The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-08-15
ABOUT ALMANACS.


Which All the Lesser Ones are Pre-
pared.
Every family in the United States uses
an almanac, but few people are cog
infant of the Immense amount of work
required in their preparation. The
phases OF the moon, the positions which
the sun and stars will hold at given
times for every day throughout the
year, the calculation of ecIpses, and
the hundred and one other facts told
by astronomy and mathematics appear
as regularly rs the years 90 round. The
simplest almanacs used for druggists
advertisements are full of such informa-
ton, and when one goes further and
picks up one of the big volumes called
nautical almanacs, published for the
use of astronomers and navigators, the
array OF figures is really appalling, and
their long lines of digits, thrown into
order which would delight Gradgrind,
make the brains of the general reader
swim as he endeayors to understand
them. These big naut cal almanacs are
the fathers of all the others. The
calculations of the smaller amanacs are
taken from them, and they feed, as it
We're, the whole family of little almanacs
the world over. The greatest nations
of the world now have their own nautical
almanacs, and these are made by their
respective governments. The nautical
almanac OF France has been published
longer than any other, its
editions having been issued for several
hundred years. The British almanac
comes next, dating back to little be-
fore the Revolution, and the German
and Spanish were begun since then.
The American Nautical Almanac was
first issued in 1850, and it is now said
to be the best almanac published any
where in the world. 1T contains moro
valuable information and calculation
than any Of the other government
almanacs, and it holds the highest
place among astronomers and nayiga-
tors. The almanac is made at Wash
ington, and special department of the
navy under Prof. NeWcomb is devoted
to its getting up. 1t is a book of solid
figures, over an inch thick, about eight
inches wide and twelve inches long. 1t
contains more than five hundred pages,
and each page is black with multitude
of carefully arranged figures, each of
which represent hours of calculation
and sheets of scientific and algebra.c
study.
The work is published three or moro
years in advances of its date. The
almanac for 1888 is now ont, and that
for 1889 is being prepared. Twelve
scientists each noted as an astronomer
and a mathematician, located in dif-
ferent parts of the country. are almost
constantly working upon it, They
make their calculations and send them
to Washington, and they are here
proved before going into the almanac.
The title OF the book is 1.-The American
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac" and
if YOU would abbrcyiate this title in
talking of it to one of the makers of it
he would be highly Disguised. One of
them told me yesterday what it con-
tanned, but his words Of scientific terms
fell upon my ear like the jar@on of a
ChOctaW, and he might as well have
expressed himself in Greek. Some of
the more scientific of your readers,
however, may understand him. | will
repeat his answer to my request to
know what this book of five hundred
pages of solid figures contained. He
sad Its calculations are divided into
three parts. Part is adapted to the
meridian OF Greenwich. 1t contains
the positions of the sun, moon and pri-
mary planets for every mean moon
throughout the year. 1t contains the
distances OF the moon from the sun and
certain fixed planets. This is used by
naVIgators at sea Tor determining the
longitude, etc, etc, Part is adapted
10 the meridian Of Washington, and is
intended for the use Of astronomers, as
well as nayl%ators. 1t contains data for
finding the apparent positions OF the
principal fixed stars for every tenth
upper transit at Washington; also the
suns apparent right ascension and
decllnatlon, hourly motion, and eGua-
ton OF time for every mean and appar-
ent noon at Washington, and likewise
the same circumstances for the moon.
1t also contains the mean time Of
transit, right ascension, and declina-
ton, horizontal parallaX and Sem-d i-
ameter of each primary planet at the
time of transit at Washington. Part
is devoted to 'phenomena,' and