SCIENTIFIC ALMANACS.

The Nautical Almanac; Connaissance des Tems; Astronomisches Jahrbuch (Berlin); Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes; British Annual, &c. for 1837.

THE return of the season at which the host of almanacs makes its appearance, has this year been distinguished by that of the first number of a British Annual, published in imitation of the French Annuaire. This adoption of a plan which has been followed with such success for many years by our continental neighbours, seems to demand some notice in a scientific work like ours; and we shall take this opportunity of passing in review the principal almanacs, to enable our readers to form a judgment on their comparative merits, as well as on those of the stranger newly associated to them.

The original and essential purport of an almanac was to supply those in any way interested in astronomical pursuits with the relative position, during the current year, of the heavenly bodies, and with data for making calculations of their movements in the intervals between those periods for which the almanac furnished them. Immediately connected with this object, was the notice of future phenomena of occasional recurrence, such as eclipses, transits, occultations, &c. The importance to society generally, of everything connected with the calendar, or with the measurement and division of time, as immediately dependent on the apparent motions of the sun, &c. seemed to necessitate the addition of information on this subject, to the purely astronomical details originally contemplated. The intrusion of extraneous matter once allowed, the regular republication of a work with such contents, offered an opportunity for adding any other which might be generally interesting, that was of a periodical character; almanacs, accordingly, became a mélange of scientific, civil, and political notices, the two latter having no other connexion with the first than that of being annually modified.

We will not touch on that melancholy and humiliating chapter in the moral history of mankind—and the more painful because it is not yet finally closed *—which narrates the progress of credulity and imposture,

* We observed, but yesterday, a placard announcing the recent publication of a work entitled Phrenology and Astrology harmonized, showing that the compartments of the head, as divided for phrenological study, exactly agree with the astrological houses of Heaven, &c. &c.

The following passage from a cotemporary journal, published before the repeal of the duty on almanacs, presents some remarkable statements on this subject:"The total number of almanacs published may be divided into the astrological and the non-astrological. The astrological are published by the Stationers' Company only. There was a third class of the comVOL. II. 2

pany's almanacs-the obscene; but this class was discontinued in 1829. (!)

"There are now only two astrological almanacs, Vox Stellarum, by Francis Moore, physician, and Merlinus Liberatus, by John Partridge. Moore's improved

almanac has this year (1832) ceased to belong to this class. These two contribute, there is good reason to believe, one-half of the revenue upon almanacs-that is, they sell 250,000 copies. Of these again, ninetenths of the number may be put to the account of Francis Moore. So that this relic of ancient absurdity is probably more read than any other work in the kingdom. "John Partridge commenced his voca

attaching themselves to a science that would otherwise have earlier exalted our nature, by the contemplation of eternity, of space and duration, viewed through a medium uncontaminated by their breath; and which describes them as working their baleful spells under the arrogated sanction of her name, and gradually increasing their influence till it blinded the majority of the human race to truth and reason. Most almanacs, as our readers know, were formerly the vehicles for the dissemination of much of the poison we allude to; and, perhaps, the jealous anxiety to rescue the true original object of their institution from any portion of this disgraceful stigma, may have been a powerful, though unacknowledged, reason for again separating the purely astronomical part of their contents from the miscellaneous matter which was being continually engrafted on the parent stock: a separation, however, sufficiently accounted for by the demands of an extending knowledge in the science, and in the dependent art of navigation, which required a greater space being devoted to their use than was compatible with the admission of anything not essentially -connected with the subject. This separation accordingly has taken place in most European nations, and in the United States, but it is to the three leading astronomical almanacs of the old world, that our remarks will be chiefly confined.

Our own national almanac and the French Connaissance des Tems undoubtedly stand at the head of all these works. We place them

It must not be supposed that England stands alone in this disgraceful position. Moore's almanac was, till lately, if not is, annually reprinted in Paris and in Boulogne, and similar evidences of barbarity annually make their appearance at Liège, Coblentz, &c. &c. At home, the sale of this work is chiefly confined to the agricultural population, the least enlightened in all stages of society. Mr. Baily, in alluding to the endeavours made by the respectable editors of these kinds of almanacs to purify them gradually from the nonsense they contain, states, that such an endeavour was made with regard to Moore's almanac, by omitting, one year, the column of influences of the moon on parts of the body, and that nearly the whole impression of 100,000 was, in consequence, returned by the buyers on the hands of the publisher, as defective.

tion as an almanac-maker soon after the restoration; Francis Moore began his career of imposture in 1698; Partridge, therefore, has the advantage of senility over his rival, and that ought to go a good way in balancing the relative merits of their stupidity. It is probable, however, that Partridge's almanac never entirely made head against the wicked wit of Swift; for it is a remarkable fact that Bickerstaff killed this identical almanac for a season, and frightened the real Partridge from attempting to set it up again. The Stationers' Company, however, were not to be so beaten out of a profitable imposture, and they had the impudence, in 1714, to publish a Partridge's Almanac, with a portrait of the seer, which the worthy man refused to acknowledge. The defeated astrologer obstinately persisting not to prophesy in the flesh, the company continued to employ the ghost only of Partridge, and the work even now bears the motto, Etiam mortuus loquitur. This original schism, and the acknowledgment of the death of the almanac-maker, is the only reason we can assign for Part-provement for which the extra price is ridge not being as popular as Moore. He is unquestionably as silly." (Quarterly Journal of Education. No. V.)

