• Transcribe
  • Translate

Eccentricity of the Sextant by Frederic Furbish, 1893

Eccentricity of the Sextant by Frederic Furbish, 1893, Page 26

More information
  • digital collection
  • archival collection guide
  • transcription tips
 
Saving...
19 The history of the sextant. Lieutenant F. R. Brainard in his excellent little book on the sextant gives by far the most concise and comprehensive history of this instrument which I have had the good fortune to meet and it is to him that I am very much indebted for the few remarks on this subject which I her present. "The sextant" he says "is a modification of the reflecting quadrant. Plain quadrants without the reflecting principle were in use for many years. The first idea of a reflecting instrument is said to have been given by Hooke but this is very doubtful. Some of the quaint forms of the instrument, showing it's gradual development, are shown in the following figures. Figure 1. shows the form of quadrant sometimes known as the plumb-line sextant.
 
Scholarship at Iowa