## <f68v3>          {$I=C $Q=I $P=H}
# Last edited on 1998-10-09 03:13:51 by stolfi
#
# Identification:
#
#   Title: "Spiral Nebula"
#   Page: f68v3 = IH (Rene) = p126 (Stolfi)
#   Folio: f68
#   Panels: f68v4, f68v3
#   Bifolio: bI1 = f67+f68
#   Quire: I (Rene) = IX (Beinecke)
#
#   This page comprises the two outermost verso panels (f68v4 and f68v3) 
#   of an eight-panel fold-out.
#
#   Way p140
#
#   Newbold XIII, XXI, XXII, who calls it f.68r. Jim Reeds calls it 68v3.
#
#   Roe, 6th September 1993.
#   Machine translated from transcription in Bennett notation dated 30/03/90.
#
# Attributes:
#
#   Language: ? (Currier)
#   Hand: ? (Currier)
#   Subsets: C (Rene), cos (Stolfi)
#   Subject: cosmological
#   Colors: blue(spickling),yellow(stars) (Reeds)
#
# Description:
#
#   The page is dominated by a circular diagram, su surmounted by a 
#   paragraph of text (3.5 lines).
#
#   The diagram is framed by a ring of text, between two very faint
#   mechanically drawn circles. A large gap in the text, with a
#   decoration element, is very likely the starting point.
#
#   At the center there is a circle framed by another ring of text,
#   also between two faint circles. The interior is divided into three
#   parts by an upside-down "T". The top quarters contain a word each;
#   the bottom half contains three lines of text. The circles and the
#   "T" are mechanically drawn.
#
#   Surrounding the central circle is an irregular "ocean" with a dotted
#   texture and a meandering outline.  The outline is doubled in places
#   in a way that suggests a sunken pond, or a shape cut out 
#   from thick cardboard.
#
#   Eight hand-drawn, inward-reading text bands, curved like the
#   "arms" of a galaxy, connect the outer frame of the diagram with
#   the center figure. The four arms that start at mid-quadrant merge
#   into the "ocean", while the other four continue over the ocean and
#   merge with the inner circle of text, 45 degrees counterclockwise
#   of their starting point on the outer circle.
#
#   The four arms that connect to the center divide the "ocean" into
#   four sectors. Each sector contains five unnamed stars, except the
#   West sector, that has six of them. (The anomaly may have to do with
#   the fact that one of the six stars is right on top of the fold-out's
#   crease.)
#
# Comments:
#
#   The outline of the "galactic bulge" seems to
#   represent water in other illustrations. Here the ocean's outline is
#   drawn with a displaced "echo", as if it were a pool, or a thick
#   puzzle piece.
