OBSERVATIONS  AT  KEW.
168
the  right,  I  bisected  it  as  well  as  I  could,  on  account  of  the  fluttering,
index  17“,1.  Hence  star  1’,3  south.  If  any  error,  this  should  be  less.
1726,  Thursday  night,  June  7.
Before  17,0
after  16,4
16,6
mean  of  all  16,6.
At  17h.  47’  58“  Cap.  Drac.  entered,  fluttering  much,  it  touched  the  thread,
but  was  sensibly  to  the  left  hand  near  the  entrance.  When  it  came  to  the
cross  I  thought  it  rather  to  the  right,  but  I  could  not  be  sure.  I  bisected  it
as  well  as  I  could,  and  index  stood  at  17,3.  Hence  the  star  0”,7  south.
1726,  Wednesday  night,  June  8.
This  night  Mr.  Bradley  came  down  and  brought  with  him  the  heavy
plummet,  it  weighs  in  air  8oz.  16dwts.  and  in  water  7oz.  14dwts.  troy
weight.  He  tells  me  Mr.  Graham  finds  206  diameters  of  the  new  plumbline
in  an  inch;  and  that  it  will  bear  140z.  troy  in  air.  Before  we  put  it  on  we
examined  the  instrument  with  the  old  plummet,  as  follows  :
then  we  put  on  the  new  one,  index  0,0
then  we  put  on  the  small  one  again,  and  dropped  a  piece  of  split  quill  down
the  wire,  which  was  about  half  an  inch  long;  it  fell  readily,  so  we  were
secure  there  were  now  no  cobwebs.  Then  with  the  small  plummet  on,
index  16,8
then  put  on  the  large  one,  index  0,2
The  new  plummet  is  longer  settling  than  the  small  one  hitherto  used,  but
to  an  amazing  degree  consistent  and  steadier.  It  vibrates  about  5’.  We