On the Longitude of Valparaiso and Callao, In a Letter From Baron Alexander Von Humboldt - Alexander Von Humboldt 1839

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(

fog

)

II.

On the

Longitude f

Valparaiso

nd

CGlltao,

n a

Letter

frons

BaronALEXANDERONHUMBOLDT.

Sans

Souci,

near

Potsdam,

ept.6,

1839.

SIR,-I

have

long

delayed to

express

the

homageof my

lively

gratitudeor

your

kindness n

enabling

me so

soon

to profit

by

the

important

observations

which

enrich

the

Second

Part

of

Volume

IX. of

the

London

Geographical

ournal. A

journey

with

the

Kingof

Prussia

nto

Bohemia

has

delayed

he

renewel

expression f

my

high esteem,

and

of

the

always

ncreasing

n

terest

causedby

readinga

journal o

rich in

original

material

nd

so carefully dited.

The

too

lattering

manner n

which

he

President f

the

Society,

Mr.

W.

Hamilton,

has

in his

excellent address

mentionetlmy

trifling

and

antediluvian

stronomical

abours

n

tropical

America

llas

imposed

uponme the

task

of

examining

again,

and

by

com-

parison

vith new

and

good

observations,

he

position of

some

points to

which

CaptainFitz

Roy,

in his

admirablework

(Ap-

pendix o

the

Voyayesf the

Seagle),has

attached

especial

in-

terest.

Amongthe

pointswhichI

have

determined

n the

coast

of the Pacific Ocean,Callao, he port of Lima,is perhapsthe

most

iinportallt

f all.

It is as

much so as

Cumana,Porto

Rico,

and

Havanah,

are in the

West

Indies.

In the

luminous

and

rigorous

statement

which

Captain

Fitz Roy

has

given of

the

wholeof

his

chronometric

eterminations,n

lvhich, n the

entire

circuit

of the

glol)e,

only33

secondsof time

are

to be

accounted

for, tv be

divile(l

overa great

numberof

separate

meridian

dis-

tances,

CaptainCFits

oy

says,

"(::allao,

Sydney,

and the

Cape

of

Good

Hope

(Xp. p.

345), are

three

remote

points

which

might

be

selected

(forcomparison),atherthan others,because

generally

upposeel

o be well

determined;

f

the

Beagle's

osi-

tion of

Callaobe

proxed

ncorrect,

hen

must

Humbol(lt's

calcu-

lated

by O1

manns)

be

also

illcorrect."

It

will

proloably e

agreeablc o

you,

sir,to be

acquainted

with

tlle

resultsof

some

new

researches

on

thispoint.

My

longitude

of

Callao

rests,as

you

know,

on the

passageof

Mercury

of the

9th

November,

1802.

Tl-le

interior

contact,

the surer

of

the

two,

gave

5h. 18m.

18s.;

themeanof

the

tsvo

contacts h.

18m.16s.,

reckoning

always

rom he

meridian

f

Paris.

:NI.

Oltmannshas

comparedmyobservationwithothersmadeat Greenwich,Paris,

Sielgerg,

Lilienthal,

Berlin,

C'ette,

and

Copenhagen

Humboldt,

lVec.

'Obs.

Astr.,

tol. ii.

p.

421-427).

A

long

series of

lunar

distances talven

in

tlle

w-oyage

f

Captain

Duperrey

gives

5h. 18m. 16

3s.;

Lartigue

finds,by

distances

and

chronometric

measurements

rom

Quilca,

ah. 181n.

0 7s.

(Givry,

Conn.

des

Tems,

18'27,p.

258) i arld

Captain

Fitz

Roy

decides

1lpon



BarOn

HUMBOLDT

n

theLony.

f Valparaiso

nd

Callao.

503

5h.

18m.16s.

(App.,

p. 349),

resting

uponthe

longitude

of

Val-

paraiso.

Now, in

the

expedition

f the

Beagle, h.

56m.

