RT- 6
GREEN MERIDIAN ROUTE
(Ruta del Meridià Verd)

Dunkerque - Paris - Barcelona

Articles

The episode of Francesc Aragó in the Balearic Islands.
Gaspar Valero i Martí
Culture Responsible of the Grup Excursionista de Mallorca
Article publised in the magazine "Muntanya" of the CEC, num. 797, February 1995 (pages 24-26)

In May 2nd, 1806, the Bureau des Longitudes, which central office is in Paris, asked to Jean Baptiste Biot and to the young man from the Roussillon Francesc Aragó to measure the meridian of Paris. The project was abandoned in 1804 because of Pierre Méchain's death when only five over seventeen of the needed triangulations were ready. Aragó arrived to the Balearic Islands in March 1807, when he was 21 years old. In his first stage, in Ibiza, in the geodesical station of the Campvei, in the north of the island, built by Biot and José Rodríguez (one of the two Spanish commissioners of those measures). Biot and Aragó worked in Campvei between March 15th and April 14th, 1807, in order to observe between Ibiza and the Desert de les Palmes (in Castellón) on one side, and between Ibiza and Montgó (near Dénia), on the other hand. One of the anecdotes of this stay was that the provisioning had to be bought in the city of Ibiza, because their neighbors were so poor that they did not have anything to sell them.

Although in the first forecasts appeared that the most Eastern point of the measure had to be fixed in the island of Ibiza, their stay in Campvei opened new perspectives in order to enlarge it to the South, incorporating the possibilities given by the island of Formentera. Doing this, this small island became the southern point of the arch to measure, because then it was not feasible to go to the African coast.

Serra de Tramuntana (Majorca) from the Turó de l'Home (Montseny)

Jean B. Biot and Francesc Aragó moved to Formentera in April 19th, 1807, and pitched the needed observatory in the Eastern side of the island, in a wide plain called La Mola. Biot explained that it was really difficult to carry all the needed instruments from the Savina harbor to La Mola, because there were not enough carriages. In his bowknots, there are other interesting informations, like the comments about the style of life of the villagers of Formentera, because he could not understand their position and their culture. But their works began, and until April 28th, they measure the angle of the triangle with the Valencian coast. In December, 1807, they began in Formentera the measures to establish the latitude of the arch of the meridian, determined by several observations of the polar star.

After those measures and observations with a pendulum in order to determine the strength of the gravity, in January 1808, Biot came back to Paris with all the data of the rest of triangles finished. But Aragó stayed in Formentera for some months, together with the Spanish commissioners Chaix and Rodríguez. In the island, the team worked hardly and could connect geodesically speaking Majorca, Menorca and Formentera in one single triangle. After Formentera, the next step was to go to Majorca in order to measure the latitude and the azimuth of this new triangulation.

In May 6th, 1808, Aragó moved to Majorca and set at the top of La Mola de l'Esclop. This mountain is 926 m high, placed in the south-western side of the Serra de Tramuntana, near the Puig de Galatzó. Aragó's name to this place was "Clop de Galatzó", mistakenly translated by Alfons Maseres as "Puig de Galatzó", as Francesc Olivé says (1).

View over the Mola de s'Esclop (Serra de Tamuntana - Majorca)

A simple ruined hut, of rectangular base, still remembers this stay.

The times Aragó lived in Majorca coincided with a really politically unstable time because of the beginning of the Guerra del Francès (war against France). Aragó worked quite calmly until May 27th, 1808, when the news of the revolt of Spain against France. In that same day, Berthémie, an official who belonged to Napoleon's army, carried orders to move the French army from Maó to Toló, something that annoys the public opinion, who raised against the French in Majorca. Then, they remembered that a French man was making strange operations with fire and optical instruments at the top of a mountain, and they did not doubt to qualify him as an agent in the service of the French emperor. The next day, an armed squad went to the mountain to look for that dangerous spy.

Luckily, Damià, the skipper of the small boat called "místic", who the Spanish government had sent under the orders of the measure team, knew about those acts against the astronomer and could quickly climb to L'Esclop to warn him about the danger. The shipman persuaded him to leave the island as soon as possible, and dressed him as the Majorcan peasants; they immediately went down the mountain. In the path they found the capture expedition. Aragó explained later: "Nobody recognized me, because I could talk Majorcan language perfectly. I encouraged that squad to follow that path, and I went on to the city".

