Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-01-10
rnE DTsoovEnr OF Losarrupr.


whose safety it is almost as necessary ~
the compass, are apt to regard 1t as some
thing which has always existed for their
special benefit instead Of grand dis
covery worked out by years OF patient,
daring toll and the use of large sums OF
money. For practical purposes longitude
may be defined as the exact location of
any spot on the earth's surface with
reference TO Ito distance east or west from
an established point on IN establiabed me-
xidian. The importance of discovering
some method OF doing this quickly and
easily was we'll recognized many years
before any practical steps were taken 10
find such @ method. Long before 100
Philip III. of Spain had promised to give
hundred Thousand Spanish crowns to
any one who should solve the problem
the states'generai Of Holland offered
10000 forms; England in TIA by act of
parliament agreed TO give 900, and
both France and Portugal had tempted
their scientists with munifioent prizes.
Ia 1874 Toussaint Besssrd, q resident of
Auge in Normandy, proposed a method
of discovering longitude by means OF
the variation of the needle, and in 1908
William de NaDtonier published work
claiming the same method as discovery;
and, indeed, during the early part of the
seventeenth century various maohiues,
methods and appliances were invented or
proposed, all Of which proved equally
useless when put 10 . practical test.
II was not until 1634-11 years after
the rejection by the Council of Louis
XIII. of Benedetto Scotto's aUse and
Practice of the Longitude"-that John
Baptist NORM announced his ''discovery
OF the secret of the longitude" ind
claimed the rewards offered by Spain End
Holland. He was, however, most anxious
to secure in recognition in France and
thus assure to his native country the
glory Of his discovery, but the shrewd
Cardinal Richelieu refused to do more
than promise him reward in proportion
to the practical usefulness of the inven-
ton when tested by actual experiment. A
committee was therefore appointed 10
examine and try the method proposed
which was briefly ito determine the
longitude at sea by the different situations
Of the moon with respect to the fixed
stars" The idea was found to be prac
ticsble, and the committee reported
favoFably, but with the suggestion, how
ever, that the lunar tables at that time
were so imperfect that the results OBJ
tanned were sometimes erroneous to a
considerable extent. It may, perhaps,
console some modern inventors to know
that IL years elapsed before NORM re-
ceived his reward in the form of PEN
sion of 1000 livres-little more than E33
IA year.
In 1910 Peter Herigone proposed differ
emit devices for finding longitudes, none
Of which was SO practicable As Morin's
in 1647 Leonard Dnliris published o
theory of longitude that only served to
display its authors ignorance OF mathe-
matics, and in 1868 German scientist in
vented an adometer ''for measuring
ships way" which, though possessing
some merit, was deemed unreliable by o
committee of scsdemicians appointed
under Louis XIV. 10 examine It.
It will thus he seen that quite century
elapsed after the distinct want OF an exact
method of measuring longitude was felt
and efforts made looking to its discovery
before any device Of much practical value
was produced, for none of those al.
ready mentioned were so free from the
danger Of grave error as to be fully relied
upon by navigators. Indeed, it was not
until quite near the close Of the 18th
century that the great improvements
mace by Dr.. Hooks ANA Ar, nuygaus ia
the idea Of using these AisGegaD crude
and unreliable machines iUr the purposes
of measuring distances and ascertainlng
the longitudinal position of places. Ger
nina Frixius, it is said, had suggested
this as possible method as far back as
1880, bat at that date timepieces bad not
been developed sufficiently to be OF much
service for this purpose.
From about the year 1900 the history
of the discovery Of longitude become.
identical with the much better known
history Of the improvements rapidly sue
ceeding each other, which carried the ar
of watch and clock making to practios
perfection in the development of the mar
iner's chronometer, by the aid of whiol
he is now able to calculate his position a
sea on any part Of the globes surfaot
with marvellous accuracy.
II is noteworthy that Newton himsel
framed the act Of parliament before men
toned by which England offered re
ward OF EGO, 600 "to any one who shoult
discover method OF finding the longi
tuds at sea to half degree or 10 leagues
$4,000 il within two.thirds of degra,
and f10,00 If within degree or u
leagues" Newton appears to have tsker
deep personal interest in this branch O
scientific investigation and il was due t.
his encouragement that Henry Sally, al
Englishman, devoted his lifetime to Ia,
improvement of timekeepers for the dis
covery Of the longitude. The famou.
Julian Leroy was SIlly's pnpil and fol
lowed in the footsteps of his master.
In an English magazine published il
lT94 | find an article entitled in tn
quaint head liuing CT that era, "a Rrie
Account OF Attempts to Discover tn
Longitude, and the Construction of Time
keepers for that Purpose, with the Grea
Accuracy 70 Which These Have IIatel
Been Brought" The following extrac
from the above seems likely to be quit
as accurate, and is certainly as vel
composed as those which serve to I'll
some pages of our modern cyclopediag:
In 1875 MIR. John Harrison, who wa
bred under lis father, country cal
penter, made two clocks, chiefly in wood
to which he applied an escapement an
compound pendulum of MS own inyeL
sion. These went SO we'll that tor
years they erred scarcely aeeopd
month. But as the motion Of pendr
ium would necessarily be derangtd b
that Of ship at sea, he set himself
make watch, which, in voyage
Lisbon and back again, corrected a
error of in the ships reckoning. III
was in 1876. after this he made tv
others, for tine latter Of which il 1875 |
received from the Royal Society s
Godfrey Copleys gold medal. With til
tinekeeper his son, Mr.. William Harl
son, went to Jamaica in l761 On boar
his mejesty's ship Deptford, and it W
found TO determine the longitude OF Pc
Royal in that island within i've seoonJ
of what it had before been asoertsined