7s.

is

a(lopte(l s the longitudeof Valparaiso,and forthe eliCerencef

longitudes

betweenValparaiso

n(l

Callao,

Oh.22m.

9s. Now,

5h. 18m.

16s.

is

precisely he

longitude

which

the

two contacts

gave

me,

anzl seconds

f time

less than

that

by the exterior

con-

tact

of the passage

of

Mercuryn

1802.

The

passage

of Mercury

over

the

diskof the

sun

in 1832 hav-

ing

been

observed

by

M. Scholtz

at Lima,

an(l

at I3reslaw

y

M.

Boguslawski,

requeste(l

M.

Galle,

assistant

astronomer

t the

Royal

Observatory

t

Berlin,

to calculate

he

passage.

3\/I.Galle found, orthe longitudeof Lima,

11.

m.

s.

5 17

41 4

by the interior

ontact,

5

17

48

o

by the

exterior

ontact,

mean,

Sh. 171n.

45s.

Now,

I found

Limato

the

east of Callao

(Rec.

d'Obs.Astr.,

ome

ii. p. 428),

by

chlonometer,-

1S02,

Nov.

9

. . .

28 6

,,

Dec. 14

. .

. 31 2

,, ,, 17 . . . 27 8

,, ,,

2 7

. .

. 27 Gz

28 7

whenceit results

that, by

the transit

of AIercury

n

1832, the

longitude

of Callao

is,

according

o

M. Galle,

Sh. 181n.

13

7s.,

while thepassage

of 1802 gives

5h.

18m.

18s., and

Captain

Fitz

Roy decides

upon5h.

18m.

16s. The

acctlracy

f the eletermi-

nation

of thelongitude

of Callaoseems

thus,for the

last

30 years,

to havebeencircllmscribed ithinsufficiently arrowimits.

As

absolute

stronomical

bservations

ugllt

o claim

attention

n

preference

o

relativeand

chronometric

bservations,

llow

me

to

elvell

for a

momenton

thepOSitiOll

of

Valparaiso.

The

occulta-

tion

of the star,

644

of the Scorpion,

wasobserve(l

n the

28thof

October,

1821,

with

muchaccuracy,

yCaptain

Basil

Hall.

Mr.

Foster,

an

observerand

calculator

generallv

very

exact, acci-

dentally

ma(le

a mistake

ill

the calculation

of tllis

occultation,

wllich gives,

not

4h. 55m.

lbs.,

as Mr.

Foster

thought,

but

4h. 56m. 166s., for thefortof San Antonioat Vallearaiso. M.

Oltmanns,

accor(ling

to Bode

(2Istronomisc72e

ehrbuch

ar

18g9,

p. 197),

in a memoir

alreadywritten

n September,

1826,

pointed

out

the mistake

in

the calculation

by the comparison

of the

elements.

Now,

the

occultation

of

Antares gives

4h. 561n.42s.:

we

have,therefore,

by

the mean

of two

occulta-

*

Tllis

occultatioll

of Antares

is also

an obsertration

f

CaptainBasil

Hall.

The

observation

s good, but

the

calculation

made of it

at first

was wrong,

as is proved



504

Baron A. VONHUMBOLDTnahe

tions4h. 56m. 29s. = 74?7' 15/t; but, as lunar distances nd the

satellitesgive 74? and 73? 59', M. Oltmanns, n a MS. meinoir

which he communicated o me shortly before his death, as-

sumes as longitudeof Fort San Antonioat Valparaiso, 4?2' =

4h. 56m. 8s., which only differsa second in time fromthe result

obtained n the memorable xpeditionun(lerCaptainsKing an(l

Fitz Roy.

