Abstract
THEORETICAL considerations dealing with the effect of errors of observation constitute one of the distinctive features of this book. It may be doubted whether such investigations are appropriate to a practical handbook intended for beginners; and in some instances, where they are merely of academic interest, their introduction is unnecessary. The dissertations on the manipulation of the station pointer, for example, are diffuse and of little practical utility. The chapter on the principles governing the selection of objects for fixing positions contains certain theorems which will be of interest to those already familiar with the subject; but beginners would find concise directions as to what goes to make a good fix more helpful to them. The discussions bearing on the “circle of equivalents” bring out a useful fact in a form somewhat different from that in which it has usually been presented. The principle involved is an important one, but it is possible to strain unduly its practical application. So much stress has been laid on it that beginners might easily be misled; the author himself appears to have misapplied the principle on more than one occasion.
Hydrographic Surveying: Elementary—for Beginners: Seamen and Others. A Practical Handbook.
By Commander Stuart V. S. C. Messum. Pp. xiv + 504. (London: C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 12s. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
F., A. Hydrographic Surveying: Elementary—for Beginners: Seamen and Others A Practical Handbook . Nature 83, 482 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/083482a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/083482a0