I saw at once that there was a signal
difference in the two indications, and proceeded carefully to revise
the earth-measurements. On the average of thirteen measures the halo
was about 87", or nearly 1-1/2' in breadth, the disc, allowing for the
twilight round its edge or limb, about 2 deg. 50'. If the refracting
atmosphere were some 65 miles in depth, these proportions were
correct. Relighting the lamp, I worked out severally on paper the
results indicated by the two instruments. The discometer gave a
distance, roughly speaking, of 40 terrestrial radii, or 160,000 miles.
The barycrite should have shown a gravity, due to the Earth's
attraction, not 40 but 1600 times less than that prevailing on the
Earth's surface; or, to put it in a less accurate form, a weight of
100 lbs. should have weighed an ounce. It did weigh two ounces, the
gravity being not one 1600th but one 800th of terrestrial gravity, or
just double what, I expected. I puzzled myself over this matter
longer, probably, than the intelligent reader will do: the explanation
being obvious, like that of many puzzles that bewilder our minds
intensely, only to humiliate us proportionately when the solution is
found--a solution as simple as that of Columbus's egg-riddle.
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