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GEODESY (from the Gr. y, the earth, and SatEty, to divide)
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GEODESY (from the Gr. y, the earth, and SatEty, to divide), the science of surveying (q.v.) extended to large tracts of country, having in view not only the production of a system of maps of very great accuracy, but the determination of the curvature of the surface of the earth, and eventually of the figure and dimensions of the earth. This last, indeed, may be the sole object in view, as was the case in the operations conducted in Peru and in Lapland by the celebrated French astronomers P. Bouguer, C. M. de la Condamine, P. L. M. de Maupertuis, A. C. Clairault and others; and the measurement of the meridian arc of France by P. F. A. Mechain and J. B. J. Delambre had for its end the determination of the true length of the " metre " which was to be the legal standard of length of France (see