The writer Pere Morey Servera explains the episode with his especial irony and narrative naturality:
"In his way down, they found the armed squad.
- Good morning, and where are you going with such a well armed?
- To kill the French man of S'Esclop, who is an spy!
- Well done, knock him down for me!
It was Aragó himself, talking perfectly in Catalan, who managed to give the slip to the squad. And that's because our main character was born in L'Estagell, in the Northern Catalonia. "

When they arrived to Palma, Aragó embarked in the "místic", commanded by the lieutenant Manuel de Vacaró, to whom he asked to go to Barcelona, occupied by the French. But Vacaró did not accept to make such a dangerous trip that, moreover, was against the orders of the authorities from the islands, who prohibited him to go out of the island without an special permission. As a compensation, Vacaró offered Aragó a small wooden box where he wanted Aragó to hide if there was any danger around. Meanwhile, in the harbor, there were riots when they discovered the presence of the young astronomer. So, Aragó asked to be imprisoned in the Bellver castle. Aragó explained, with good humored words, that he could hardly arrive to the medieval fortress pursued by the rioters: "During my race, I only got a light stab wound in my thigh. Usually, there have been seen several prisoners running far away from the prison; maybe I am the only one who run towards it".

Francesc Aragó stayed in the Bellver castle almost the whole month of July, where he felt abandoned by his old Majorcan friends. He even had to read in a newspaper from Valencia the false new about his own death in the gallows. Captain Rodríguez moved Aragó's request of freedom to the Captain General. He accepted to order Aragó's freedom but, in return, he did not want to give him a safe-conduct. But, when the young astronomer had free way, again with Damià's help, they looked for a fishing boat and, in July 28th, they went out of the Bellver castle.

When Aragó went out of Bellver and Majorca, he was accompanied by Berthémie, and both left by Damià's ship, together with three other sailors. Meteorology was adverse, so they decided to stop in the island of Cabrera, and waited for a better weather. There, Berthémie and Aragó argued about the convenience, according to Berthémie, to leave immediately, before any expedition could be organized from Majorca to capture them. According to Aragó, this argument almost separate them: "The three sailors Damià contracted saw that Mr. Berthémie, that I told them he was my servant, was arguing with me face to face, at the same level. Then they say to their skipper: If we have accepted to participate in this expedition was on condition that the emperor's helper, imprisoned in Bellver, would not be among those in the ship; we just wanted to help the astronomer. So, leave the official in Cabrera, or we will throw him to the sea". Then, Mr. Berthémie agreed with me in order not to suffer the brutalities a servant would suffer in his place, and all the sailors' suspicions lost."

Overcame this obstacle, they decided to leave Cabrera on July 29th, with a better weather and favorable wind. Here ends the Balearic episode of Francesc Aragó. They could arrive safe to Alger in August 3rd. The adventures he had to live to arrive to Paris, and his long scientific career had just began.

(1) About this observation, I want to suggest an ethimological hypothesis about the name "Esclop". Until now, this toponym has been related with a supposed similarity of the shape of the mountain with the shoe ("esclop" means "clog"), something that cannot be real. My proposal is, on the first hand, to consider the whole name (Mola de s'Esclop) as talking about a possession of the farmhouse called "S'Esclop". On the second hand, this name, separated from the generic one "Mola" (mountain, hill), would be the result of the addition to the article "es" (especial from Majorca) with the name "clop", the Majorcan name of the tree of the Populous genre (in English, poplar), a very well-known tree near the mountain and the farmhouse.

El The measure of the meridian in the area of El Maresme and Fra Agustí Canelles
Francesc Olivé i Guilera
Passage of the article was published in the num 223 (4th quarter of the year 1994) of the "Alella" magazine.

Although all the hardships suffered, Méchain went back to Catalonia in 1803, as we have said before, and he restarted the measure. But, again, bad luck was over him, and this time forever. In the year 1804, in the middle of his activities in the mountains of the Desert de les Palmes, in Castellón de la Plana, Méchain died from the yellow fever.

Agustí Canelles was astronomer, mathematician, and navigation professor, and he invented a geodesic instrument of great precision. He participated in the triangulation during this second stage, and went together with Méchain for a year by the mountains of Tarragona and the area of El Maestrat, a commissioner of the Spanish government, until Méchain's death in 1804.

A year before, in 1803, Canelles had read a communication in the Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona defensing the need of "a universal measure that comes from nature", in which he also talked about our scientists' participation in the later campaign of measure. When, in the year 1806, with two years of delay because of Méchain's death, the French scientists Biot and Aragó restarted the prolongation, but Canelles did not participate then. The commissioners appointed by the Spanish government were J. Chaix, an astronomer from Xàtiva, and Rodríguez, a young Spanish scientist who had studied astronomy and mathematics in the Observatoire of Paris and in the College of France. In this last stage, there were new adventures. The scientist Francesc Aragó, who came from the Roussillon, was alone in his hut in the Mola de S'Eslop, in the Serra de Tramuntana (Majorca) in 1808, when the war against France started. He had enough time to leave and to go to the Bellver castle. He could escape from his prosecutors by talking in Catalan with them.

While Francesc Aragó went to France, Agustí Canelles enlisted in the Spanish army as a helper of General O'Donell against the French invaders. History is full of contradictions and ironies.

Canelles lived his last years in Alella, where he died and was buried in 1818.

In 1881 the members of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya admitted in Agustí Canelles enough values in the areas of mountaineering and science that justified the fact of hanging his portrait in the Gallery of the most Famous Catalan walkers that this club had his social office.

Antoni de Martí i Flaquès and the measurement of the arch of the meridian in Tarragona
Antoni Quintana i Martí
Article publised in the magazine "Muntanya" of the CEC, num. 797, February 1995 (pages 31-33)

After the well documented exposition that can be found in the guide made because of the excursion to Altafulla in February 13th, 1994, a guide called "Following the meridian, 12", and in order to avoid duplicities, I prefer to give some unpublished but complementary data about the several members of the French expedition leaded first by Méchain (by the years 1792 and 1803), and later on, by Biot and Aragó (from 1806 to 1808).

It is important to emphasize the multi-faceted character of Martí i Franquès. He had friends even in the highest levels of the science world. He was considered as one of the most illustrated characters of his times in Catalonia. He usually was consulted by those foreigners who came to Catalonia: Méchain, Biot and Aragó; archaeologists like Laborde Le Chevalier and Petit-Radel (the conserver of the Bibliothèque Mazarine of Paris); naturalists like La Roche and Mack low; agronomous publicists like the count of Lasteyrie; and many others. Most of them were previously recommended by the consul of France in Barcelona, monsieur Vioet, who thought that Martí i Franquès had artistic, wisdom and antiquarian talents, like an archaeologist. So, it is not rare that, in the scientific world, he was known as "the Catalan scholar".

After having said that, here we can found three of the most clear and interesting samples of collaboration and indirect help to the expeditionaries.

THE VERTEX OF SANT JOAN
The birth of the metre happened after the passing of an Act on December 10th, 1799, by Bonaparte, based in the measures made previously, measures ordered by the Bureau des Longitudes (especially by Delambre and Méchain), of the arch of the meridian from Dunkerque to Barcelona between 1792 and 1798. The Northern side, between Dunkerque and Rodés, was measured by Delambre; and the southern side, from Rodés to Barcelona, was measured by Méchain. They measured more than a hundred triangles. Some Spanish men helped them, like Bueno, Álvarez, González, Planes, Chaix, Pedranyes and Siscar.

Méchain had a second project in order to verify his calculations, because he discovered a small difference of 3 seconds between the value of the latitude of Montjuïc measured in 1792-93 and the one he deduced in Barcelona in 1794. This difference was not known until after his death, when all of his documents were sent to Paris. In the Bureau des Longitudes, some scientific men discovered that this difference came from a local anomaly of acceleration of the gravity, and it was not a Méchain's mistake.

At the end, after several bureaucratic difficulties, Méchain left Barcelona towards Italy in November 1794. In May 27th, 1803, he came back as a member of the French committee, together with Jean Bapte le Chevalier, and the naval engineer Dezauchez. The Spanish crown sent Fra Agustí Canelles to go with them.

Because of the international tension, there were some problems to go to Majorca and, meanwhile, they tried to measure the triangles between Barcelona and Tarragona, and far away. Moreover, they had to get back several instruments that Méchain had to leave in several cities, among which Tarragona, in Martí Franquès' house.