Captain Beechey has published(Naut.Mag., April, 1838)

an important esult obtained by the moon's passage over tbe

meridian.Fourteen lays' bservations,omparedwithCambridge,

Paris, Edinburgh, nd the Cape of Good Hope, (liSeronly 27 se-

conds n time, and he wholeof these ransits ives4h. 551n. 9 1 .:

120 lunardistances ive CaptainBeechey 4h. 5Sm. 53 4s.; mean

h. 551n.56 6Ps., nly 12 secondsof time less than the wholeof

the occultations, atellites,and lunar distanceshad given to my

friend and colleague,Oltmanns. If we take the mean of the

first-classol)selvations nly, for Callao of the two passages of

Mercuryover the sun's disk, for Valpalaiso of the two occulta-

tions calculatedby M. Oltmantls,and of the lunar transitsof

CaptainBeechey,we have-

h. m. s.

Callao . . .

a

18 15 8

Valparaiso . . 4 56 1254*

D;Serenceof longitude O 22 S-4

whichagreesverywell withthe four chronometricrialsof

O , 1t

Malespina . . 5 26 28

Captain . Hall . 5 31 47

Lartigue . . 5 30 43

FitzRoy .

F

. 5 32 15

0 2c) 14

Perhapst wouldbe prudento exclueleheresult)yMalespina

as differinghe most.

by the comparisoll of the elements of calculation given by Bode, As }2 Jahrb. ur,

1828, p. 182. The reslllt is not 71? 30/ 5@5/t, but 71? 51t 25/t west of (3reenwich.

* To remind us how useful it is to stlbmit old observationxto rigorous calcula-

tions, I will cite the eclipse of the sun of the 11th of Alarch, 17()9, observedby

Feuillee. This eclipse gave Triesnecker4h. 56m, 29 4s. * Mechain, 4h. 56m. 33s.

Oltmanns, 4h. 56m. 41s. (Paris).

r

acknowledge that the longitvldewhich results

from the transitxby Captain Beeche , generally so nrorthyof coIlfidence,appeared

to me to give a longitude rather too mtlch to the east; for we have now definitively

for Valparaisos-

h. m. s.

4 56 41 i'euillEe and Oltmanns.

4 56 7 FitzRoy.

4 56 29 Occultation of E3asilHall.

4 55 56 Beechey.

Oltmannsreferredh. 6m. s.



Lorzgitudef

Valparaiso stdCallao. 505

As astronomical

ables

aregradually

orrected,t

becoluesne-

cessary o

revise ormer

alculations.I foundCumana y aneclipse of

the sun

41l.2Sm.5 ls.

By

chronometers4

26 4

By thesatellites 4

26

6

at 26

0 4

(Rec.

d'Obs.

Xstw.,ome

. p. 863.

On the

7th of

November,

1799, I ha(l a good

observation

of theImm. II.

Satellite,with

a veryclear

sky. This

observation,

publishe(ly

Baronvon

Zachduringmy

journeyon

the Orinoco,

gives, by the tablesof Delambre,4h. C51n. 2s.;

a

corresponding

observation tMarseilles

malies

Cumana n 4h. 26m.

2]s.

This

observation f the I1.

Satellitehas

ust beencalculated

with he

es-

cellenttables of

Damoiseau,

by M.

Wolfers, very

exactand

prac-

tisedcalculator. t

gives4h.

26m.S 9s., which,

as a

single leerva-

tion,only

differs4

seconds

ronl he general

mean. At this

moment

thereareso few

persons

whooccupy

hemselves

ersevering]y,nd

with the accuracy

hat the

present

stateof science

admitsof,

with

astronomical eography,

especially

for points

situatel out

of

Europe, hat youwill oblige us much if from ime to time you

woul(l

ransmit o me

observations

or

occultations,clipsesof

the

sun, anflof

moon-culminatingtars,

as I have the

mearlsherc

of

submitting hem to a

rigorous

alculation.

The

volumeof

Mr.

CharlesDarwirl s an

admirable upple-

mentto the voyage

of the

Beaeyle:t is one

of the

most

remark-

ableworks hat, n

the

courseof a

long ife, I havehad

the

pleasure

to see pululishe(l.

WIr.

Darwin unites to

sagacity

or (letailetl

olesers-ations

nlargeelviews

in general

physics, I

shoulel

rather

say in

natural

philosophy,

viewswhich

embraceat

oncegeology,

the

geographical

istribution f plants,an(l

the

influenceof tesn-

perature

n the

organic

ypes of the primitive

world.

