"Compasses" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... 5 gives log 5 - log 4 log 5/4, and so for others. In order to multiply two numbers, say 2 and 3, we have log 2 x 3 log 2 log 3. Hence, setting off the distance 1,2 from 3 forward by the aid of a pair of compasses will give the distance log 2 log 3, and will bring us to 6 as the required product. Again, if it is required to find 4/5 of 7, set off the distance between 4 and 5 from 7 backwards, and the required number will be obtained. In the actual scales the spaces ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 - "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" • Various
... by the way, the place that holds a ship's compasses, deserves a word of mention. It was a little house, about the bigness of a common bird-cage, with sliding panel doors, and two drawing-rooms within, and constantly perched upon a stand, right in front of the helm. It had two chimney stacks ...
— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville
... others have with cheapness seen and ease In varnish'd maps, by th' help of compasses, Or read in volumes and those books with all Their large narrations incanonical, Thou hast beheld those seas and countries far, And tell'st to us what once they were, and are. So that with bold truth thou can'st now relate This kingdom's fortune, and that empire's fate: Can'st talk to us of Sharon, ...
— The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2 • Robert Herrick
... place—unless, indeed, the last borrower had forgotten to put it back. For measuring the height of plants he had a seven-foot deal rod, graduated by the village carpenter. Latterly he took to using paper scales graduated to millimeters. For small objects he used a pair of compasses and an ivory protractor. It was characteristic of him that he took scrupulous pains in making measurements with his somewhat rough scales. A trifling example of his faith in authority is that he took his "inch in terms of millimeters" from ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin
... his bust. He was older, and considered himself much my superior, and, indeed, undertook to be my instructor. I was to begin. His first canon was that I was to use no measurements, and he quoted Michael Angelo's saying—'A sculptor should carry his compasses in his eyes, not in his fingers,' I humbly submitted to his authority, and finished the bust without a single measurement. He was very triumphant at what he called the success of his method. I begged permission of him, now that the bust was completed, to verify my work by the dividers. He graciously ...
— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.
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