DEGREE of Longitude. See LONGITUDE.
A degree of the meridian on the surface of the globe has been variously determined by different observers. M. Picart measured a degree in the latitude of 49. 21., and found it equal to 57,060 French toises. But the French mathematicians who examined Picart's operations found, that the degree in that latitude is 57,183 toises. Mr Norwood measured the distance between London and York, and found it 905,751 English feet; and finding the difference of latitudes 2. 28., determined the quantity of one degree to be 367,196 English feet, or 69 English miles and 288 yards. Maupertuis measured a degree in Lapland, in the latitude of 66. 20., and found it 57,438 toises. A degree was measured at the equator by other French mathematicians, and found to contain 56,767.8 toises. From these measurements it appears that the earth is not a sphere, but an oblate spheroid.