MD3PAD 73-75

[David Casseres]

Two very good books offer background to the layman here and in the
pages to come.  On the question of longitude, there is Longitude by
Dava Sobel, which has often been mentioned around here.  Less well
known is Julia Blackburn's The Emperor's Last Island: A Journey to St.
Helena.  The dedicated Mason & Dixonist will find much to enjoy in
both.

On 2/5/06, Toby G Levy <tobylevy at juno.com> wrote:
>         Mason uses profane language and pretends to worry that Dixon
> will complain to his superiors about it. They then lapse into paranoid
> reveries about how they wound up working for the Royal Astronomer in
> South Africa.
>
> What does Mason mean when he says to Dixon "however briskly you may
> belabor me with Mr. Peach..."  This is the first time Mr. Peach is
> mentioned.  There is a Samuel Peach who appears in the chapter in which
> Mason tells of meeting his future wife for the first time at the rolling
> of the giant cheese.  Is this the same Mr. Peach?
>
> vw#22: Nervus Probandi - Latin: nervus = sinew, tendon, probandi = of
> proof
>
> v#23: Stuffata - stew??? (I'm not sure)
>
>         Dixon goes over the chain of events that brought them there.
> Originally Mason was to be Maskelyne's assistant. Maskelyne was related
> to Lord Clive, and executive in the East India Company. Suddenly
> Maskelyne's assistant is declared to be Waddington and Mason is to head
> his own observation team. Waddington is described as a math teacher and
> follower of the Piggotts, who attempt to determine longitude by tracking
> the path of stars across the moon's path.
>
>         In a parenthetical passage lasting about half a page, Mason
> jumps ahead to a later meeting in January with Maskelyne who describes
> Waddington as melancholy. Maskelyne announces that Mason and Dixon will
> observe the transit of Venus from the island of St. Helena.
>
> Mason is described by Dixon on page 75 as "friend of the Peaches..."
>
> The scene shifts back to the teller of the story, Reverend Wicks who
> said that Mason and Dixon should have gotten more compensation for their
> labor if they had demanded it.  Ethelmer says in effect that the dead
> can't take money with them so what does it matter now?  Tenebrae
> chastises Ethelmer for his negativity toward the Reverend.
>