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I had no idea what the word appulse meant.   I found a definition
the approach of one body to another, so I  assume?  that the phrase
Halleys star appulses - it something like occultations?

Thanks for adding to my vocabulary, although I may never use
the word again.

I see in other messages on this list that occultations were used
as a sort of almanac, a way to mark a point in time,  when
clocks were still not accurate enough to for surveying or
navigation.  Here is where I will shamelessy speculate that
almanacs of that time may have stated something like there
will be an occultation of a specific ecliptic star by the moon at
approx midnight?



On Nov 18, 2007 6:19 AM, George Huxtable  wrote:
>
> I've been asked for my opinions about Ted Gerrard's new book, "Astronomical
> Minds". With a slight involvement, having been invited to scan an early
> draft for technical mistakes as part of the error-checking process, it's not
> possible to offer a completely independent review. But I'll be as
> independent as I can, and you can take that for what it's worth.
>
> It covers that fertile century of scientific development from roughly 1650
> to 1750, concentrating exclusively on English work, with the Royal Society
> at its centre. Many well-known names are drawn in, Wren, Hooke, Newton,
> Flamsteed, Halley, Shovell, Hadley, Harrison, and the book ends about the
> time when Maskelyne and Cook would appear on scene. The story told by
> Gerrard deals mainly with the quest for a way to find longitude at sea. It
> acts as a useful counter to the one-sided picture that's been built up
> before by Sobel, who concentrated on Harrison's watch-work. Here, the
> timekeepers gets shorter shrift, and the emphasis is on astronomical
> solutions. If there's a hero, it's Edmond Halley (and deservedly so). If a
> villain, that's Shovell.
>
> The book is a riveting read. It's written in a racy style, and if you're an
> academic historian, that may set your teeth on edge. It has the great
> advantage of having been written by an experienced navigator, not by a
> historian confined to a library. So Ted shows his great insight into the
> practical problems that beset a navigator in finding his position at sea. He
> allows himself much more freedom to speculate than a historian would, which
> is fine by me. The weakness, in my view, is the way that plots and intrigues
> are discovered under every bush. My own view of history is that cockups play
> a larger part than conspiracies; but everyone to his own taste.
>
> Ted enjoys relating the interactions between these larger-than-life
> characters, their feuds and their follies. But also, he has delved deeply
> into the records, so this is far more than a rehash of the standard texts,
> and becomes a real quest into the way that scientific knowledge unfolded. He
> has used modern tools, such as sky simulation programs, which have allowed
> him (and now allow us) to follow events such as Halley's star appulses with
> the Moon. All this has enabled him to draw conclusions, such as Halley's use
> of Newton's quadrant, which are new or unrecognised. His sources are well
> referenced, but with occasional gaps.
>
> Any dislikes? Yes, two. He devotes space to discovering coded hidden
> meanings in inscriptions and epitaphs. No doubt, a lot of that sort of thing
> went on in the era, but it leaves me a bit cold. If you're a crossword
> enthusiast, it may be for you. Or you can skip those bits, like I did. And
> the other? I couldn't get on with his indexing scheme.
>
> The book costs �13.95 (about US$29), surface shipping worldwide included,
> from-
> www.samosbooks.org
>
> George.
>
> contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
> or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
> or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
>
>
> >
>

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