Page:Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea Translated.djvu/189

Rh word occurs repecting the calculation of Aritotle, who, I believe, however great in other inftanoes, had not much kill in atronomy. Dr. Long laments "that the Babylonia Obervations, a treaure almot inetimable, and which he neither knew how to make ue of himelf, nor o much of their value as to induce him to ue the neceary means for their preervation, for the ue of thoe who did, had not fallen into the hands of Eudoxus, rather than into thoe of Aritotle."

There is then neither proof nor preumption that Eratothenes accommodated his calculation to that of Aritotle; or that the itinerary tadium was les in the time of Ariiotle than it was in that of Eratothenes. But I fear we can place no gneat confidence either in the obervations or in the meaurements of Eratothenes. He thought that Alexandria and Syene lay under the ame meridian; whereas they are found to differ by a pace equal to 100 minutes of latitude, equal nearly to 115% Englih miles, Alexandria being o much to the wet of Syene. The difference of latitude is about 7° 20′; o that the real ditance between the two places is about 521 Englih miles, equal nearly to 4552 Olympic tadia.

This falls hort of Eratothenes's calculation' by 448 tadia, equal to 51 Englih miles: but we mutt conider that the ditance laid down by Eratothenes is the one found by meaurement, which mut exceed the difference of latitude, ince the meaurers did