The name of Partridge was assumed; the compiler's real one was Gadbury, a most prolific writer, to judge by the number of his works extant in the British Museum, all treating of astrology, &c.

The worshipful company mentioned in the above extract advertise this year (1837), in their annual list of eighteen almanacs, Francis Moore, price 6d.— Moore's Almanac Improved, 9d.; the im

charged consisting chiefly of the omission of the predictions, &c. In the same list, Partridge's almanac still holds the third place, the post of honour being assigned to the genuine Moore, in consequence, we fear, of its being still the most profitable.

together, because they have advanced to their present degree of perfection in consequence chiefly of the reciprocal effect they have had on each other. If the Connaissance des Tems can lay claim to seniority of birth, the volume for 1837 being the hundred and fifty-ninth of a series which has never suffered interruption since its commencement in 1679 by Picard, yet we suspect it would no more have attained its maturity without the spirit of emulation excited by the subsequent appearance of our Nautical Almanac, than this would, if it had not been for the beneficial example of such a pre-existing model, and for the assistance derived from the authentic sources of means for calculation, so liberally communicated by the French astronomers to ours.

The Nautical Almanac was the fruit of the exertions of the late Dr. Maskelyne in the cause of his favourite pursuit. That distinguished practical astronomer, in the course of several voyages undertaken by him for scientific purposes, had ample opportunity for remarking the difficulties the navigator laboured under, owing to the want of proper works on nautical astronomy: he presented a memorial to the Commissioners of Longitude on February 9th, 1765, in which he proved, by facts, the utility of the method of deducing the longitude by means of the moon's distance from the fixed stars, as it had been promulgated by him in a work he had recently published for that purpose, called The British Mariner's Guide: he then stated the necessity that existed for a good nautical ephemeris to enable the full benefit of this method being reaped. The board having heard the evidence of four naval officers as to the advantages of the new method of "lunar distances," came to a resolution that the "tables of the late Professor Mayer should be purchased of his widow, and printed; and that a nautical ephemeris should be compiled to use with them." The superintendence of the latter labour was confided to Dr. Maskelyne, who had then become astronomer royal, and he exerted himself so actively on the occasion, that the first number of the Nautical Almanac for the year 1767 was published in 1766, accompanied by a preface written by him, describing the use and construction of the tables, and stating those from which the calculations had been made*.

The work appeared regularly with little or no alteration in its general contents and arrangement, for upwards of sixty years t, except that the calculations were made from every improved formula, or set of

* Dr. Maskelyne did not confine his labours to the publication of the Almanac; a series of tables, requisite to be used with it, appeared at the same time, drawn up by him; this valuable work, which has ever since been known by the above quaint title, has gone through numerous editions, each being improved on that which preceded it.

In the first Nautical Almanac for 1767, the column of differences of the sun's declination, which appeared subsequently from about 1800 to 1833, was not given. In the earliest numbers the tables of the five planets then known were only given for every six days of

each month; these were increased, for Mercury, to every third day, before 1800; but all the rest remained as before, except that the right ascension of the planets was added soon after the year 1810. In the almanac for 1833, several additions were made; among others, the times of the rising and setting of the sun's and moon's centres. These columns have disappeared again since that year, in order to make way for more generally valuable matter, contrary, however, to the practice of the Connaissance des Tems and the Astronomisches Jahrbuch, both of which works give these times.

tables, that was produced in succession during that period, either abroad or at home; the introduction in the number for 1822 of the apparent places of twenty-four principal fixed stars, which were increased to sixty in that for 1827, and the extension in that for 1833 of the table of the moon's right ascension and declination to every third hour of the day, which had been previously given for noon and midnight only; these important improvements being effected by the late Mr. Pond, in the official exercise of his duty of superintending the publication, as Dr. Maskelyne's successor.

