Description

Author: Oskar Hecker Title: Bestimmung der Schwerkraft auf dem Atlantischen Ozean [Determination of Gravity on the Atlantic Ocean] Date: 1903 Publisher: P. Stankiewicz, Berlin 4to; pp. [4], 136, 9 plates (some folding; one photographic print). COPY USED IN PREPARATION FOR SCIENTIFIC WORK ON SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION. From the library of Charles Darwin s son G.H. Darwin, himself a noted geophysicist, astronomer and mathematician. Loosely laid in is a note in the hand of E.A. Wilson requesting that the book be returned to him at his London address, or given directly to Darwin in Cambridge. This copy is therefore unique evidence of the preparations for scientific work on the Terra Nova expedition: C.S. Wright later published extensive geophysical researches, citing the evidence and instruments described in this book. E.A. Wilson was Chief of Scientific Staff for Terra Nova and must have acted as intermediary, securing the copy from Darwin. (As Wilson was on the Discovery expedition when the book was published, it is clear that Darwin lent the book to Wilson while he was preparing for the Terra Nova voyage, which sailed from Cardiff in 1910.) The present work, by the German seismologist Oskar Hecker, is an account of the determination of gravity across the Atlantic ocean; see references in C.S. Wright, Determinations of Gravity, British Antarctic Expedition 1910 13 (London, 1921), eg. p. 3, 8, etc. This is an elegant quarto volume with numerous tables and nine plates bound at the rear. Amongst the plates is a folded pouch containing an original stereographic photograph of the pendulum apparatus used in the study. An important association copy and a unique historical source. Very good condition: cloth binding well preserved, with very minor bumps to the corners; internally very good throughout.