The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1885-08-27
THE ALMANAC
How,the; Advertising Medicines Are Made
& The Largest Almanac In. the United States.

- Nsif r. Re I'LL iSIF
Howrth Advertising Medicines Are Made
The Largest Almanac in the United States.
"a Every family in ithea United States
writes q correspondent to Ihe Clevg-t
land Leader, uses an almanac, but fey
people are cognizant of the immense
amount OF, work required IN their pre-
paration. The phases OF HE moon
the positions which the sun and stars
will hold lot given times for every day
throughout the year the lcnlation OF
,ectipses, and the hun bred and one
other facts told BY astronomy and
.mathe1natics appear Dis regularly as
the. years goS sroundgs The simplest al
manacs,usedsfors druggists advertise
ment nre fun 81 such information,
and when one: goes further and picks
up one of the bigv olnmes called nauti.i
cal almanacs, published for the use of
astronomers and navigators, the array
of tiguressis really appalling, and their
long lines of digits, thrown into order
which would delight q Gradgrind,
make the brains of the general reader
swim; as lie end eavors tonnderstand
them. These big aitical almanacs
are the fathers Of all the Others. The
calculations Of the y smaller almanacs
are taken from them, and they feed,
as it were, stho whole family Of little
almanacsS the worldiover.. The great
est nations OF the world now have
their own nautical almanacs, and
these are made bye their respective
governments. Tho nautical almanac
of France has been published longer
than.any otherS its editionssllaving
been Issued; for sew ral hundred years.
The British almanac comes next, dat
ing back to "a little before the Revolu-
tion, and the German and Spanish
were begun q since then. The Ameri-s;
can nautical almanac was first issued
I in 1856. and;it Is now said to be the
best almanac published anywhere in
\ the world. at contains m oreNaluable
information and Gallon lation than any
of the other overnment almsnacs,
and it holds the highest place among
astronomers and .navigators.a e,r The
almanac is made at Washington, and,
q special department. of the navy un-'
der Prof. !NeWc5mb ishtievoted to its
getting up. ItsissS d: book of solid fig
ures, over an inch thick. about eight
inches wide, and tWelvesinclies long.
1t contains moro 8 tian i've 3hund red
pages; and each :pag 8 Is Hblaclswith u
multitude of care lly arranged fig
ures, each Of IL iii represents Hours Of
calculation and sheets ofsscientilic and
algebraic study IS =. AZ e.
TheSWork II publish cd three or more
yearsin advance of its date. The al
manac forSl888 isfno%3 put, sand that
for 1889 is being prepared. pwelve
SCIENTISTS each noted rs an astronomer
and mathematician, located in Diff
ferent parts of the country, are, almost
constantly working upon IT. They
make their. calculations and send them
to Washington, and they are. I here?
proved before gong into the Almanac.
can Ephemeris ind Nautical Altman
.ae," and if you would abbreviate this
title in talking IF, ut to one Of the
makers fit hess Dnld d.; be; highly dis
gusted. One. Of: them told me yester-
day what it Contained, but his words
of scientific terms fell upon my ear
like; the jargom 81 q ChoctaW. and he
: might as well haNe expressed himself
!: in Greek. Some Of the more scientific
your readers, however, may UNDER
stand him. ] viii: repeat his answer
to my request to. know what this book
Of five hundred pages of Solid figures
contained. Ho said its calculations
are divided into three parts. Part /
!: Is adapted to the meridian Of Green
5.wich.. Tt contains tho POSITIONS of tho
sun, moon, and primary planets for
every mean moon throughout the year.
!; It contains the distances of the moon
: from the sun and certain fixed planets.
This s.Esed BY nayigat tors at sea: for
determining tho onigitI De, y etc.5s etc.
Part 8 Isl adaptea I. toF Tile meridian of
Washington, ana issintended for the
use Of astronomers Rsswel II as navlga-
tots. 1t contains ,data,f finding tile
apparent positionsaof the liked stars,
J, .and gives 1alsothe apparent places Of
.sthe principal fixed stars fol. ever tenth
anpper transit, at Washington; also Che
SUMS tapparent'right ascension and ede-
.clination, hourly motion, and equation
OF, time for every mean and apparent
noon: at Washing tom, and likewise the
same circumstances for the moon. It
also contains the mean time of transit,
right ascension and ?Ieclination, hori::
zontal ,parallax and: semi diameter lof
each primary plane tat zti time Of
i, transit at ashingt Parts Sis de-
voted ito phenomenasi,, and here; las:
am not asscientificS dictionary on logs,
( i will not attempt to fepeat;What q the
astronomer said it contained. Itswas
i much worse than thu: above, and twhen
IF looked again at the Millions of figures
;ss is. he repeated the scientific jargon
:&sbecafie mora and more impressed with
. the: itnmensef Work of getting up a
NAUTICAL almanac and an American
Epheme n Y ,; r. s ;|,
These nautical almanacs, however,
o:nDt:deal with tho weather. That
Is leftieDtirely to the. Weather bureau,
which is distinct from them.a Altman
:, nos: were made for. years before any
government took them. up. The old
& Romans had "a SORT of almanac, But
s tho ifst printed alInana cs was that OF
Ge6Ege Won Burbaet who issued his
ptssdctions at Vienht jn IA go. In,ths
xteenth and seY enteenth centuries
salmanacs were used as pol teal docu:
sslilents, and they were full rof -astrolo gy,
aastronomy, and superstitien intsnddi:
tion to their pol tics: he first .Ameri.
~ canalmanac was thatof William Brad.
s ford, who published one in BeI
81 Franklin, s1s.t nor Richafd Almanac'
4 was first piibl ishel & in l7332 and the
IS America Almanac, which continued
q itslpnb lieation up to i 86l II was frs
pubiished iil 162S There are now
{ about sons hundred almanaes published
Y. iii tie United ties. of WHICH, per
ysssfkiapsy gliie best is Sppffp t.s AmerfcIt
Almad ac, published Is s Nilbrarial
K sOf congress. .ssj -: