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Re: Translation of latin?
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Jun 4, 17:02 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Jun 4, 17:02 +0100
I've read, with some interest, John Huth's posting about Mercator's arctic mapping, and looked up the Wikipedia entry about that map at- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Mercator_Septentrionalium_Terrarum_descriptio.jpg However, I can't read that in sufficient detail to check against John's quoted text, though I can see the magnetic islands. Where has John found his better image, please? The date of the map is given as 1623, long after Mercator's death in 1594. And several years before the change with time of the Earth's magnetic field was pointed out by the London astronomer Gellibrand in 1635. It may well be that the fact of such changes was known, or suspected, sumewhat before that date, but it seems a bit unlikely that in 1623, geographical features were being invented to explain it.. And a description has been quoted, in translation from the Russian. Could a reference be supplied for this source, please? A R T Jonkers, in "Earth's Magnetism in the days of Sail" (2003), assesses Mercator's explanation, made much earlier in 1547, of an attractive magnetic pole on the Earth's surface in a Northerly latitude. If anyone asks, I'll copy an extract. George. contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.