National Republican., 1880-12-25

NVN'lhlitlll nu ulluNloNoON
gigantic annual publication commony called
"Thc Nautical Almanac" It represents in itself
the acme of 0 civilseryce reforms, for II requires
thntpeculiar type of talent to grasp the higher
branches of mathematics which, by mn arbitrary
law OF nature, seems TO render one thus organized
In the majority Of cases almost entirely unfit for
anything else II is one department, at least, that
can be truthfully said to be non.partsan in It's re-
suits. Like all things scientific its work and
progress are rarely ever known or cared for outside
the limited sphere of esthetic circles, and is as
poorly compensated withal as the average scientist
could reasonably hope to experience in this en.
lightened age.
SOME OF ITS USES.
For the astronomer, itdctennnes IN It's tables the
positions of the principal fixed stars, the sun,
moon and all the larger planets at the moment Of
transit over our own meridian. This clearly es
tablishes their relations to the earth and TO the
sun. All eclipses of the sun and moon are fore.
told; where they are visible, their beginning and
ending us well as their course over Our planet In
addition to this shown the occultatons Of fixed
stars by the moon, transts OF planets, and ccipscs
OF Jupiter's satellites. These phenomena are all
given In Washington mean time, with the cxcep.
ton of those of the sun and moon, which are pre-
scntcd from the meridian of Greenwich, for
| convenience, which will be more fully explained
hereafter. tits the Indispensable handbook Ofthe
| astronomer, for the reason that, wherever he may
be, by It's tables he knows with accuracy where to
point his telescope to make any required obscrya.
tiOn.
To the navigatori IL is of incalculable Importance
on account of the different relations the SUM- noon
and earth bear to each other every succeeding
day hour, and minute, and at different points on
the great wutery surface of the earth at different
periods. For this purpose the tables are calcu
lated two and three years in advance, thus fur
nishing practical and indispensable aid to vessels
undertaking long cruises, especially the whalers
The Jcannctte sailed from san Francisco in search
of the northwest passage in July, 1879. She took
with her the" Nautical Almanac" upto 1882 While
the officers of that missing steamship are doubt
less perfectly well Informed of their own where
abouts, 1t would certainly be n valuable acquisi-
ton to the work If there any tables calculated
TO give us the same information.
EARLY HISTORY OF THESE WORKS.
The earliest regular annual ephcmcrides was
probably the" Connaissancc desTemps" France,
by Picard, commenced in 1859 and continues up TO
| the present time. Professor Newcomb hasin his H.
brary the Ephcmeridcso of Maniredi" ofBonn, COM
pucd for the years 17l5 to 1925. The first issue of
the British Nautical Almanac" was for the year
| 1867, and appeared in 1766
| The British government ut that time being the
! leading maritime power Of the world, was natur-
ally Interested In the discovery of some method TO
determine the longitude at sea. For many years
nn offer of 10000 was standing open TO any one
who would present this discovery.
| The paramount instruction to the royal astrono.
mcr Of England nlwnyswas to apply himself with
the most exact care and diligence in the rccfying
| the tables Of the motions of the heavens and the
places of the fixed stars, in order TO find out the so
much desired longitude at sea for the perfecting
| the art of navigation"
In those days antcriorto steamships. telcgrnphs,
and chronomeers, the great point desired was that
/ al. T.,
the Greenwich time within two minutes, after be.
| ing six months at sea.
| The Spanish "Almanaque Nautico" has been
sucd since the beginning of this century, but fur
nshcs no original research and is of no great prac-
| ticulgaluc
Th3 Germans have regularly issued work of
this Kind for more than century by authority of
the government, 1t is larger in respect to matter,
but In less convenient form. Much of 1t contains
inf Oh" of little use, If any, to the navigator
AZ dard nautical tables.
| Ephemcrs and Nautical Alma
4 n.Ntu. iced in the year 1912, under the
: of the late Rear Admiral Davis,
.. .- p1ut. The first volume appeared in
! zen published regularly ever since.
H. ust few years it has achieved an al
. H.. "..'.. owned reputation for completeness
'r0l ility among the English speaking
.r'. ,' 4. world, as well as in Sweden and Hol.
.ui '' russians simply print translations Of
.lu into ,eir own language, and attach II to the
.n .g' ,crn )" British Nautical Almanac" Ow-
Ng,Hrt Stance separating us from England, and
Hn'' iinty of obtaining the exact difference
H 'm 'u dc between the two places at that time,
the fhct that England practically con.
U.. .t.e worlds system of navigation by virtue
.. publications, charts, and her established
.1aa Ifmarine highways the navigation Of the
then seemed TO employ the Greenwich
WT, an exclusively. Therefore, TO avoid conft-
.In.. IN act of Congress was approved September
- 30 as follows:
hemoridian of the Observatory at Washington
Y be adopted and used as the American mcri-
I'd. n for all astronomical purposes and the mcri.
/ N of Greenwich shall be adopted for nll nauIi.
cal purposes"
This law has been dead letter In lis operations
for all our private maps and survcysa still being
computed by the Greenwich meridian.
THE CIRCULATION.
Ofthe large Ephcmeris" proper last year there
sold $50 copies ut 81 each while So copies were
distributed 10 the Departments and sent to scicn.
tilc and educational institutions and libraries
The foregoing refers to the complete volume of
about five hundred pages, The first half is pub.
lishcd separately and called the American Nauti-
cal Almanac" The sales of this will vary from four
thousand to five thousand copies annually at iifly
! cents each.
The many uses applied to this great work are
not yet fully stated. There are other and more
popular mediums of transmitting information than
by the " pub. doc" system.
The regular journalistic annual register and the
family almanac finds all its data here; the patcn,
medicine almanac gathers its information from
the same source. Were 1t not for this Inexpensive
foun, Of knowledge the ancient farmer would
scarcely know when to put in his crop kill his
hogs. However exploded the old theories about
planting and killing may have become, yet there
are many young people to-day growing up In tho
country who believe implicitly in the traditional
signs of the Zodiac, and consult their patent med
cine almanac for the right one before moving In
any direction This feature will soon disappear
from the almanac, and with 1t goes another OF the
lingering relies fsuperstition-astrology
The entire work of preparing these gigantic
columns of figures, and testing their astronomical
accuracy, s confined to about twenty persons, all
under the supervision of Professor Simon New.
comb.
The almanac" for 1854 will be out in few DAYS
ready for distribution, and will also contain about
two hundred and tily pages, The "Ephemcris' will
contain about five hundred pages 1t will interest
all who are interested in astronomy as well as
| commerce and navigation.
/ Ti,c OLD Lobby.
The mantle oft he old lobby of past decades oi
which the celebrated Colonel Sam Ward was king
with all its magnhcence, has not descended Ia
! anything approaching its equal. II was ponder
Gus, pretontiOus machine perfect In ull its opera
tiOns and COSTLY aud its influence with Senators
ana members was simply immense, Old Beverly
Tucker was one Of the select few in those days, as
| well Os one Ofth most successful. lie was bright
active, and quick of rcparee, They used to tell a
| good story of him. During Buchanans admins,
! tration, the 'rrcdcgar Iron Company, of Richmond,
| obtained large Government contract for shot and
shell for cnnnOns. Amer II had been filled IL was
| discovered that the shot and shell were too large
| for the guns and were not available as ummuiil.
| lion, Beverly Tucker, nS agent of the company,
| was summoned by the proper officer and asked 10
! refund the money,
| oh no" said he "there Is a better way out oi