Rising and Setting of Stars

March 18th, 2011

Instrument for finding the ortive amplitude on the horizion, i.e.: for measuring the rising and setting of a star in relation to the horizon. William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28, p. 176.

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March 18th, 2011

March 18th, 2011

Separating a Small Part from the Globe (Magnetic Stone)

March 18th, 2011

Image 1, GH are the poles, EF is a piece of magnetic stone in the earth and is not separated from the whole; BA is a mine and partly separated from the earth; CD is a mass of iron in the air. Image 2, the separated part EF behaves quite differently from the iron bar CD. Image 3, when the separated part EF is suspended by thread, E will turn to pole B and F to pole A. [ZB Magnet 2] William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28, p. 120f.; descriptions follow the translation of P. Fleury Mottelay [1893] (New York: Dover, 1958), p. 186f.

March 17th, 2011

Barbara Ellmerer

A Globe (Magnetic Stone) Cut in Two at the Equator

March 17th, 2011

First image: All points of the needles have been magnetized by pole A. Second image: Half of the globe (spherical loadstone) by itself, the pointers except the middle one tend not in a right line but obliquely. [ZB Magnet 2] William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28, p. 136; descriptions follow the translation of P. Fleury Mottelay [1893] (New York: Dover, 1958), p. 206f.

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March 17th, 2011

Sampurna Chattarji: Yes

March 16th, 2011

Landing is necessary
Leaping is necessary

Needles that give evidence are necessary
Baskets and hands are necessary

Mesh web interweave
Globe cloud gouache
1.8 micro seconds
Semantic arguments
Hairsplitting
Thanksgiving
Mimosa migration
Locum lapidem
Surface shadow
Monkfish hood
One foot in terra
The other in trema
All necessary

Etchings like the markings on a face
Chiselled by wind, necessary

So bring me down again, and fly my love
My lips on yours, necessary

Sampurna Chattarji

View of a Fortress with Compass Rose

March 16th, 2011

Andreas Albrecht, Perspektive (Nürnberg: Paulus Fürsten, 1621), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, T 122, folded page.

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March 15th, 2011

Judith Albert