Page:A short history of astronomy(1898).djvu/341

§ 221] latitudes differing by 10°; so that two consecutive verticals are inclined in every case at an angle of 10°.

If, as in fig. 78, the shape of the earth is drawn in accordance with Newton's views, the figure shews at once that the arcs, etc., each of which corresponds to 10° of latitude, steadily increase as we pass from a point on the equator to the pole. If the opposite hypothesis be

adopted, which will be illustrated by the same figure if we now regard as the pole and  as a point on the equator, then the successive arcs decrease as we pass from equator to pole. A comparison of the measurements made by Eratosthenes in Egypt (chapter, § 36) with some made in Europe (chapter , § 159) seemed to indicate that a degree of the meridian near the equator was longer than one in higher latitudes; and a similar conclusion was indicated by a comparison of different portions of an extensive