Editing Nevil Maskelyne (section)

===Schiehallion experiment===
In 1772 Maskelyne proposed to the [[Royal Society]] what was to become known as the [[Schiehallion experiment]] (named after the Scottish mountain on which it was performed), for the determination of the [[Earth]]'s density using a [[plumb line]]. He was not the first to suggest this, [[Pierre Bouguer]] and [[Charles-Marie de la Condamine]] having attempted the same experiment in 1738 in the [[Andes]].

Maskelyne performed his experiment in 1774 on [[Schiehallion]] in [[Perthshire]], Scotland,<ref name="PTRS495">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 1. 495</ref> the mountain being chosen due to its regular conical shape which permitted a reasonably accurate determination of its volume. The apparent difference of [[latitude]] between two stations on opposite sides of the mountain were compared with the real difference of latitude obtained by [[triangulation]].<ref name=EB1911/>

From Maskelyne's observations [[Charles Hutton]] deduced a density for the earth 4.5 times that of water (the modern value is 5.515).<ref name=EB1911/>