120.879

186.147

The nearest link is taken to be inserted in the Table, and the remaining Decimals are neglected.

In the preceding example the respective sums were found to be exactly equal. This, however, will rarely occur in an extensive survey. If the difference be great, it indicates some mistake, and the survey must be repeated with greater care; but if the difference be small it indicates, not absolute errors, but only inaccuracies, unavoidable in surveys with the compass, and the survey may be accepted.

How great a difference in the sums of the columns may be allowed, as not necessitating a new survey, is a dubious point. Some surveyors would admit a difference of 1 link for every 3 chains in the sum of the courses: others only 1 link for every 10 chains. One writer puts the limit at 5 links for each station; another at 25 links in a survey of 100 acres. But every practical surveyor soon learns how near to an equality his instrument and his skill will enable him to come in ordinary cases, and can therefore establish a standard for himself, by which he can judge whether the difference, in any survey of his own, is probably the result of an error, or only of his customary degree of inaccuracy, two things to be very carefully distinguished.*

(283) Application to supplying omissions. Any two omissions in the Field-notes can be supplied by a proper use of the method of Latitudes and Departures;, as will be explained in Part VII, which treats of "Obstacles to Measurement," under which head this subject most appropriately belongs. But a knowledge of the fact that any two omissions can be supplied, should not lead

* A French writer fixes the allowable difference in chaining at 1-400 of level lines; 1-200 of lines on moderate slopes; 1-100 of lines on steep slopes.

the young surveyor to be negligent in making every possible measurement, since an omission renders it necessary to assume all the notes taken to be correct, the means of testing them no longer existing.

(284) Balancing a Survey. The subsequent applications of this method require the survey to be previously Balanced. This operation consists in correcting the Latitudes and Departures of the courses, so that their sums shall be equal, and thus "balance." This is usually done by distributing the differences of the sums among the courses in proportion to their length; saying, As the sum of the lengths of all the courses Is to the whole difference of the Latitudes, So is the length of each course To the correction of its Latitude. A similar proportion corrects the Departures.*

It is not often necessary to make the exact proportion, as the correction can usually be made, with sufficient accuracy, by noting how much per chain it should be, and correcting accordingly.

In the example given below, the differences have purposely been made considerable. The corrected Latitudes and Departures have been here inserted in four additional columns, but in practice they should be written in red ink over the original Latitudes and Departures, and the latter crossed out with red ink.

29,65 10.00 10.08 10.40 10.27||10.05 10.05 10.33 10.33|

The corrections are made by the following proportions.

* A demonstration of this principle was given by Dr. Bowditch, in No. 4. of

"The Analyst."

This rule is not always to be strictly followed. If one line of a survey has been measured over very uneven and rough ground, or if its bearing has been taken with an indistinct sight, while the other lines have been measured over level and clear ground, it is probable that most of the error has occurred on that line, and the correction should be chiefly made on its Latitude and Departure.

If a slight change of the bearing of a long course will favor the Balancing, it should be so changed, since the compass is much more subject to error than the chain. So, too, if shortening any doubtful line will favor the Balancing, it should be done, since distances are generally measured too long.

(285) Application to Platting. Rule three columns; one for Stations; the next for total Latitudes; and the third for total Departures. Fill the last two columns by beginning at any convenient station (the extreme East or West is best) and adding up (algebraically) the Latitudes of the following stations, noticing that the South Latitudes are subtractive. Do the same for the Departures, observing that the Westerly ones are also subtractive. Taking the example given on page 175, Art. (282), and beginning with Station 1, the following will be the results:

It will be seen that the work proves itself, by the total Latitudes and Departures for Station 1, again coming out equal

to zero.

To use this table, draw a meridian through the point taken for Station 1, as in the figure on the following page. Set off, upward from this, along the meridian, the Latitude, 221 links, to A, and from A, to the right perpendicularly, set off the Departure, 155 links.* This gives the point 2. Join 1....2. From 1 again, set

*This is most easily done with the aid of a right-angled triangle, sliding one of the sides adjacent to the right angle along the blade of the square, to which the other side will then be perpendicular.

The advantages of this method are its rapidity, ease and accuracy; the impossibility of any error in platting any one course affecting the following points; and the certainty of the plat "coming together," if the Latitudes and Departures have been "Balanced."

CHAPTER VI.

CALCULATING THE CONTENT.

(286) Methods. WHEN a field has been platted, by whatever method it may have been surveyed, its content can be obtained from its plat by dividing it up into triangles, and measuring on the plat their bases and perpendiculars; or by any of the other means explained in Part I, Chapter IV.

But these are only approximate methods; their degree of accuracy depending on the largeness of scale of the plat, and the skill of the draftsman. The invaluable method of Latitudes and Departures gives another means, perfectly accurate, and not requiring the previous preparation of a plat. It is sometimes called the Rectangular, or the Pennsylvania, or Rittenhouse's, method of calculation.*

(287) Definitions. Imagine a Meridian line to pass through the extreme East or West corner of a field. According to the definitions established in Chapter V, Art. (278), (and here recapitulated for convenience of reference), the perpendicular distance of each Station from that Meridian, is the Longitude of that Station; additive, or plus, if East; subtractive, or minus, if West. The distance of the middle of any line, such as a side of the field, from the Meridian, is called the Longitude of that side.† The difference of the Longitudes of the two ends of a line is called the Departure of that line. The difference of the Latitudes of the two ends of a line is called the Latitude of the line.

* It is, however, substantially the same as Mr. Thomas Burgh's "Method to determine the areas of right lined figures universally," published nearly a century ago.

The phrase "Meridian Distance," is generally used for what is here called Longitude"; but the analogy of " Differences of Longitude" with "Differences of Latitude," usually but anomalously united with the word "Departure," borrowed from Navigation, seems to put beyond all question the propriety of the innovation here introduced.