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From a series of no less than 2,153 delicate and difficult experiments, conducted at Tavistock Place during the years 1838-42, he concluded our planet to weigh 5·66 as much as a globe of water of the same bulk; and this result slightly corrected is still accepted as a very close approximation of the truth.
The conclusion thence derived, that our globe weighs 4-1/2 times as much as an equal bulk of water, was not very exact. It was considerably improved upon by Cavendish, who, in 1798, brought into use the "torsion-balance" constructed for the same purpose by John Michell. The resulting estimate of 5·48 was raised to 5·66 by Francis Baily's elaborate repetition of the process in 1838-42.
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