Quadrant used to measure angles

They had to believe what the people who lived there said, because there was no other information, so they had to cover lots of miles to find the better places for them, because some of the places they had previously decided to use were useless. By the end of August 1803, Méchain was calculating the angles of the nearest station to Tortosa (the Montsià, 764 m), while le Chevalier was near the hermitage of Sant Joan, in Guardiola de Tamarit.

This last choice was not made by chance. In the 15th century, the scientific Antoni de Martí i Franquès' ancestors were established in the Mas Vell, in Tamarit; in April 10th, 1693, the heir Jaume Martí i Bellver bought some land there, and his brother, Joan, who became a monk, finally became the parish priest of his born village, Tamarit, where he was buried. In his last will, made on February 27th, 1697, he decided that all of his possessions had to be used to build a hermitage dedicated to Saint John in his brother's lands. The construction began in June 20th, 1698, when the archbishop of Tarragona Josep Llinàs gave permission to Bernat Martí i Bellver, as the executor of his brother, to begin with them.

The signpost that marked the center of the geodesic station was placed, according to the data communicated by Le Chevalier (according to Biot), "on 22 "toeses", 3 "peus" and 9 "polsades" [=43'93 m] of the front door of the chapel, to the South-West towards the sea, between some pines, and on 3 "toeses" [=5'85 m] of a really big rock towards a mountain called "Costa Grossa", to the North of the tend. And "the height of the center of the circle on the sun area is of 4' 333 peus [=1'21 m] for all the observations that must be made from here". Nowadays, there are no rests of the chapel, that was totally destroyed during the war against France, in the battle of Altafulla, in January 24th, 1812, and the signpost is gone.

The fact that both the mountain and the hermitage belonged to Martí i Franquès, taking into account the close friendship existing between Martí i Franquès, Méchain, Tranchot and Le Chevalier, who spent several times in Martí's house in Altafulla, apart from Martí's scientific spirit and his interest in collaborating, may explain why this place was chosen among others. From this vertex of Saint John, Méchain and his helper Enrilé made more than 1600 observations written in English, related with other vertex's in the cathedral of Tarragona, the lighthouse of the harbor, La Morella, El Montagut, El Montsià, the cape of Salou and Llaberia.

THE "LIGHTHOUSE" OF THE HARBOUR OF TARRAGONA
The third vertex or reference point of this secondary triangle were placed in the lighthouse of the harbor by Méchain and his helper Enrilé. By those times (1803), the engineer in charge of the expansion works of the harbor, and according to the Rehabilitation Act of January 19th, 1790, against the strong opposition of the authorities of Reus, was the brigadier of the Royal Army Joan Smith Sinnot, who substituted Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, who did not very much. Smith thought that Apodaca's project should be enlarged, and he wrote a new report approved by December 31st, 1801.

Taking into account that in July 9th, 1790, Antoni de Martí i Franquès, among others, had ceded some land and money to this works, together with the close friendship he had with both sides, it is not strange that this lighthouse was chosen as a reference point of the French geodesic works.

This "lighthouse" was mobile, what means that, according to a document conservated in the Arxiu Històric del Port de Tarragona, that says "because the harbor is still not finished, it is not possible to build a permanent lighthouse; so by day it only lights with ordinary lights in a wooden platform of 60 "pies" [=16'71 m] of height over the level of the sea and of 8 [=2'22 m]. This platform goes on according to the prolongation of the harbor". Between July 11th, 1814, and June 30th, 1817, "The provisional light was moved forward about 70 "varas" [=58 '52 metres] to the peak". There is another reference that says that "a light was built, but not as perfect as a service like that needed. "

So, the main problem is to find again the location of this lighthouse in the nowadays harbor on October 3rd, 1803, according to the data included in the Récueil d'Observations.

Having the angle (8°10'3"324) and the respective coordinates UTM of the vertex of Saint John and the belfry of the Cathedral, we can calculate the equation of the straight line that linked the vertex of Saint John with the "lighthouse". If we project this line on a map of the harbor of Tarragona (scale 1:5.000), its intersection will give us the approximate position of this lighthouse on 1803, by the end of the second line of the East dock. Here, the Societat Catalana d'Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica took the initiative to put a commemorative plaque.

In the previously cited document, after the situation of the lighthouse, appears a long depiction, anonymous and with no temporal reference, of some new lighthouses, based in a new cylindrical lenses created in France by the physician Agustín-Jean Fresnel. This document also reports about costs and instructions of their location, conservation and manipulation in order to be installed in several permanent lighthouses all over Spain.

