The fourth mode of measurement, in which we equate submultiples of two magnitudes, is comparatively seldom employed, because it does not conduce to accuracy. In the photometer, perhaps, we may be said to use it; we compare the intensity of two sources of light, by placing them both at such distances from a given surface, that the light falling on the surface is tolerable to the eye, and equally intense from each source. Since the intensity of light varies inversely as the square of the distance, the relative intensities of the luminous bodies are proportional to the squares of their distances. The equal intensity of two rays of similarly coloured light may be most accurately ascertained in the mode suggested by Arago, namely, by causing the rays to pass in opposite directions through two nearly flat lenses pressed together. There is an exact equation between the intensities of the beams when Newton’s rings disappear, the ring created by one ray being exactly the complement of that created by the other.
The Method of Repetition.
The ratio of two quantities can be determined with unlimited accuracy, if we can multiply both the object of measurement and the standard unit without error, and then observe what multiple of the one coincides or nearly coincides with some multiple of the other. Although perfect coincidence can never be really attained, the error thus arising may be indefinitely reduced. For if the equation py = qx be uncertain to the amount e, so that py = qx ± e, then we have p = q x/y ± e/y , and as we are supposed to be able to make y as great as we like without increasing the error e, it follows that we can make e ÷ y as small as we like, and thus approximate within an inconsiderable quantity to the required ratio x ÷ y.
This method of repetition is naturally employed whenever quantities can be repeated, or repeat themselves without error of juxtaposition, which is especially the case with the motions of the earth and heavenly bodies. In determining the length of the sidereal day, we determine the ratio between the earth’s revolution round the sun, and its rotation on its own axis. We might ascertain the ratio by observing the successive passages of a star across the zenith, and comparing the interval by a good clock with that between two passages of the sun, the difference being due to the angular movement of the earth round the sun. In such observations we should have an error of a considerable part of a second at each observation, in addition to the irregularities of the clock. But the revolutions of the earth repeat themselves day after day, and year after year, without the slightest interval between the end of one period and the beginning of another. The operation of multiplication is perfectly performed for us by nature. If, then, we can find an observation of the passage of a star across the meridian a hundred years ago, that is of the interval of time between the passage of the sun and the star, the instrumental errors in measuring this interval by a clock and telescope may be greater than in the present day, but will be divided by about 36,524 days, and rendered excessively small. It is thus that astronomers have been able to ascertain the ratio of the mean solar to the sidereal day to the 8th place of decimals (1·00273791 to 1), or to the hundred millionth part, probably the most accurate result of measurement in the whole range of science.
The antiquity of this mode of comparison is almost as great as that of astronomy itself. Hipparchus made the first clear application of it, when he compared his own observations with those of Aristarchus, made 145