The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-11

Dottincnu'n Lost Art or Discovering ships ut Sea
Examinations Affecting tho Atmosphere.

From the Pull Mall Gazette.
Delving into that munimental mausoleum, the
French National Archives, a deliver the other
day came upon Bottineau, and dug him up.
Bottineau had lain there these hundred years,
not SO much forgotten as unknown. This is the
more-or the less-surprising because Bottincau
was n very remarkable man. He was the in
ventor Of the art and mystery of nauscopy.
Nauscopy. according to Bottineau, is the art
Of divining the whereabouts Of ships so far out
at sea as to be five or six hundred miles beyond
the visible horizon. Bottineau was not only able
to do this. He could tell how many ships there
were out there, how far apart they were, and
could furnish an approximate estimation Of
their rate Of sailing and Of their total tonnage.
The mystery, of course. was how he did it.
Bottineau seems TO have been in no great
hurry TO explain. He was, perhaps naturally
anxious TO remain the only nauscopist. Or he
may have felt that explanation was beyond
him. 1t certainly seems to have been, for
when, at last, he did attempt to clear up the
mystery that shroudod his art, and wrote that
niEmoire which has lately been exhumed, he
only succeeded in making the incomprehcnsiblc
rather more SO.
We gather. however, that Bottineau, who
had been first in the French navy, then in the
French East India Company's sea service. and
who. in 1854, when he first hit upon his dis
covcry, was something In the nature OF Port
Inspector at Port Louis, In the Isle OF France
we gather that Bottineau had improved his
everyday acquaintance with the horizon into
could see, and, indeed, which nobody else had
ever thought OF looking for. Gradually these
manifestations on the horizon became more and
more closely connected in the mind of Botti-
neau with the p ;rSS Of ships at yrarying de.
clearer AS the shin. or shiDS- apUrnached. fainfer
rs they rcceded. They were stronger If the
approaching vessels were many. and fast and
small. There might DO a horizontal nanifes-
tation and no ship come of it; but there could
For many years Bottineau paradod Port
Louis. taking his observations by day or night.
eye, occasionally with the assistance of a hanf
mirror. and always huGging his invention, 1t
got TO be 1850 before he mentioned it. When
done was indeed 50 strong that Rottineau ap;
pears TO have suffered considerable personal
Inconvenience on account Of his refusal to ex-
plain. This II may have been which decided him
70 communicate his discovery 70 the then Min
That fInctionary, as was to be expected. took
an official view Of The matter. He said he must
before he could take any notice Of il. Botti.
neau agreed TO an unconditional trial extend.
period he undertook that no vessel should APP
proach Port Louis without having been pre-
t Ehe' irIui "P beSSn' If S ihe e' RESULT! Gn rs Msy 3D. ar, i%s +;
be accepted, Bottincau came out of it in a tri-
umphHntly conclusive manner.
arrival of three vessels, all three bccalmei with
in forty-eight hours sail, i a breeze sprang up
up. a ship was duly sienallcd as approaching
on on ne 5 lIth; ar an3 ,hird HprsaSrS "a on the 18th: and
French. Presumably there WAS some subtle
difference In tho horizontal manifestation when
the approaching ship was n foreigner. Any;
the arrival of three strangers in succession,
and three Dutchmcn duly cas- anchor:
fleet was two months overdue, detained BY con-
trarX winds: "a on ~ sept" I'to. IL The e wind shifted;
slaEsed thu! there WAS 1S, another fleet IN tho i'm;
only N be be an ~ English feet. 'fh,CS sa sdsi "tta ' %as.
e eS S" ihai il S wSs co,n M p t OF East %asSf foaaiam enc,
De Pcynier detailed the Nnyadc and the Due dc
sshartrcs to give suiircn at Trlnsomalee The Of.
was made out by the messengers. Suifrcn
missed them. lie would have found Bottineau
At Port Louis they had come to the copclu-
sion that the namsGopiSt had proved his claim
tor of the Kina's Garden" they offered him
10000 livres down, aud u pension Of ], 200 more
for hts secret IT. BE- hot mnen" TGhased this oflcr,
refusal. In 1884 he took passage home, on The
Fer to open up ncE2tia,ions in person with the
during the voyage. lilo avoided no less than
twonty-scycn hostile cruisers and three trimmings
ashore. But notwithstanding and notwttf-
from the isle, including one from Suffrcn him.
sclf,-Psris could onIy be. got TO trent him as n
thai there. WAS nothing in his art and msytcry
AS revealed hy him, AT any rate.
BottinOau's explanation Of II amounted 10
this: Every ship AT son produces "cmanations.'
These CARNATIONS affect tho transparency Of the
atmosphere. Thus mcteOric. cfrccts are pro-
duCcd upon the horizon which can be sccn and
read of all mon once they know how. This
might have done for our hicrOphant OF ~tectotnl.
Ism. TO whom the 'enanations" would natur.
ally have meant rum. But, even in 1855. il
was not good enough for IA French Minister OF
Marine. De Castrics had no great difficulty in
deciding that his mcmorialist was the victim OF
az, hallucination. There Dc Castries was prob:
ably wrong, For II HUtfineau was halluciintcd
then all Port Louis must have been also. And
TO assume that Is to assume too much. BOtti.
neau, II Is safer 70 hIy, was II Lclepathist much
In advance Of hi- time.
He had TO join the noble army Of MARTYRS,
Before he died he may nave had the ~satlsfac.
tion OF knowing that his mGmoire had been sent
out 10 Gcn. BOnaparto in Egypt. One would
like TO know what he thought Of nauscopy.