Towards the year 1830, the attention of Government was drawn, by the urgent representations on the subject which appeared in print, to the comparative inefficiency of the national almanac, which had not kept pace with the rapid extension of astronomical knowledge, the improvement in instruments, and the increased skill of our navigators, and which had been for some years surpassed by continental works of the same kind, published under the superintendence of the first astronomers of the day. The Lords of the Admiralty, accordingly, at the instigation of the Board of Longitude, in that year requested the aid of the Astronomical Society; a general committee of forty members was in consequence appointed, ten of the most pre-eminent of which formed a managing sub-committee. This committee drew up and presented to the Admiralty, in the November of the same year, an elaborate report, suggesting those extensive alterations and additions, by the adoption of which the work has been rendered the most complete astronomical ephemeris published. About the same period, the superintendence of its compilation and publication, after several changes, was finally confided to Lieutenant Stratford, with the assistance of Mr. Woolhouse and an efficient staff of calculators, revisers, &c.

It is obvious that the utility to mariners of such an almanac must in a great measure depend, not only on the accuracy with which the calculations are originally made, but on its exemption from typographical errors when printed. The former object is secured "by duplicate calculations of the most important tables, such as all those relating to the moon, the occultations of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, &c. and in every instance by some independent calculations, to guard against errors in principle; and the results are finally examined by means of differences.” The latter object can only be attained by a revision of the sheets in going through the press, made with a care far exceeding that required for any ather work. The pains taken in this respect by the gentlemen who have the management, is shown by the fact, that in the volume before us, consisting of 496 pages of figures, there are only two errata as yet discovered, of not the slightest consequence in themselves, but important as proving the care bestowed on the revisal. In the volume for 1836, there were seven errors; in that for 1835 there were ten, the majority of which were errors in noting down the results of the computations +.

The process of stereotyping, when applied to printing standard works of numerical computations, such as tables of logarithms, &c. ultimately secures perfect accuracy of typography, since any error can be corrected in each successive reprint with

out the possibility of the occurrence of a new one; but an almanac is seldom, if ever, stereotyped, since, except for reference, its utility is confined to the current year.

+ The Astronomical Society, in the report, art. 26, "strongly recommend that

Among the methods adopted for securing distinctness as well as correctness was the having a new fount of figures cast for the purpose, the matrices being cut with every attention to precision, in preference to mere beauty, of form; the 6 is made so that if inverted it would not look like a 9, but would immediately catch the eye of compositor and corrector, the identity of these two numerals when either is inverted having ever been a fertile source of error in printing arithmetical tables. With the same view, all unnecessary use of dots and commas has been avoided; degrees, minutes and seconds, are not separated by commas, as we do pounds, shillings and pence in our notation, nor by a full stop, as is still the case in the Connaissance des Tems, but by a sufficient space being left between them to prevent the possibility of confusion, and the decimals are separated from integers by a full point at the top of the line, thus, 2.73, and not by a comma at the bottom, thus, 2,73, as is universally the case in French and German arithmetical notation. Minutes and seconds of time are marked thus, 17h 26m 37-53, to distinguish them from 17° 26', 37"-53, minutes and seconds of degreees, an improvement not adopted on the continent; but which, trifling and useless as it might appear, if the work were intended for literary and scientific readers only, is valuable in one intended for masters and mates of vessels, who ought to be spared every unnecessary exertion of thought, in order to guard against errors in calculations, for which they have little time, and fewer conveniences. On the whole, few works could be referred to which would place in so striking a point of view the excellence to which the arts relating to typography are carried in England; the beauty of the paper, the exquisite symmetry and clearness of the forms, and the taste in their arrangement, present a favourable point of comparison with the French almanac, which nevertheless is got up with great care*.

It has always been an important object to publish the Nautical Almanac some years in advance, that captains of vessels about to proceed on distant voyages might take with them the numbers for the years they would, probably, be absent. From the commencement till 1832, this was regularly accomplished, the work being never less than three complete years in advance, but the delay required to carry into effect the suggestions of the Astronomical Society, and that caused by the changes in the management of the publication, prevented the improved

any errors discovered in the Nautical Almanac should be printed immediately for general information, and be annexed to all the unsold copies; and that notice of the same be advertised in the London Gazette, and in some of the public papers, as early as possible." We believe that this, like every other recommendation of the society, has been strictly attended to, and that any communication on the subject will be thankfully received at the office in Somerset House.

Being strictly a national work, the Nautical Almanac, to place it within the means of the greatest number of persons who may need it, is sold at a price that

could not now remunerate a private publisher, nor even as we should think cover its expenses; the volume, with an Appendix containing 569 large octavo closelyprinted pages of the most expensive form of work, is sold for five shillings. The Connaissance des Tems,containing 500 equal and similar pages is priced seven francs, about six shillings. The Astronomisches Jahrbuch, containing 340 pages, costs thirteen shillings.

The Nautical Almanac in 1767 was sold for half a crown. In 1802 it was raised to five shillings, its present price, though it now contains more than three times the quantity of matter it formerly did.