NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Pillar sextant: what's in a name?
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2007 Oct 27, 23:07 -0400
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2007 Oct 27, 23:07 -0400
George you asked: "Does he know of ANY such reference in the literature to such an adaptation of the sextant on a stand, under any other name, then?" A sextant on a stand is not called a "pillar sextant". It's called a sextant on a stand. Sometimes the stand is called a "pillar stand" which is undoubtedly where the confusion comes from. So you can have a "sextant on a pillar stand" [which is not a pillar sextant] and even a "pillar sextant on a pillar stand" [which remains a pillar sextant even when you take it off the stand]. So you might ask, "how can I research the evolution of a technical term without leaving the comfort of your favorite chair?" I'm glad you asked that! Here's how: go to the Google Books Advanced Search page here: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search and where it says "with the exact phrase" enter "pillar sextant" (quotes not necessary in this field). You may want to select "Full View" books but there are some good references under "Limited Preview" too. Google will then happily search through thousands upon thousands of books for that special phrase. Have fun. -FER PS: the above procedure naturally works for other navigational phrase and it's a really good way to find other books on navigation. Yesterday, I searched on "line of position". Before the end of the 19th century, this had two common meanings: a military line and the line of tilt in penmanship. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---