Page:Newton's Principia (1846).djvu/413

the ellipsis APBQ about the axis AB is to the force of gravity in the same place A, towards the sphere described about the centre C with the radius AC, as 125 to 126. But the force of gravity in the place A towards the earth is a mean proportional betwixt the forces of gravity towards the spheroid and this sphere; because the sphere, by having its diameter PQ diminished in the proportion of 101 to 100, is transformed into the figure of the earth; and this figure, by having a third diameter perpendicular to the two diameters AB and PQ diminished in the same proportion, is converted into the said spheroid; and the force of gravity in A, in either case, is diminished nearly in the same proportion. Therefore the force of gravity in A towards the sphere described about the centre C with the radius AC, is to the force of gravity in A towards the earth as 126 to 125½. And the force of gravity in the place Q towards the sphere described about the centre C with the radius QC, is to the force of gravity in the place A towards the sphere described about the centre C, with the radius AC, in the proportion of the diameters (by Prop. LXXII, Book I), that is, as 100 to 101. If, therefore, we compound those three proportions 126 to 125, 126 to 125½, and 100 to 101, into one, the force of gravity in the place Q towards the earth will be to the force of gravity in the place A towards the earth as 126 $\scriptstyle \times$ 126 $\scriptstyle \times$ 100 to 125 $\scriptstyle \times$ 125½ $\scriptstyle \times$ 101; or as 501 to 500.

Now since (by Cor. 3, Prop. XCI, Book I) the force of gravity in either leg of the canal ACca, or QCcq, is as the distance of the places from the centre of the earth, if those legs are conceived to be divided by transverse, parallel, and equidistant surfaces, into parts proportional to the wholes, the weights of any number of parts in the one leg ACca will be to the weights of the same number of parts in the other leg as their magnitudes and the accelerative forces of their gravity conjunctly, that is, as 101 to 100, and 500 to 501, or as 505 to 501. And therefore if the centrifugal force of every part in the leg ACca, arising from the diurnal motion, was to the weight of the same part as 4 to 505, so that from the weight of every part, conceived to be divided into 505 parts, the centrifugal force might take off four of those parts, the weights would remain equal in each leg, and therefore the fluid would rest in an equilibrium. But the centrifugal force of every part is to the weight of the same part as 1 to 289; that is, the centrifugal force, which should be ⁴⁄₅₀₅ parts of the weight, is only ¹⁄₂₈₉ part thereof. And, therefore, I say, by the rule of proportion, that if the centrifugal force ⁴⁄₅₀₅ make the height of the water in the leg ACca to exceed the height of the water in the leg QCcq by one ¹⁄₁₀₀ part of its whole height, the centrifugal force ¹⁄₂₈₉ will make the excess of the height in the leg ACca only ¹⁄₂₈₉ part of the height of the water in the other leg QCcq; and therefore the diameter of the earth at the equator, is to its diameter from pole to pole as 230 to 229. And since the mean semi--