NAUSCOPIE FURTHER ILLUSTRATED. 



WITH A MEMOIR OP BOTTINEAU, BY M. JOUY. 



[In looking over the large collection of papers in his possession, the gentle- 

 man who contributed those on Nauscopie in our last Number has found a con- 

 tinuation of Bottineau's statement. The paper, however, concludes so abruptly, 

 that we cannot but consider it as incomplete. Fragment as it is, we feel 

 assured that our Readers will thank us for laying it before them ; we therefore 

 do so at once, hoping, at the same time, that our contributor will be fortunate 

 enough to discover what is apparently deficient. By the agency of a friend, 

 he has obtained some account of Boltineau's life, by M. E. Jouy of the French 

 Academy, who was personally acquainted with him, and bears witness to the 

 correctness of the statements; made by Marat to Mr. Daly. By this Memoir, 

 which we subjoin, it appears, however, that Marat was wrong in announcing 

 Bottineau's death the disappointed discoverer of this extraordinary science 

 having been alive in 1810.] 



BOTTINEAUS FRAGMENT. 



THE discovery of a nebulous sattellite, the travelling companion of 

 the ship, and preceding it several days, was undoubtedly of vast 

 importance, even had it not extended further j but at the same time, 

 I conceived that it would be of much greater advantage if I succeed- 

 ed in acquiring data respecting the distance of vessels, their number, 

 &c. that this would be the means of creating a new science, of 

 immense benefit to every nation, and that would confer everlasting 

 honour on the country which gave me birth. 



I consequently began to occupy myself in calculating distances, 

 and by paying great attention to the modifications of the phenome- 

 na (according to the proximity of the vessels) I was enabled to gra- 

 duate distances with exactness, and compose a scale of progressions. 

 In consequence of the success I obtained in these calculations, the 

 governor and officers of the Isle of France witnessed with surprise 

 with what precision I predicted the arrival of vessels. 



The very moment I discovered that a vessel at sea was always 

 accompanied by a mass of vapours that preceded it, it was no difficult 

 matter for me to conceive that several vessels being together, the 

 mass must necessarily be increased and modified in a different man- 

 ner. This circumstance infallibly occurs ; each vessel produces the 

 same phenomenon; the phenomena collect, without mixing with 

 each other. From these individual pictures (tableaux particuliers) 

 a general picture is composed, exhibiting the features (traits) apper- 

 taining to each vessel. There is scarcely a seaman who has not fre- 

 quently observed this particular state of the horizon ; but it has 

 always been attributed to the whimsical freaks of nature, the neces* 

 sary effect of capricious winds, and the lightness of the clouds (a le 

 regarder comme un jeu bizarre, eflfet necessaire des vents et la lege- 

 rete des nuages) without ever suspecting that there could be the 



M. M. No. 89. 3 U 



