MDDM Ch. 76 A Specialty

[Dave Monroe]

   "'Yet appropriately enough, what compels me out
under the Elements once again now, is yet another
damn'd Species of Giant Mound,-- and after hoping I'd
seen my last in America.  Woe, it seems I've acquir'd
a Specialty,-- and the Elevated, the Chosen, go on
assigning me to these exercises in large-scale
Geometry.  This Mountain I'm about to seek must be
regular as a Prism, as if purposefully constructed in
days of old by Forces more powerful than
ours...." (M&D, Ch. 76, p. 747)

"... as if desiring to be admitted to that select
company, select as the Royal Society, which did not
want him, either." (M&D, Ch. 76, p. 747)

"Mason will go back to waking day after day in
Sapperton, piecing together odd cash jobs for the
Royal Society, reductions for Maskelyne's Almanack,--"

(M&D, Ch. 76, p. 748)

>From Edwin Danson, Drawing the Line: How Mason and 
Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America (NY:
John Wiley & Sons, 2001), Ch. 21, "Legacy," pp.
197-205 ...

   "In 1772, the forty-year-old Nevil Maskelyne
proposed to the Royal Society a method to measure the
attractive forces of a mountain mass.  It was known
that variations in the Earth's mass affected the
direction of the local vertical ....  A better
understanding of this strange phenomenon would improve
mapmaking and the knowledge of the Earth's true shape.
 In 1773, the Royal Society sent Charles Mason on a
reconaissance of the Scottish Highlands to identify a
suitable mountain for Maskelyne's experiment. 
Ideally, the chose mountain would be symmetrical and
afford easy access.  After a summer tour exploring the
hills and glens, Mason selected the Perthshire peak of
Schiehallien as the best option.  From June to October
1774, zenith distances of stars were observed on the
west and east sides of the hill.  By comparing the
small differences from each location, the deviation of
the vertical (plumb line) caused by the mass of
Schiehallien was measured....  In 1775, for his
'curious and laborious observations on the attractions
of of mountains,' Maskelyne was awarded the society's
greates accolade, the Copley Medal.  Mason received
little or no recognition for his work.
   "Charles Mason continued to work for teh
observatory under Maskelyne's direction.  Sponsored by
the Board of Longitude and using the late James
Bradley's observations, he comiples a catalog of 387
stars that was included in the Nautical Almanac for
1773.  He also made further corrections to Mayer's
lunar tables for the Board of Longitude...." (p. 199)

"He had recieved a paltry 1,317 [pounds] from the
Board of Longitude for his diligent work on the
nautical tables ....  He had grown embittered toward
the scientific community he had served so well and
resentful toward Maskelyne and the Board of Longitude,
which was dominated by learned men of rank and
consequence.  Niether was he honored by the Royal
Society with a fellowship, unlike his friend Dixon."
(p. 201)

Just doing a little housecleaning whilst I await the
emergence of the research for my last coupla notes
from the turbulent plate tectonics of my collection ...

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