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According to Campbell, "Bowditch continued to be published without any major
revisions until 1887, when it again underwent revision.  Although each
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."  Continuing Campbell wrote, "In
1914... the chapter on lunar observations was finally excluded."

Well, I have evidence that Campbell is incorrect.  I recently obtained a 1906
Bowditch.  In this edition, published in Washington DC by the Government
Printing Office, there is an Appendix V which is 44 pages in length.  It
contains several pages describing lunars, followed by several tables used in
solving lunar distance problems.  The description states that the method is
that of Chauvenet, with the tables showing first and second corrections, and
several tables to deal with the semidiameter of the sun and moon.

This edition which I have in my possession states that it is a reprint of the
1903 edition with no changes to the text or tables except to correct errors.
What this all means is that lunars did not get moved to an appendix in the
1907 edition, as many have believed.  Lunars were moved to an appendix in at
least 1903, and possibly earlier.  My 1888 edition of Bowditch still has lunar
distances integral with the text, so sometime between 1988 and 1903 the change
was made.  This moves their use slightly further back in time than I had
thought.

That's my lunar research for the day,

Dan Allen

   

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