Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Prologue: A Dinner Party for Captain Cook
- 1 Foundations: The Acquisition of Knowledge and Values
- 2 The Map-maker: Developing ‘the Soldier’s Eye’
- 3 The Military Engineer: Raids, Resources and Fortifications
- 4 The Antiquary in the Field: Empathy with the Army of Rome
- 5 The Practical and Sociable Scientist: Hypsometry and the Royal Society
- 6 The Geodesist: Large Triangles and Minuscule Adjustments
- 7 Aftermath and Legacy: The Birth of the Ordnance Survey
- Appendix 1 Chronology
- Appendix 2 General Roy’s Instructions on Reconnoitring
- Appendix 3 Glossary
- List of Abbreviations
- Bibliographical References
- Index
Appendix 3 - Glossary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Prologue: A Dinner Party for Captain Cook
- 1 Foundations: The Acquisition of Knowledge and Values
- 2 The Map-maker: Developing ‘the Soldier’s Eye’
- 3 The Military Engineer: Raids, Resources and Fortifications
- 4 The Antiquary in the Field: Empathy with the Army of Rome
- 5 The Practical and Sociable Scientist: Hypsometry and the Royal Society
- 6 The Geodesist: Large Triangles and Minuscule Adjustments
- 7 Aftermath and Legacy: The Birth of the Ordnance Survey
- Appendix 1 Chronology
- Appendix 2 General Roy’s Instructions on Reconnoitring
- Appendix 3 Glossary
- List of Abbreviations
- Bibliographical References
- Index
Summary
Azimuth: an arc from the zenith that cuts the horizon at right-angles.
Berm: in Roman defensive works, a narrow level strip between a wall and an outer ditch.
Castrametation: the choice of site and design for a Roman, or later, military camp or fort.
Circumferentor: a magnetic compass fitted with two vertical sights.
Counterscarp bank: an earthen bank constructed on the outer edge of a defensive ditch.
Cropmarks: the patterns revealed by aerial photography of the differential ripening of crops in arable fields – the plants remain green for longer over buried ditches and pits but parch out over buried walls and other hard features.
Cunette: in fortifications, a drainage channel.
Dividing engine: a machine for the accurate engraving of the scale on a scientific instrument.
Equatorial instrument: a telescope on an equatorial mount which could be used to measure zenith and altitude.
Equatorial mount: a mount for a telescope with an axis of rotation parallel to the Earth’s axis; by rotating the telescope around this polar axis a star can be kept in view.
Geodesy: the measurement of the size and shape of the Earth.
Glacis: a long tapering slope, formed of upcast, on the outer edge of a defensive ditch.
Hillfort: late prehistoric settlement, enclosed by earthworks or walls and often utilising natural defences.
Hypsometry: the measurement of elevation by observing variations in barometric pressure.
Lunar distance: the position of the moon against fixed stars.
Manometer: a closed and calibrated vertical tube, with an open end submerged in water, by which air pressure could be measured.
Meridian: an imaginary line between the Poles, and thus the north–south line in a particular place.
Pyrometer: a device for the precise measurement of the expansion or contraction of metals or other materials when heated or cooled.
Quadrant: an instrument for observing angles through a quarter of a circle, set vertically with a plumbline to measure altitude or zenith distance.
Roman camp: a temporary defended enclosure for an army unit, bounded by a single slight rampart and ditch, often playing-card shaped on plan.
Roman fort: a permanent garrison post, enclosed by walls of timber and turf or of stone, and by external ditches.
Spherical excess: the amount that the interior angles of a spherical triangle exceed 180 degrees.
Spheroid: an approximately spherical body.
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- Information
- General William Roy, 1726-1790Father of the Ordnance Survey, pp. 278 - 279Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2022