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Subject: Re: Lunar distances
From: Hal Mueller (hal@XXX.XXX)
Date: Fri Jan 25 2002 - 13:33:29 EST
From last summer:
At 10:43 AM -0700 7/22/01, Dan Allen wrote:
>In the book entitled "History and Bibliography of The New American
>Practical Navigator and The American Coast Pilot" by John F.
>Campbell (Peabody Museum, Salem, MA: 1964), it says in part on page
>119:
>
>Bowditch continued to be published without any major revisions until
>1887, when it again underwent revision. Although seach succeeding
>printing resulted in minor changes, Bowditch did not have its next
>major revision until 1907. This revision almost saw the lunar
>distance problem eliminated from the work, but it was decided, in
>view of its archaic principles, to relegate it to the appendix.
>
>In 1914, Bowditch was again revised and improved. In charge of this
>revision was Lieutenant G. W. Logan, USN. A sign of the changing
>times is noted in this revision, as the chapter on lunar
>observations was finally excluded. It had been a part of the work
>since it was first printed in 1799.
>
>So there you have it. Editions printed up until 1913 had lunars,
>and the best material was probably pre-1907. I just got an 1888
>version which has excellent coverage of lunars.
>
>Dan
>
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