Abstract
M. JANSSEN has been appointed by the Paris Academy of Sciences to represent the French Government in the Congress which is to be held at Washington to determine the choice of the first geographical meridian. It is just to state that the original idea of a universal first meridian belongs to France, and that as far back as 1632 a decree signed by Louis XIII. and proposed by Cardinal Richelieu established a universal meridian on the island of Ferro. This meridian was ultimately abandoned by Cassini to gratify Louis XIV.'s pride, and the Paris one was retained by the Metric Commission in 1793 under the pretence that an are of this meridian had been measured for determining the length of the unit of measure.
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Notes . Nature 30, 517–519 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/030517a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/030517a0