MD3PAD 21-24 // Lunarians

[Mark Smith]

As regards Dava Sobel's "Longitude" - yes it is an invaluable adjunct to
MD.  I recall reading it in conjunction with MD when it first came out.
Both books came out within a year of each other.  One of the more
interesting theories of navagation chronicled in Sobel's book was the
scarcely believable (but true) theory of wounded dog navigation:

Although this technique of navigation by canine vivisection may sound like
the purest fiction, it was actually proposed as a solution in London in 1688
-- whether in desperation or in jest is not known. ... This quack cure,
brought to England from France by Sir Kenelm Digby, was a powder that could
purportedly heal at a distance when applied to some article from an injured
person. As Roberto learned at the siege of Casale and later during his
sojourn in Paris, the treatment was not painless: Patients jumped or swooned
when practitioners powdered the swords that had cut them or the cloths that
had dressed their wounds.
To apply the Powder to the longitude problem, a wounded dog was to be put
aboard a departing ship, and a trusted individual was left ashore to dip a
bit of the dog's discarded bandage into Sympathy solution every day at a
prearranged hour. The dog could be counted upon to yelp in pain at that
instant, thereby announcing the crucial home-port time to the crew.
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_longitude.html

So... yet another factor to consider regarding the purpose of the Learned
Dog.  Perhaps Fender-Belly Bodine was actually trying to kidnap  the dog for
navigational reasons.  The plot thickens....


On 1/11/06, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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
> >
>
>


--
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