This depiction must come from the "extract of the sessions of the Academia Real de Ciencias in the Anales de Física, Química, etc, of Paris in 1824".

Martí i Franquès had a complicated net of correspondents and friendships in France and in the border of the Pyrenees, that sent him by sophisticated methods, the most important scientific journals published in France, Germany and England, what allowed him to know all the new progresses of the science of his times. And the journal Annales de Chimie et de Physique, that began to be published in Paris in 1816, could not be an exception.

We just want to prove that it is really probable that Martí Franquès informed the General Government of the harbor, interested in its improvement, by some indirect methods.

THE MACHINE TO LIFT WATER
Biot was, as most of the scientific men of his times, a multi-faceted man, as well as Martí. But we did not know about his works on the Mediterranean fishes, made during his first stay in Ibiza and Formentera.

According to Biot himself, in his first trip to the Balearic Islands he observed several curious experiments about the fishes that live in the deepest waters of that place, what induced the French interior minister to incorporate a naturalist in the expedition. After being advised by some professors of the Museu d'Història Natural, a friend of him, François de La Roche, a young doctor, was sent to help him.

Once both in Valencia, they decided to spend the whole winter of 1807 in their observatory of Formentera. La Roche's observations confirmed Biot's, and even added new circumstances. Both experiments had the same conclusion: the air bladder of those fishes have more oxygen when they live in deeper waters, "even that -as Biot says- the air contained in the sea water on 600 m depth is the same, maybe not as pure, as the air of the surface. "

Let's read some paragraphs of a rough copy of a letter written in French and in Barcelona on February 14th, 1807, with no sender or receiver's address that talks about a "machine to lift water from the sea ":
..."Check if that machine is useful. I sent it to you last night in a box to Dénia or Ibiza. Until today, I did not want to say anything about it to Mr. Biot, until I have not seen it finished and I have not proved it successful in some wells. Please, tell me if it would be useful in the sea. Remember you should provide a weight of 50 pounds (20 kg)."
"Give my best regards to my wife, sons and daughters. I expect some news about their health, as well as from Mrs. Aragó, Rodríguez and Chaix, to whom you will be so kind to salute."
"I think your work progresses adequately. Your friend..."

In other places, we have mentioned a machine to lift water, created by Cristòfor Montiu, together with Martí i Franquès, Salvà i Campillo, and Santponç. Some of the trials of this new machine were made in Martí's houses in Valls. They never thought that this machine, with more or less modifications, could be related with the study of fishes made by the French expedition that had to measure the arch of the meridian.

We don't know who wrote the letter and who was its receiver, as well as other explanations. It is curious that this rough copy was found among the letters written by Martí i Franquès. But it is clear enough -having in mind the letter and the explanations given by Biot and Aragó in their Récueil d'Observations-, that Martí participated in the scientific plan of this machine in order to help Biot and La Roche in their investigations, as well as in the process of analysis of the air inside the air bladder of those animals.

By the end, we reproduce a paragraph of a letter written by the agronomous publicist Count of Lasteyrie in Paris, on October 18th, 1807, to Antoni de Martí, with whom he had a close friendship, to recommend him two scientific men who came from Spain, the North-American naturalist Macklow, and the Spanish Rodas: "Je leur ai dit qu'il ne pourroient trouver en Espagne", une personne plus en etat que vous Monsieur de leurs donner de bons renseignemens sur le pays que vous habités, et de els mettre en même de visiter tout ce qu'ils i peuvent trouver d'interessant relativament a leurs études".(1)

We think that this paragraph evidences, once more, the concept that, beyond the Pyrenees, French had on our scientific man from Altafulla.

(1) I have told them that they could not find in Spain a better conditioned person than you in order to give them good information about the country you live in and, also, to take them sightseeing whatever interesting place in relation to their studies.

Pierre François Méchain and Castellón de la Plana
Daniel Gozalbo Bellés
Catedràtic de Matemàtiques, Universitat Jaume I - Castelló
Article publised in the magazine "Muntanya" of the CEC, num. 797, February 1995 (pages 27-29)

The French astronomer Pierre Méchain, together with several French scholars, traveled around Southern France and Catalonia during the last decade of the 18th century in order to measure the meridian from Dunkerque to Barcelona and to elaborate a new length pattern: the metre. The importance of this expedition and their stay in the Roussillon and in Catalonia has been glossed in several lectures, functions and excursions organized by the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.

