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ART. III. Particulars relating to the Operations of the Year 1798.

The object first attained this year, consisted in a trigonometrical survey of the counties adjacent to the northern and southern shores of the Thames.

In the last communication it will be seen, that the survey of Kent had been carried on from the sea-coast, till it reached the range which runs eastward from Wrotham through Hollingbourn, and there terminated. The country to the northward could not be surveyed, because the view from General Roy's station at Wrotham is almost entirely cut off, in that direction, In order, therefore, to obtain a base for the purpose, when the party arrived at Wrotham, a new station was chosen, to the eastward of the former one, and the distance between them accurately measured; by which means, together with the included angle at the old station, and the distance of it from Severndroog Tower, on Shooter's Hill, a new distance was found, which became a base for the survey proposed.

The chief draftsmen and surveyors belonging to the Drawingroom in the Tower, attended our operations in this county, and also those afterwards carried on in Essex. It was, indeed, for their immediate service, that we renewed the survey in this quarter, as the Master-General had given directions to prepare ample materials for completing the map which meets the public eye with this article.

The stations in Kent, besides that of Wrotham, were Gravesend, Gad's Hill, and the Isle of Sheppey; those in Essex were Hadleigh, South End, and Prittlewell. Observations made from these places afforded data for the proposed survey: after they were completed, the small circular instrument supplied the

place of the great one, and was used, with good effect, in carrying on the subsequent operations in this quarter.

In our Paper published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1795, an observation is made, of the necessity then existing for the measurement of a base on Salisbury Plain, in consequence of resolutions taken to inclose Sedgemoor: an act for which purpose was passed a few years ago, and partly carried into execution in 1797. At this time, however, King's Sedgemoor was only set out into parochial allotments, as exhibited in Plate XXVIII. accompanying this Account. The ditches, represented by lines on this plan, were generally ten feet broad, and five feet deep; but the principal and secondary drains were much wider, the first being thirty, and the last twenty-five, feet in breadth. The subdivisions on the Moor, or the individual allotments of it, were not traced out in the Somerton quarter, at this time, the task being deferred till the latter part of the following year. The measurement, therefore, of this base, in an early part of the season, became necessary, because fewer obstacles were then expected to present themselves.

As it appeared that many instances would probably occur, in which a chain of 50 feet in length would be useful, if not absolutely necessary, one was provided by Mr. RAMSDEN, in the winter; its make and form being precisely similar to those of the larger chains, used in the measurement of our former bases. Such a chain did, indeed, prove highly serviceable in the subsequent operation; as the handles of the 100-feet chain would very often have had their places in ditches, or been so situated on their banks, as to leave imperfect means of correctly placing the register heads under the handles.

The apparatus for the measurement, consisting of the tressels

belonging to the Royal Society, pickets, iron heads, and a new set of coffers, were sent to Somerton, after Mr. GARDNER had been furnished with the means of proceeding with the survey before spoken of.

The measurement was begun in July, and finished in August; in the course of which, very little interruption arose from any inclemency of weather. It is unnecessary to enter minutely into a description of the difficulties which arose from the frequent intervention of ditches; let it suffice to observe, that, possessed of the 50-feet chain, these were rendered less material than they would otherwise have been.

When we arrived at that point which ends with the 114th chain, an offset was taken, and 19 chains measured, in a direction perfectly parallel to that of the base, at the extremity of which we returned into the base itself, and continued the measurement. This interruption proceeded from an accidental and unforeseen circumstance; a great ditch having been excavated in a direction coincident with that of the base, while the measurement was going on at the upper end of it. This, however, cannot be the means of introducing any sensible inaccuracy; for, to proceed in this matter correctly, when it became necessary to take an offset, a silver wire was let fall from the register head, having a plummet, under the point of which a small dot was made, on a stake driven firmly into the ground. The great theodolite was then placed over the stake, and the instrument accurately adjusted over the dot. A diaphragm, whose aperture was an inch, was then put over the object-glass of the transit telescope, which was afterwards directed towards the staff at Lugshorn Corner, and then moved round, till it exactly made a right angle with the base. The telescope being sufficiently

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depressed, a peg was driven into the ground, with its centre nearly under the cross wires; after which, a pin was moved on the surface of the peg, as directed by a person looking through the telescope, till it came to that point at which it bisected the angle formed by the cross wires. The measurement was then carried on, in this new direction, a space of 19 chains, at the end of which, the same operations were repeated, and the old direction pursued. It does not seem probable, that an error amounting to more than of an inch, can have resulted from this procedure.

King's Sedgemoor being sufficiently level, the base was measured horizontally; an advantageous circumstance; but, from the soft texture of the soil, the pickets could not be driven into the ground so firmly as to be without some small degree of motion, in case a person stood close to them. Therefore, those who attended the handles of the chains, either used long stools, or placed themselves so as to divide the pressure arising from the weights of their bodies equally on each side of the pickets. The disturbances to which the register-heads were liable, did not discover themselves till a mile of the base had been measured; and, although it became probable that small errors only had resulted from the want of those precautions we afterwards followed, yet we considered what we had done as erroneous, and recommenced the measurement, with the advantage of experience. At present, I shall content myself with observing, that due attention was paid to all necessary minutiæ in this measurement, and refer those who are desirous of being more particularly informed, to the Philosophical Transactions for 1795, as the mode of proceeding on the present occasion was perfectly similar to that on Hounslow Heath.

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