famous meridian of the Island of Ferro was the result of their
discussions.

Here, gentlemen, we find a lesson which should not be lost sight of.
This meridian of Ferro, which at first had the purely geographical and
neutral character which could alone establish and maintain it as an
international first meridian, was deprived of its original
characteristic by the geographer Delisle, who, to simplify the
figures, placed it at 20 degrees in round numbers west of Paris. This
unfortunate simplification abandoned entirely the principle of
impersonality. It was no longer then an independent meridian; it was
the meridian of Paris disguised. The consequences were soon felt. The
meridian of Ferro, which has subsequently been considered as a purely
French meridian, aroused national susceptibilities, and thus lost the
future which was certainly in store for it if it had remained as at
first defined. This was a real misfortune for geography. Our maps,
while being perfected, would have preserved a common unit of origin,
which, on the contrary, has altered more and more.

If, as soon as astronomical methods had been far enough advanced to
permit the establishment of relative positions with that moderate
accuracy which is sufficient for ordinary geography, (and that could
have been done at the end of the 17th century,) we had again taken up
the just and geographical conception of Marinus of Tyre, the reform
would have been accomplished two centuries sooner, and to-day we
should have been in the full enjoyment of it. But the fault was
committed of losing sight of the essential principles of the question,
and the establishment of numerous observatories greatly contributed to
this. Furnishing naturally very accurate relative positions, each one
of these establishments was chosen by the nation to which it belonged