word occurs reſpecting the calculation of Ariſtotle, who, I believe, however great in other inftanoes, had not much ſkill in aſtronomy. Dr. Long laments "that the Babylonia Obſervations, a treaſure almoſt ineſtimable, and which he neither knew how to make uſe of himſelf, nor ſo much of their value as to induce him to uſe the neceſſary means for their preſervation, for the uſe of thoſe who did, had not fallen into the hands of Eudoxus, rather than into thoſe of Ariſtotle."
There is then neither proof nor preſumption that Eratoſthenes accommodated his calculation to that of Ariſtotle; or that the itinerary ſtadium was leſs in the time of Ariſiotle than it was in that of Eratoſthenes [1]. But I fear we can place no gneat confidence either in the obſervations or in the meaſurements of Eratoſthenes. He thought that Alexandria and Syene lay under the ſame meridian; whereas they are found to differ by a ſpace equal to 100 minutes of latitude, equal nearly to 115% Engliſh miles, Alexandria being ſo much to the weſt of Syene. The difference of latitude is about 7° 20′; ſo that the real diſtance between the two places is about 521 Engliſh miles, equal nearly to 4552 Olympic ſtadia.
This falls ſhort of Eratoſthenes's calculation' by 448 ſtadia, equal to 51 Engliſh miles: but we mutt conſider that the diſtance laid down by Eratoſthenes is the one found by meaſurement, which muſt exceed the difference of latitude, ſince the meaſurers
- ↑ Eastothenes lived about 123 years after Ariſtotle.
