Hello,
In _Sciothericum Telescopicum or A New Contrivance of Adapting a
Telescope to an Horizontal Dial_ by William Molyneaux, 1686 the words gnomon and
stile are definitely used interchangeably. In chap. III (A Description of the
Instrument) he defines gnomon or double gnomon as he calls it, "as that which
casts the morning shadow from its western edge and the afternoon shadow from its
eastern edge and the noon shadow by its thickens". Then he describes the surface
which the "sighting rulers" of the apparatus travel along, as the stile face or
"some perhaps will call it the back of the Cock". A third name for the same
piece i.e., a polar aligned shadow caster. If there is any clear and universal
distinction between the meaning of gnomon and stile this text doesn't seem to
offer any clues as to what it might be. This reminds me of the adage "The nice
things about standards is that there are so many to choose from".
Regards,
Luke Coletti
fer j. de vries wrote:
> John Carmichael wrote:
> >
> > fer j. de vries states:
> >
> > >So to my opinion the cables on your sundials are styles.
> >
> > Whereas Patrick says the cable should be called a gnomon.
> >
> > Why do you do this to me! If two of the most respected gnomonists of this
> > group are in disagreement then I guess I am free to use either definition!
> > Maybe we should call Patrick a "gnomonist" and fer a "stylist"!
> >
> > John Carmichael
> > http://www.azstarnet.com/~pappas
>
> Hello John,
>
> I looked in some old English books ( reprints ).
>
> Thomas Fale, Horologiographia, The Art of Dialling, London 1593.
> He uses the words Stile and Substile ( with i )
>
> Edmund Gunter, Use of the sector, cross-staffe, and other instruments,
> 1624.
> He uses Style and Substyle ( with y )
>
> But both use the word style or stile for the shadow caster parallel to
> the earth's axis.
>
> To confuse you more :
> Edmund Gunter, The description and use of His Maiesties dials in
> Whit-Hall Garden, 1624.
> The most imporatant part of this dial is an horizontal concave dial with
> shadow-triangle.
> The whole triangle is named : Style.
> The edge parallel to the earth's axis is named : Axis of the world.
> The edge pointing to the zenith is named : Axis of the horizon.
>
> Happy dyalling, Fer. ( gnomonist, because with a gnomon I am able to
> read all kinds of lines on a sundial and with a style I am restricted to
> the suntime, with or without longitude correction. )
>
>
> --
> Fer J. de Vries
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.iaehv.nl/users/ferdv/
> lat. 51:30 N long. 5:30 E
fer j. de vries wrote:
> John Carmichael wrote:
> >
> > fer j. de vries states:
> >
> > >So to my opinion the cables on your sundials are styles.
> >
> > Whereas Patrick says the cable should be called a gnomon.
> >
> > Why do you do this to me! If two of the most respected gnomonists of this
> > group are in disagreement then I guess I am free to use either definition!
> > Maybe we should call Patrick a "gnomonist" and fer a "stylist"!
> >
> > John Carmichael
> > http://www.azstarnet.com/~pappas
>
> Hello John,
>
> I looked in some old English books ( reprints ).
>
> Thomas Fale, Horologiographia, The Art of Dialling, London 1593.
> He uses the words Stile and Substile ( with i )
>
> Edmund Gunter, Use of the sector, cross-staffe, and other instruments,
> 1624.
> He uses Style and Substyle ( with y )
>
> But both use the word style or stile for the shadow caster parallel to
> the earth's axis.
>
> To confuse you more :
> Edmund Gunter, The description and use of His Maiesties dials in
> Whit-Hall Garden, 1624.
> The most imporatant part of this dial is an horizontal concave dial with
> shadow-triangle.
> The whole triangle is named : Style.
> The edge parallel to the earth's axis is named : Axis of the world.
> The edge pointing to the zenith is named : Axis of the horizon.
>
> Happy dyalling, Fer. ( gnomonist, because with a gnomon I am able to
> read all kinds of lines on a sundial and with a style I am restricted to
> the suntime, with or without longitude correction. )
>
>
> --
> Fer J. de Vries
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.iaehv.nl/users/ferdv/
> lat. 51:30 N long. 5:30 E
