Ch. 39 Summary & Notes

[jbor]

It is the last day of their confinement at the Inn. Dixon, who has
over-indulged in pastries in the interim, is trying to jolly Mason along yet
again.

Arriving back at the Harlands' the boys decide to split up and "see the
country". They toss a coin to decide who will go north and who south.

A parenthesis: Ives again challenges the historical authenticity of Wicks's
narrative, and Wicks responds by quite readily embracing a notion of
indeterminacy or hypothesis, and then continues to relate the tale of
Dixon's visit to Annapolis and Williamsburg.

On his journey south Dixon loiters on back roads and in taverns, and is
troubled by a premonition that he is being used for some "dark Mission", and
that by signing to go on the Commission in the first place he had somehow
automatically earned a burden of "Sin". (On returning to the Harlands' he
admits to Cha. that he only went into Maryland to try to uncover the extent
of the intrigue in which he felt himself embroiled, though this was to no
avail.) 

In Virginia he finds himself amidst all the political hubbub caused by The
Stamp Act and the stirrings of the movement for independence. Despite being
English his natural amiability stands him in good stead and he finds himself
welcome among the locals. A friendly dispute on the dancefloor leads to a
Quoits-duel at dawn, which ends amicably in a draw and with a kiss from the
damsel in question.

Returning to the Harland farm Jere reflects on the pointlessness of his
trip, and soon breaks into song. A cryptic final paragraph details what was
not seen, what the trip was not about, what "had not occurr'd".

***

391.14 "mephitic airs"  mephitic or mephitical adj. 1. poisonous, foul 2.
foul-smelling, putrid (17th C. from Late Latin)
                        mephitis n. 1. a foul or poisonous stench 2. a
poisonous or unpleasant gas emitted from the earth (18th C. from Latin)

392.33 "prolate"  adj. having a polar diameter of greater length than the
equatorial diameter (17th C. from Latin *proferre* to enlarge)

392.34 "oblate"  adj. having an equatorial diameter of greater length than
the polar diameter, like the earth (18th C. from New Latin *oblatus*
lengthened)

top of 393  The three centred dots breaking the chapter - A first in the
text? What does it represent?

393.19 "Or let us postulate two Dixons, then ... " cf. Schrödinger's cat An
unfortunate cat that figured in a "thought experiment" suggested by the
Austrian physicist Ervin Schrödinger (1887-1961) and the Hungarian-born U.S.
physicist Eugene Wigner (1902-  ) to illustrate the philosophical problem
known as the "quantum measurement problem" in Quantum Theory. In one
interpretation of quantum mechanics, an object, such as an elementary
particle, does not exist in particle form until it has been observed. Before
that it has a potential existence described by a mathematical function known
as its wavefunction, which gives the probability of finding it at a
particular point in space at a particular moment. When the observation is
made, the properties of the entity become known and it exists as an object.
In the jargon, the observation "collapses" the wavefunction. But at what
instant does the wavefunction collapse?
    To answer this question Schrödinger suggested an experiment involving a
box containing a piece of radioactive material, a Geiger counter to detect
particles of radiation, and a cat. The counter is connected to a device that
breaks a sealed tube of cyanide if a particle is detected, which kills the
cat.
    Nobody knows, according to quantum theory, exactly when a radioactive
material will emit a particle, although it is known how many particles it
will emit, on average, over a specific period of time. The experiment is run
for a period that gives the cat a 50% chance of surviving. At the end of
this period a person, known as Wigner's friend, looks in the box to observe
whether or not the cat is dead. If the cat is dead, when did it die? Most
normal people would answer that it dies when the radioactive source caused
the cyanide to be released. However, some interpreters of quantum mechanics
would say that the cat, the cyanide, the detector, and the source, were all
part of the same system, which has its own wavefunction. This wavefunction
collapses only when the observation is made, i.e. when Wigner's friend looks
into the box. If this is the case the cat has probably been in an
intermediate state up to this point. An additional complication is that
Wigner's friend is also part of the system. Does he need an external
observer to collapse his wavefunction? And so on .... (_Brewer's 20th C.
Phrase & Fable_ Cf. also the Planck Constant, Heisenberg's Uncertainty
Principle, Niels Bohr's "complementarity principle", the Copenhagen
Interpretation, the subjunctive mood etc)

393.32 "Hogsheads of Tobacco"  hogshead n. a unit of capacity, or else a
large cask, used esp. in the shipment of alcoholic beverages (14th C.)

394.19 "my own *Surveillor*"  Fr. watcher? A pun.

394.28 "*longer in the Curing-Shed*"  i.e. older, but why the italics?

394.33 "a quiet Profligacy of Flemish Bond"  Flemish Bond n. a bond (or
arrangement) used in brickwork that has alternating stretchers (lengthwise
bricks) and headers (end-forward bricks) in each course, each header being
placed centrally over a stretcher.

395.4 "The Stamp Act"

http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/3C/03C60000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1

http://www.virtualology.com/thestampact/

395.13 "Spatterdashes" n. long leather leggings worn in the 18th C., to
protect from mud when riding

395.14 "The May Session of the Burgesses"

http://www.historicprincewilliam.org/burges.html

395.15 "Mr Patrick Henry" (1736-99) American statesman, born in Hanover
County, Virginia, failed in storekeeping and in farming, so turned lawyer in
1760, and first displayed his great eloquence in pleading the cause of the
people against an unpopular tax (1763). A great patriot in the War of
Independence, he delivered the first speech in the Continental congress
(1774). In 1776 he carried the vote of the Virginia convention for
independence, and became governor of the new state. In 1791 he retired from
public life.

http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biohen.cfm

395.20 Raleigh's Tavern

http://www.history.org/almanack/places/hb/hbral.cfm

395.21 When it's his own turn to, Dixon chooses rather to honor what has
ever imported to him,-- raising his ale-can, "To the Pursuit of Happiness."
 
Dixon chooses not to "toast the King's Confoundment". NB the legacy of his
alternative toast here, however:
    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
    equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
    unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit
    of happiness. (4.7.1776)

"Tom", the "tall red-headed youth at the next table", is, of course, the
young Thomas Jefferson, whose 'Rough Draft' of the Declaration of
Independence reads as follows:
    We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable, that all men are
    created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive
    rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of
    life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (In J.P. Boyd et. al.
    _Papers of Thomas Jefferson_ vol. 1, 1950, p. 423)

395.35 "Colonel Byrd"  William Byrd (1674-1744) American tobacco planter,
colonial official and diarist, born in Virginia, the son of William Byrd
(1652-1704, pioneer planter and early Virginian aristocrat. During two
periods in London (1697-1705 and 1715-26) as a student of law and colonial
agent, he showed himself an elegant socialite, a man of learning and many
amours. In 1728 he took part in surveying the boundary line between Virginia
and Carolina, in 1737 he founded the town of Richmond, and in 1743 he became
president of the council of state, of which he had been a member since 1709.
Indicative of his cultural and intellectual interests were a large library,
a fine collection of paintings, and a fellowship of the Royal Society of
Great Britain. His published works include _The Western Manuscripts_ (1841).

395.35 "Professor Fry" ?

396.34 "Paronomasia" i.e. a play on words, or pun

397.6 "a certain 'Urania'" ... "her fiancé Fabian"  ?

best