[footnote] *Respecting the augmented intensity of the attraction of
gravitation in volcanic islands (St. Helena, Ualan, Fernando de Noronha,
Isle of France, Guam, Mowe, and Galapagos), Rawak (Lutke, p. 240) being an
exception, probably in consequence of its proximity to the highland of New
Guinea, see Mathieu, in Delambre, 'Hist. de l'Astronomie, au 18me Siecle',
p. 701.
[footnote] **Numerous observations also show great irregularities in the
length of the pendulum in the midst of continents, and which are ascribed to
local attractions. (Delambre, 'Mesure de la Meridienne', t. iii., p. 548;
Biot, in the 'Mem. de l'Academie des Sciences', t. viii., 1829, p. 18 and
23.) In passing over the South of France and Lombardy from west to east, we
find the minimum intensity of gravitation at Bordeaux; from thence it
increases rapidly as we advance eastward, through Figeac, Clermont-Ferrand,
Milan, and Padua; and in the last town we find that the intensity has
attained its maximum. The influence of the southern declivities of the Alps
is not merely t on the general size of their mass, but (much more), in the
opinion of Elie de Beaumont ('Rech. sur les Revol. de la Surface du Globe',
1830, p. 729), on the rocks of melaphyre and serpentine, which have elevated
the chain.
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