MD3PAD 21-24 // Lunarians

[Michael Bailey]

 Dave Monroe wrote:
> Lunarians
> 21; those who subscribed to the practicability of
> using the positions of the stars along the moon's path
> to determine longitude; 437; 728
>
> http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/l.html

Kudos for your research!

I did read that book "Longitude" a few years back - a great, great
chronicle and one that made M&D a lot more accessible to me; I have
little doubt that it was among Mr Pynchon's sources, and if I were
recommending reading to buttress M&D it would be at the top of my
list...however, I also am moved to a flourishing bow regarding your
digging on the subject of Learned dogs and animals, and the cites of
Empson (whom I've always liked, not least because the name just sounds
like a scholar, doesn't it?  "The scholarly Mr Empson") are meaty and
nourishing

Your comment here (and back in the previous group read) adds depth,
since the use of the term "Lunarian" connotes proponents of that
navigational method (and all the weird letters Mason was getting), as
well as the well-dressed rowdies seen on the street.

your post also made it clear that the definition I found actually came
from Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary"

>
> Undere "Lunar" in the 1913 Webster's Dictionary ...
>
> "Lunar observation, an observation of a lunar distance
> by means of a sextant or circle, with the altitudes of
> the bodies, and the time, for the purpose of computing
> the longitude. --Lunar tables. (a) (Astron.) Tables of
> the moon's motions, arranged for computing the moon's
> true place at any time past or future. (b)
> (Navigation) Tables for correcting an observed lunar
> distance on account of refraction and parallax."
>
> "Lunarian" here, however, is simply "An inhabitant of
> the moon" ...
>
> http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?PAGE=875
>
> The Lunarian Astonished (1803) ...
>
> http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/e.html
>
> All at ...
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0109&msg=60247
>