Chapter 8—The Twenty-Fourth Meridian
The measurement of the base occupied thirty-eight days, from the 6th of March to the 13th of April, and without loss of time the chiefs decided to begin the triangles.
The first operation was to find the southern extremity of the arc, and the same being done at the northern extremity, the difference would give the number of degrees measured.
On the 14th they began to find their latitude. Emery and Zorn had already on the preceding nights taken the altitude of numerous stars, and their work was so accurate that the greatest error was not more than 2”, and even this was probably owing to the refraction caused by the changes in the atmospheric strata.
The latitude thus carefully sought was found to be 27.951789°.
They then found the longitude, and mar
