19
differences in these individual units.
‘The Geometer no 2’ (1971), Portrait of John Michell, by Maxwell Armfield RWS, 1881 - 1972, Private Collection
I tried to elicit from John exactly how
he had come to his conclusions but
he simply did not remember. My own
methods, on the other hand, require
that each piece of data is first regarded
as hypothetical, enough corroboratory
pieces of the same nature is then
regarded as a proposition. Enough
mutually supportive propositions may
only then be regarded as the general
theory. However, if the correct answer
is initially arrived at through inspiration,
it only needs to be verified. After all,
inspiration is precisely how Dmitri
Mendeleev arrived at the arrangement
of the periodic table.
Right dear reader steel yourself
— that was the easy bit. If the nature
of John’s great discovery is to be
understood, we must delve into the
realm of number. This is where most
people fade away, John and I always
sought our “third man” and when we
thought we had him, he never stayed
the course. This is why I published
under the logos of The Secret Academy
and the motto is “We can’t give it
away”. This epithet became part of our
personal language that was mostly
numerical. Whenever we discovered a
juicy and pertinent fact concerning our
studies we would finish our explanation
with “can’t give it away”.
Additionally, academic acceptance
of the system is precluded because of
the source of the information; academe This is because of the variations that measurements have been grouped
is very stuffy and hates anything that they are all subject to, have erstwhile into a single classification terminology.
originates from beyond its closed been regarded as either slackness in Secondly absolute and exact values are
doors. The vast majority of conservative their maintenance or a belief that the established. Thirdly John proposed a
academics also abhor, anything termed historic systems had been arbitrary. geodetic, or earth related, relationship.
a “discovery” especially in historical This had led to a general averaging of This means that just as modern
studies. In the case of John, he is the units by historians; which further standard units were devised through
branded as a dreamy mystic with the cloaked the astonishing beauty of the the medium of a detailed survey of the
effect that his true contribution has complete structure of metrology. globe — so must the ancient standards
yet to be fully appreciated let alone have been created. As preposterous
understood. A case of give a dog Click here to see units in Ancient as this may sound to modern thought
a bad name. Metrology. processes, which look upon our
Prior to John’s discovery no ancient ancestors with a patronising attitude,
measuring unit had ever been precisely This initial exploration of historical there is in fact nothing outlandish in this
defined. All had to be expressed measurement is important on many statement. All of the instrumentation
between plus minus parameters. grounds. It is the first time related necessary to conduct just such a survey
avantoure
|
jackpot
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