Transcriber’s Notes
Inconsistent, archaic spelling, hyphenation, typography etc. have been retained, also in proper and geographic names and in numbering of illustrations and plates, except as listed under Changes below. Depending on the hard- and software used and their settings not all elements may display as intended, and zooming and horizontal and/or vertical scrolling may be necessary to view the larger elements.
The book regularly refers to a book published by the author’s father: An Account of the Bell Rock Light-House by Robert Stevenson, which is available at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48414.
Text in a dashed box underneath an illustration is text that does not occur as such in the source document, but that has been transcribed from inside the illustration for the sake of clarity.
Page xi: the errata have already been corrected in the text; see also under Changes made below.
Page 149, ... the same mass of Mull stone would weigh 4252 tons ...: possibly an error for 4152 tons (which would make the calculation correct).
Page 174: ... somewhat on the same plan as that which is described in the Appendix ...: it is not clear to which Appendix this refers; possibly the reference is to Plate XXXI.
Page 252 ff.: Figures 59 and 60 are identical.
Page 271 ff.: Figures 71 and 72 are identical.
Page 276, See fig. 73 and the following paragraph: the description appears to refer to Fig. 71/72 rather than to fig. 73.
Page 362, Conversely, n′ is the origin of the co-ordinates for the grinding centre O of the interior convex refracting surface BC, ...: in the illustration (Fig. 110) this appears to be a lower case o.
Page 389, entries for May 14 and 15, 1844: the order as given here is the one printed in the source document; the reason for the inverse order is not clear.
Page 422, item Charities &c, number 2: Since last Act: there appears to be a discrepancy between the individual amounts paid out and the sub-total given.
Changes made:
Footnotes, illustrations and tables have been moved outside text paragraphs; marginalia have been moved to where they appeared to fit best in the paragraph concerned. In certain tables, Do. or do. have been replaced with the dittoed text.
Some obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Some minor oddities in text lay-out have been changed silently for easier readability.
Repeated table and column headers, carry/brought forward, subtotals etc. on page transitions in lists and tables have been removed, except partly on the transition from page 423 to 424.
Suter and Souter have been standardised to Suter.
Page xi: the errata listed have already been corrected in the text. The amount L.93,306 : 8 : 10 does not occur on line 6 of page 178; the amount L.90,268, 12 : 1 that does occur on line 7 of that page has been replaced by L.86,977 : 17 : 7 as given in the Appendix (page 384).
Page 61, Footnote The last column of this table ...: ... will be G·MG·M′, by which expression ... changed to ... will be G·MG′·M′, by which expression ....
Page 231: In these figures, n n shews the reflector flame ... changed to In these figures, n n shews the reflector frame ....
Page 267: François Soliel, whom I urged ... changed to François Soleil, whom I urged ...; ... the light derived from the accessary part ... changed to ... the light derived from the accessory part ....
Page 281: OA = ρ . cos . OAX. changed to OA = ρ . cos OAX.
Page 284: F is the small flame in the focus ... changed to E is the small flame in the focus ....
Page 413, entry The Commission paid to Collectors ...: £2401 : 7 : 0⁴⁄₈ changed to £2401 : 7 : 3⁴⁄₈ cf. page 429.
Page 430, entry 9. Startpoint, Balance: 462 0 8⁶⁄₈ changed to 462 0 3⁶⁄₈.
Page 355: ... forming a flat parallelopepid ... changed to ... forming a flat parallelopiped ....
Page 399, entry Drum Sand West Buoy, South Point: Bear changed to Bearing.