It is also

fortunate hat

this great

espe(lition o

the

southern

regionsof America

shoul(l

have induce(l

5-OU1' able

geographer,

Mr. .John

Arrowsmith,o

compilehis

lJeautifulmap

of the

whole

of the

continent f South

America.

I oSerup the

most

arelentwishes or the

successof

themagnetic

expedition

underCaptain

James

Ross, ancl or the

establishment

of the

stationswhich w-e

owe to the

munificenceof

the

British

government: f it is true that the letter I ad(lresse(lo IS. R. H.

the Duke of

Sussexan(l to

the Royal

Societyhas

contribute(l

o

these

undertakirlgso

useful to

science, I

should

congratulate

myself on

havinghad the

courage

o )lea(l

so cxcellent

a cause.

I hope

that

CaptainRoss has on

boarcl he

necessary

pparatus



-

-

506

Baron

HUMBOLUT

n

the

Lony.

of

Malparaiso

lnd

Ctlao.

fi)r

observing

maonetic

dip

at sea,

as

M.

Adolph

Erman*

and

myself

have

done.

As

a

stratuln

of

water

of immense

thickness

covers

the

surface

of

the

globe, these observatiollsfbeing less

affected

by

local

perturbations,

are

of

great

importance

even

when

they

may

be

made

with

less

precision.

We

shall

also

learn

if

the

showers

of

shooting-stars

from

the

lOthto

the

lQth

of

August,

and

from

the

lEth

to

the

1.3th

of

No-

vember,

are

visilule

far

towards

the

South

Pole.

During

the

last

six

or

eight

months

T

have

been

daWy

ccupied

with

dle

(lirections

of

the

chains

of

mountains

in

Central

Asia

and

with

a

new

e{lition

of the

two

volumes

of

Fraymens

e

Geo-

loyieetde Cttimatotogtesiatiques,

hich I publishe(l after my

return

from

Siberia.

There

still

remains

much

doult

as

to

the

position

and

names

of

the

lakes

which

in

the

plateau

of Pamer

are

the

sources

of

the

Oxus;

I know

nothing

more

of

the

discow-ery

of the

Sini-gul

and

';

Lake

Victoria"

of

Lieutenant

Wooul

exce)t

the

few

lines

contained

in the;

Bomlay

Gazettel

and

t.he

'

Asiatic

Joulnal'

for

Novetnber,

1838.

Has

the

Geographical

Society

nothing

more

precise

ors

the

topography

of

Pamer,

than

some

astronomical

observations

of

Lieutenant Wood, companion of the courageous Sir Alesander

Burnes

?

This

lake,

at

15,600

feet

abow-e

he

sea,

is

of

the

more

importance

to

me,

as,

thanks

to

the

kindness

of

M.

Stanislas

Julienn

professor

of

Chirlese

literature

at

the

College

de

France

at

Paris,

I

shall

publish

a

very

curious

notice

on

the

plateau

of

Pamer,

extracted

from

the

unpublished

travels

of

Hiouenthsong.,

a

Buddhist

traveller

of the

7th

century.

ALEXANDER

UMBOLDT.

To

Caytain

Washingt01t,

.N.

P.S.-Mr.

Scholllbllrgk

continues

to

explore

with

the

same

ardour.

I

hope

that

he

will

reach

the

Cerro

Duida,

the

forest

o?

Berthf)lletia,

nd

the

mission

of

Es1neralda,

where

I was

almost

eRexJollrel

)y

mosquitoes.

May

this

excellent

young

man,

my

countryman,

always

enjoy

the

kindness

of your

illustrious

society

*

M.

Erman

has

{lescrabed

his

apparatus

ill

Sch2fmacher's

.str.

Nach.,

1839,

p. 364.

Documents

On the Longitude of Valparaiso and Callao, In a Letter From Baron Alexander Von Humboldt - Alexander Von Humboldt 1839