4468. LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE, Chronometers and.—
Fine time-keepers have
been invented, but not equal to what is requisite,
all of them deriving their motion from a
spring, and not from a pendulum. Indeed these
pursuits have lost much of their consequence
since the improvement of the lunar tables has
given the motion of the moon so accurately, as
to make that a foundation for estimating the
longitude by her relative position at a given moment
with the sun or fixed stars.—
To Captain Grove. Washington ed. v, 374.
(W.
1808)
