CAIMACAN, ments; and in this way he discovered a new secret of nature, namely, that the radii of the parallels in south latitude are not the same as those of the corresponding parallels in north latitude. About the twenty-third degree of south latitude he found a degree on the meridian to contain 342,222 Paris feet. He returned to Paris on the 27th of September 1754, having, in his almost four years' absence, expended no more than 9144 livres on himself and his companion; and at his coming into port he refused a bribe of 100,000 livres, offered by one who thirsted less after glory than gain, to share his immunity from custom-house searches.
After receiving the congratulatory visits of his more intimate friends and of the astronomers, he first of all employed himself in drawing up a reply to some strictures which Professor Euler had published relative to the meridian; and then he settled the results of the comparison of his own with the observations of other astronomers for the parallaxes. That of the sun he fixed at 9½", that of the moon at 56' 56", that of Mars in his opposition at 36", that of Venus at 38". He also settled the laws by which astronomical refractions are varied in consequence of the different density or rarity of the air, owing to heat or cold and dryness or moisture. And, lastly, he showed an easy, and by common navigators practicable, method of finding the longitude at sea by means of the moon; which he illustrated by examples selected from his own observations during his voyages. His fame being now established upon a firm basis, the most celebrated academies of Europe claimed him as their own; and he was unanimously elected a member of the Royal Society at London, of the Institute of Bologna, of the Imperial Academy at Petersburg, and of the Royal Academies of Berlin, Stockholm, and Göttingen. In the year 1760, M. de la Caille was attacked with a severe fit of the gout, which, however, did not interrupt the course of his studies; for he then planned out a new and immense work, which was no less than the history of astronomy through all ages, with a comparison of the ancient and modern observations, and the construction and use of the instruments employed in making them. In order to pursue the task he had imposed upon himself in a suitable retirement, he obtained a grant of apartments in the royal palace of Vincennes; and whilst his astronomical apparatus was erecting there, he began printing his Catalogue of the Southern Stars, and the third volume of his Ephemerides. But towards the end of the year 1763, the state of his health became greatly reduced. His blood grew inflamed; he had pains of the head, obstructions of the kidneys, and loss of appetite, with a plethoric oppression on the whole system. His mind remained unaffected, and he resolutely persisted in his studies as usual. In the month of March medicines were administered to him, which rather aggravated than alleviated his symptoms; and he was now sensible, that the same distemper which in Africa, ten years before, had yielded to a few simple remedies, would in his native country bid defiance to the best physicians. This induced him to settle his affairs; his manuscripts he committed to the care and discretion of his esteemed friend M. Maraldi. It was at last determined that a vein should be opened; but this brought on an obstinate lethargy, of which he died, at the age of forty-nine.