AtDTDA: 19 Creatures of i-j-k [533/535]

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Kit loses Miss Tsurigane soon as he steps into the Grand Salon and
finds himself the outsider inside a convention of mathmatical heretics 
of all stripes:

          . . . .quasi-Gibbsites and psudo-Heavysiders and 
          full-bore Grassmanniacs. . . .

. . . .speaking in:

          . . . .fluent  Esperanto and Idiom Neutral. . . .

. . . .milling about like they were in a Star Trek convention. 

Kit overhears a conversation that presents the Quarterninion situation 
in a political context:

          "We are the Jews of mathmatics, wandering out here in our 
          own diaspora—some destined for the past. others the future, 
          even a few able to set out at un-known angles from the simple 
          line of Time, upon journeys that no one can predict. . . ."

This convention of Quaternioneers is afloat on the space/time-warping 
effects of Absinthe:

http://www.absinthebuyersguide.com/. 

What gives Absinthe its reputation as a facilitator for intellectual activity 
and creativity is Wormwood:

          The drug, absinthium, is rarely employed, but it might be of 
          value in nervous diseases such as neurasthenia, as it stimulates 
          the cerebral hemispheres, and is a direct stimulant of the cortex 
          cerebri. When taken to excess it produces giddiness and attacks 
          of epileptiform convulsions. . . .

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/wormwo37.html

I think part of the "cult" of absinthe might have to do with the Occult 
associations of Wormwood, and the general naughtiness of taking aid,
comfort, maybe even joy out of something the church would naturally 
disapprove of:

          According to old grimoires, if burned in graveyards, the spirits of 
          the dead will rise and speak.

http://www.craftmagick.com/Wormwood_p/hwormwood.htm

There's lots of talk in the Grand Dyke of alternate means of describing 
space and time. These creatures of i-j-k seem to be existing [like Kit here] 
on a different space/time axis or axes—You can be in to places at once! 
[leastaways in this book.]

          "Actually Quarterninions failed because they perverted what 
          the Vectorists thought they know of God's intention—that 
          space be simple, three-dimensional and real, and if there must 
          be a fourth term, an imaginary, that it be assigned to Time. . . ."

This will obviously be seen a tangent, but Burton L. Mack's "The Christian Myth" ° 
comes to mind, where he points out the difficulties of doing research on 
Christian origins if can one only do those studies in 'Christian' institutions, 
much like Kit's situation. Being chained to Scarsdale Vibe ment being chained to 
Scarsdale's agenda—he gonna learn Vectors!. I'm sure Pynchon wonders how 
history would be changed if quarterninions were persued further, noting again 
that there was something a bit 'illuminated' about both Hamilton ‡ and Clerk 
Maxwell and that Maxwell's Equations work with both vectors and quarterninions.

Then there's more tarantellical magic in yet another 'Stupid Song'.

Bonus question: If it's not a gherkin the Quarterninion chap was putting in his 
ear, what was it?

°: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_L._Mack

‡: Earlier in the book, we note how Hamilton 'received' his equations in a 
vision