Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 13
Philippe de la Hire (self-portrait). ©Observatoire de Paris
coast and across the Paris basin were separated by vast areas that had not. Therefore,
although the position of the coast line was now known, individual maps of the
interior could not be assembled within the coast into a whole.
The extent of the problem was demonstrated by the map presented (possibly by
La Hire) to the Academy in 1683 which sketched in the outline of France as inde-
pendently established from surveys by Picard, Cassini and La Hire. The map (
Fig. 5
)
compared the new outline of the coast with the earlier map of the coast by Sanson.
It showed that Brest lay 6° 54' west of Paris, not 8° 10' as originally thought. It had
been moved about 140 kilometers east, and located accurately to the kilometer. The
survey reduced the size of France by 20%, from 31,657 square leagues as shown on
Sanson's map to 25,386 square leagues by the new measurements
12
.
The King is said to have wryly remarked that he had been ill-served by the
astronomers whom he had supported. They they had made his kingdom smaller; in
fact he had lost more of France to the astronomers than to his enemies. This “dramatic”
map was published ten years later in 1693 as a
Map of France Corrected by Order
12
1 league was 4444 meters and 1 square league was 20 square kilometers.