The reform of the patterns of weight and length and the implementation of this new system was one of the first regulations of the French Revolution, loyal to the universal and scientific spirit that flew over them. In May 8th, 1790, the French Assembly passed the act about this unification of patterns. In March 26th, 1792, the Assembly decided that the metre would be the length pattern, what will use up with the diversity of patterns. In June 25th, 1792, two expeditions left Paris: Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre will measure from Dunkerque and Rodez, and Pierre-François André Méchain will measure from Rodez and Barcelona. Méchain would also become the head of the expedition. On that time, Méchain was an excellent astronomer and a highly experimented geodesics man, one of the best science men of his times. The final result, after 6 years of hard work, was the final adoption of the metre in December 10th, 1799, by an act passed by the first consul Bonaparte.

Méchain thought that it was necessary to enlarge the arch of the meridian until the Balearic islands, in order to measure two similar arches on both sides of the parallel 45º and, by doing so, avoid any kind of mistake that could come from the elliptical shape of the Earth. This decision was approved in August 31st, 1802 in the Bureau des Longitudes. Méchain took up the measure again, and left Paris in April 26th, 1803. In this second trip, Méchain was helped by Faust Vallès i Vega, 12th Baron of La Pobla Tornesa and the Serra d'en Galceran in Castellón de la Plana; by Martí Franques, in Tarragona; and other scientifics from Valencia and Catalonia, like Chaix, Canyelles (the Spanish commissioner of the expedition) and Salvà, among others.

Vallès was a very curious man, interested in different sciences. After studying his library and office, we realize that he was interested in experimental physics, chemistry, botanists, natural history, geography, mathematicians, and astronomy. He had pneumatic machines, telescopes, a wide plants collection, as well as lots of minerals and fossils. He corresponded with Méchain, and encouraged him by saying that "he offered me to guarantee if Ibiza can be seen from the Desert and the Mondúber, and to lit fires in times and seasons accorded. I am going to do it and, in addition, I will visit the mountains placed in the coasts of Valencia...", because, in another letter, he said:"... The Baron climbed himself to the Desert de les Palmes, and could see to the naked eye Torrelles, Cabrera, Ibiza, the Montsià, Cullera and Sant Antoni. There is no doubt about the possibility to make the needed triangles."

Triangulation between the Iberian Peninsule and the Balearic Islands

The reform of the patterns of weight and length and the implementation of this new system was one of the first regulations of the French Revolution, loyal to the universal and scientific spirit that flew over them. In May 8th, 1790, the French Assembly passed the act about this unification of patterns. In March 26th, 1792, the Assembly decided that the metre would be the length pattern, what will use up with the diversity of patterns. In June 25th, 1792, two expeditions left Paris: Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre will measure from Dunkerque and Rodez, and Pierre-François André Méchain will measure from Rodez and Barcelona. Méchain would also become the head of the expedition. On that time, Méchain was an excellent astronomer and a highly experimented geodesics man, one of the best science men of his times. The final result, after 6 years of hard work, was the final adoption of the metre in December 10th, 1799, by an act passed by the first consul Bonaparte.

Méchain thought that it was necessary to enlarge the arch of the meridian until the Balearic islands, in order to measure two similar arches on both sides of the parallel 45º and, by doing so, avoid any kind of mistake that could come from the elliptical shape of the Earth. This decision was approved in August 31st, 1802 in the Bureau des Longitudes. Méchain took up the measure again, and left Paris in April 26th, 1803. In this second trip, Méchain was helped by Faust Vallès i Vega, 12th Baron of La Pobla Tornesa and the Serra d'en Galceran in Castellón de la Plana; by Martí Franques, in Tarragona; and other scientifics from Valencia and Catalonia, like Chaix, Canyelles (the Spanish commissioner of the expedition) and Salvà, among others.

