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Home / Books / Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
Section 73 of 87
Sun Signals.
1
CHAPTER I. MY ANCESTORS.
2
CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD.
3
Earliest Recollections.
4
CHAPTER III. BOYHOOD.
5
CHAPTER IV. CAMBRIDGE.
6
CHAPTER V. DIFFERENCE ENGINE NO. 1.
7
Explanation of the Difference Engine.
8
Of the Mechanical Arrangements necessary for computing Tables by the Method of Differences.
9
Description of the existing portion of Difference Engine No. 1.
10
CHAPTER VI.
11
CHAPTER VII. DIFFERENCE ENGINE NO. II.
12
CHAPTER VIII. OF THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE.
13
CHAPTER IX. OF THE MECHANICAL NOTATION.
14
CHAPTER X. THE EXHIBITION OF 1862.
15
Circumstances connected with the Exhibition of the Difference Engine No. 1 in the International Exhibition of 1862.
16
List of Mechanical Notations proposed to be Lent for the Exhibition.
17
CHAPTER XI. THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT.
18
CHAPTER XII. RECOLLECTIONS OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
19
CHAPTER XIII. RECOLLECTIONS OF WOLLASTON, DAVY, AND ROGERS.
20
The Thaumatrope.
21
CHAPTER XIV. RECOLLECTIONS OF LAPLACE, BIOT, AND HUMBOLDT.
22
Alexander Humboldt.
23
Of the Buonaparte Family.
24
CHAPTER XV. EXPERIENCE BY WATER.
25
CHAPTER XVI. EXPERIENCE BY FIRE.
26
Baked in an Oven.
27
A Living Volcano.
28
Hot Springs.
29
Earthquakes.
30
Fire Damp.
31
CHAPTER XVII. EXPERIENCE AMONGST WORKMEN.
32
CHAPTER XVIII. PICKING LOCKS AND DECIPHERING.
33
Deciphering.
34
CHAPTER XIX. EXPERIENCE IN ST. GILES’S.
35
CHAPTER XX. THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE.
36
CHAPTER XXI. ELECTIONEERING EXPERIENCE.
37
CHAPTER XXII. SCENE FROM A NEW AFTER-PIECE, CALLED “Politics and Poetry;” or, “The Decline of Science.”
38
ACT I.
39
ACT II.
40
CHAPTER XXIII. EXPERIENCE AT COURTS.
41
CHAPTER XXIV. EXPERIENCE AT COURTS.
42
CHAPTER XXV. RAILWAYS.
43
CHAPTER XXVI. STREET NUISANCES.
44
CHAPTER XXVII. WIT.
45
CHAPTER XXVIII. HINTS FOR TRAVELLERS.
46
CHAPTER XXIX. MIRACLES.
47
CHAPTER XXX. RELIGION.
48
CHAPTER XXXI. A VISION.
49
On Preventing the Forgery of Bank-Notes.
50
An Émeute.
51
Letters of Credit.
52
The Speaker.
53
Ancient Music.
54
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.
55
Of the part taken by the Author in the formation of various Scientific Societies.
56
Calculus of Functions.
57
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
58
Division of Labour.
59
Cost of any Article.
60
Principles of Taxation.
61
Monopoly.
62
Miracles.
63
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE AUTHOR’S FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.
64
Of Glaciers.
65
Of the Causes of the Transformation of Condensed Snow into Transparent Ice.
66
Book and Parcel Post.
67
Submarine Navigation.
68
Difference Engine.
69
Explanation of the Cause of Magnetic and Electric Rotations.
70
Mechanical Notation.
71
Occulting Lights.
72
Night Signals.
73
Sun Signals.
74
Zenith-light Signals.
75
Greenwich Time Signals.
76
Geological Theory of Isothermal Surfaces.
77
Games of Skill.
78
Problem of the Three Magnetic Bodies.
79
CHAPTER XXXV. RESULTS OF SCIENCE.
80
Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, &c.
81
Commissioners of Railways.
82
CHAPTER XXXVI. AGREEABLE RECOLLECTIONS.
83
Conclusion.
84
MIRACLES. Note (A), page 394.
85
RELIGION. Note (B), page 403.
86
ADDITION TO THE CHAPTER ON RAILROADS.
87
LIST OF MR. BABBAGE’S PRINTED PAPERS.
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The distance at which such signals can be rendered visible exceeds that of any other class of signals by means of light .
During the Irish
Trigonometrical Survey ,
a mountain in Scotland
was observed ,
with an angular instrument from a station in Ireland,
at the distance of 108
miles .
This was accomplished by stationing a party on the summit of the mountain in Scotland
with a looking-glass of about a foot square ,
directing the sun’s image to the opposite station .
No oc
cul
ta
tions were used ;
but if the mirror had been larger ,
and oc
cul
ta
tion employed ,
messages might have been sent ,
and the time of residence upon the mountain considerably diminished .
When I was occupied with occulting signals ,
I made this widely known .
I afterwards communicated the plan ,
during a visit to Paris,
to many of my friends in that capital ,
and ,
by request ,
to the Minister of Marine .
I have observed in the “Comptes Rendus”
that the system has to a certain extent been since used in the south of Algeria,
where ,
during eight months of the year ,
the sun is generally unobscured by clouds as long as it is above the horizon .
I have not ,
however ,
noticed in those communications to the Institute any reference to my own previous publication .
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