MDDM Ch. 22 Notes (1)

[jbor]

215.1 Fr. Christopher Maire cf. 156.34

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0111&msg=62661&sort=date

215.6 "a more Loyolan image" Ignatius de Loyola (1491-1556). Spanish
soldier, founder of the Society of Jesus (1534), and first general of the
Jesuit order (1540). The Jesuit vow was to go as a missionary to any country
the Pope might choose.

215.9 " ... that opaque effect of a Stiletto-Waver stuff'd into a Churchly
Frock, which distinguishes *El Auténtico*."

Jesuits are here stereotyped as assassins disguised in pious robes, yet
another scathing reference (by Wicks?) to Roman Catholicism and its legacy.

215.11 "Emerson"
 
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/e.html

Emerson, William (1701-82)

"Jeremiah Dixon and his Brother", by H.P. Hollis, Journal of the British
Astronomy Association, v44, n8, June 1934, pp 294-9:

There was living at that time at the village of Hurworth, a few miles from
Darlington, an eccentric character, William Emerson, whose unconventionality
in dress and manners were rather at variance with the fact that he was a man
of education with considerable knowledge of mathematics and physics. ...
Jeremiah was brought to notice by someone named Emerson who was probably
this man; that he was summoned to the Woolwich academy for examination and
evidently satisfied his examiners, for they asked him, "Were you at Oxford
or Cambridge?" "Neither," he said. "Well then, where did you get your
knowledge of astronomy?" "In my pit-cabin at Cockfield Fell," he replied,
meaning doubtless in the office at his father's colliery where he was then
engaged in some capacity above ground.
17; Dixon's "old teacher"; Mr. Emerson was a real person, a minor
mathematician and scientist of his day who wrote about a dozen scientific
books and texts and whom Jeremiah Dixon did in fact know personally.
Emerson's mystickal nature may be a Pynchon invention; 73; 98; 215; 251;
268; 317; 318; 423; coat, 500; 556; of Hurworth, 568; 709

(Thanks to Cyrus for this.)

215.18 "Hob Headless"

    A certain "Hob Headless" haunted the road between Hurworth and Neasham,
    near the Tees.

http://www.belinus.co.uk/folklore/Spencebritishgoblins.htm

A "hobthrush" seems to have been a type of goblin (i.e. hobgoblin) often
associated with Robin Goodfellow (aka Puck).

216.5 "Draconick Incursion" draconic. of, like, or relating to dragons

216.13 "Dr. Mesmer" Friedrich (or Franz) Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) Austrian
physician and founder of mesmerism. In about 1772 he took the opinion that
there exists a power which he called animal magnetism. In 1778 he went to
Paris, where he created a sensation. He refused 20,000 livres (1 livre = 1
pound of silver) for his secret; but in 1785, a learned commission reporting
unfavourably, he retired to obscurity in Switzerland. (Mesmerism was
formerly used as a synonym for hypnotism.)

217.2 "As Mr Tox says in his _Pennsylvaniad_ ... " First mention.

217.5 "Pelf" n. *Contemptuous*. money or wealth, esp. if dishonestly
acquired; lucre [14th c. from Old French *pelfre* booty; related to Latin
*pilare* to despoil]

I guess it's also related to the verb "pilfer". The _Pennsylvaniad_ seems to
be a parody of a style of satirical text of the period which itself was a
parody of the classical epic form (cf. Pope's _Dunciad_).

218.12 "Ley-Lines" Imaginary mystic lines running across Britain, said to
connect places of power such as churches and different types of ancient
monument and so to form 'power grids'. Stonehenge is one of several
monuments said to lie at the intersection of at least two ley lines. The
idea of such lines was introduced to the English public by Alfred Watkins in
his _Early British Trackways_ (1922). His original theory, that "mounds,
moats, beacons and mark stones fall into straight lines throughout Britain"
was firmly rejected by archaeologists and historians but in more recent
times has generated a lively New Age cult. 'Ley' is a variant of 'lea'.
(Brewer's)

218.35 "the Tellurick Energies" telluric. adj. 1. of, relating to, or
originating on or in the earth or soil; terrestrial 2. *Astronomy*. (of
spectral lines or bands) observed in the spectra of celestial objects and
caused by absorption of oxygen, water vapour, and carbon dioxide in the
earth's atmosphere. [19th c. from Latin *tellus* the earth]
                   
                                telluric. adj. of or containing tellurium,
esp. in a high valence state [c.20th c. from tellur(ium)]

                                tellurium. n. a brittle, silvery-white
nonmetallic element occurring both uncombined and in combination with
metals: used in alloys of lead and copper and as a semiconductor. Symbol:
Te; atomic number: 52; atomic weight: 127.60; valency: 2, 4, or 6; relative
density: 6.24; melting point: 449.5 deg C.; boiling point: 989.8 deg. C.
[19th c. from New Latin]

219.31 "Ormazd, God of Light" Ormuzd, or Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians regard
Ormuzd as the principle or angel of light and good, and as the creator of
all things and judge of the world. He is in perpetual conflict with Ahriman
(the spirit of evil) but in the end will triumph. Ormuzd is the abbreviated
name of the old Persian Ahura Mazda, which means 'Lord Wisdom', from the
Avestan words *ahura*, 'lord', and *Mazda*, 'enlightenment', 'wisdom', the
name that Zarathustra added to the supreme god Ahura, itself from
Indo-European *mendh*, 'to give to', and *dhe*, 'to put'.

        And Oromaze, Joshua, and Mahomet,
        Moses, and Buddh, Zerdusht, and Brahm, and Foh,
        A tumult of strange names, which never met
        Before, as watchwords of a single woe,
        Arose.
        PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY: _The Revolt of Islam_, x (1817)

219.35 "*Eppur' si muove*" 'And yet, it moves.' Attributed to Galileo after
his recantation of his belief that the earth moves around the sun, in 1632.

http://www.catholicity.com/school/icu/c02901.htm

http://www.webcom.com/zurcher/furedy/eppur16.html

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