Vallès was a very curious man, interested in different sciences. After studying his library and office, we realize that he was interested in experimental physics, chemistry, botanists, natural history, geography, mathematicians, and astronomy. He had pneumatic machines, telescopes, a wide plants collection, as well as lots of minerals and fossils. He corresponded with Méchain, and encouraged him by saying that "he offered me to guarantee if Ibiza can be seen from the Desert and the Mondúber, and to lit fires in times and seasons accorded. I am going to do it and, in addition, I will visit the mountains placed in the coasts of Valencia...", because, in another letter, he said:"... The Baron climbed himself to the Desert de les Palmes, and could see to the naked eye Torrelles, Cabrera, Ibiza, the Montsià, Cullera and Sant Antoni. There is no doubt about the possibility to make the needed triangles."

Between 1803 and 1804, Méchain covered Valencia and the Balearic islands. He established a chain of vertex's of triangulation in those mountains that still prevails: Ibiza, Formentera, Majorca, Dénia, Cullera (where he measured a new base of verification), the Puig and Serra d'Espada. The life conditions could not be worse; Madoz, fifty years later, wrote:"The worth to mention partners of Méchain established on this top one of the main stations, and put there five big reflectors, because those measurements must be done by night; a tend and a wooden hut easy to set up and down; but those "buildings" were not strong enough to resist winds and storms..." And everyday life is perfectly depicted by Aragó in his memoirs: "It can be easily imagined how disgusted could be a young astronomer, isolated in a high peak, with no more space to move than 20 square meters, and with no other distraction than the chat between two Carthusian monks, whose convent was placed by the foot of the hill, and that came to see me breaking the rules of their order."

There was an epidemic of yellow fever in the south of Spain. In Málaga, it was extremely severe, and an earthquake transformed the city in a chaos. A ship from Málaga berthed in the harbor of Alicante without taking care of quarantine (because it was an official ship). And because of the postman Méchain used to send his reports, the yellow fever arrived to the Serra d'Espada. Méchain became infected, as well as some of his helpers. He continued his works of triangulation in the Desert de les Palmes, in Castellón, until the symptoms of the illness appeared. He went to Castellón in September 12th. The very next day, he was moved to the Baron's house in La Pobla, where Méchain went worse and died in September 20th, accompanied by his son, his helpers, the consul of France in Valencia and his friends from Castellón and Valencia. He was buried in the city of Castellón, among several manifestations of mourning. The Baron described Méchain's last days, as a testimony of sorrow and friendship, in October 1805, in two scientific journals (in Catalonia and in Germany). Méchain's documents were sent to Paris, while his instruments were kept in Martí Franques' house, in Tarragona.

Julius Verne glossed Méchain and Aragó's expedition as one of the most important scientific expeditions, and in their memory, he wrote the novel "Adventures of three Russians and three English men in southern Africa". This expedition had a universal and scientific spirit. As Biot and Aragó said, it was "the biggest in its genre and the most perfect that could be done"; it was a scientific debt. The Centre Excursionista de Catalunya has been the motor and the soul of this celebration.

Number ZERO, the great unknown

Number zero is the most important number in any numerical systema, as well as in any logical system. The important thing is not to confuse "zero" with "nothing", a not-acceptable confusion in both logic and mathematics.

Number zero allows a system in which only ten symbols can represent any number, what simplifies the way to operate with numbers.

It is also important to highline that computers use a binarian numerical system (different of the decimal system we use in everyday life): it is a positional numerical system, with base two, that only uses two symbols: 1 and 0.

But, where does this number zero come from?

Hindu people gave to the Arab people their numerical system by the end of the 8th century. In this system, number zero was called "shunya", that means "empty" and was represented by a small round. Arabs translated it as "sifr", and Latins transformed it in "zephirum". From here is where number zero comes from. The word "sifr" was used to call all numbers ("number").

T he Arab people introduced in Western Europe the decimal numerical system and the concept of number zero, a great impact in mathematics, and what allowed the esplendour of algebra and, also, the construction of the first trigonometric and astronomic tables.

The Arab people arrived to Europe, via Andalusia, by the year 800 aC. Before their arrival, they were still using Greek and Roman numerical systems, much more backward than the new one. This new system gained new fans as the Reconquest went on.

The fact that Borrell II, count of Barcelona, took the Benedictian monk Gerbert d'Orlach to Catalonia and asked him to learn mathematics and astronomy led that, when the monk became the Pope (with the name of Silvestre II), he strongly contributed to adopt the decimal numerical system in Europe. So, he became one of the biggest broadcaster of the new numerical system, and, especially, of number zero.

In the Middle Ages, Arab mathematicians used the following representations of numbers, that are not very different of which we use nowadays.:

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