i..,,...l -,l..,....,I. ,,
l'' "'', ''''' .l
' n .r,I 49,
''N 2 .'''ri, ,'. .i'.