, 1/299th. The results yielded by the oscillation of the
pendulum give, on the whole, a much greater amount of compression, viz.,
1/288th.*
[footnote] *The oscillations of the pendulum give 1/288.7th as the general
result of Sabine's great expedition (1822 and 1823, from the equator to 80
degrees north latitude); according to Freycinet, 1/286.2d, exclusive of the
experiments instituted at the Isle of France, Guam, and Mowi (Mawi);
according to Forster, 1/289.5th; according to Duperrey, 1/266.4th; and
according to Lutke ('Partie Nautique', 1836, p. 232), 1/270th, calculated
from eleven stations. On the other hand, Mathieu ('Connais. des Temps',
1816, p. 330) fixed the amount at 1/298.2d, from observations made between
Formentera and Dunkirk; and Biot, at 1/304th, from observations between
Formentera and the island of Ust. Compare Baily, 'Report on Pendulum
Experiments', in the 'Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society', vol. vii.,
p. 96; also Borenius, in the 'Bulletin de l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg', 1843,
t. i., p. 25. The first proposal to apply the length of the pendulum as a
standard of measure, and to establish the third part of the seconds pendulum
(then supposed to be every where of equal length) as a 'pes horarius', or
general measure, that might be recovered at any age and by all nations, is
to be found in Huygens's 'Horologium Oscillatorium', 1673, Prop.
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