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Dave,

       We now have a great deal of evidence from your analysis and Frank's plot. I was pretty much convinced by the presence of the logarithm in the formula for meriodinal parts but then maybe I'm just easy. Although I have flip-flopped I guess we must conclude that in Bowditch's statement "The Mercator projection is not perspective, and its parallels can be derived mathematically as well as projected geometrically." the words "projected geometrically" refer to the graphical method of drawing parallels but is a spectacularly poor choice of wording in this context.

       I haven't come up with any holes in Wright's physical model for producing a Mercator project. It's quite the feat of mental gymnastics for the time before calculus,

Happy New Year,

Robin Stuart