Ascension
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Ascension. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in astronomy, right asance of a body from the first point of Aries (the ram), measured upon the equator. The arc of the equinoctial included between a certain point in that circle, called the vernal equinox, and the point in the same circle to which it is referred by the circle of declination passing through it. Or the angle included between two hour-circles, one of which, called the equinoctial colure, passes through the vernal equinox, and the other through the body. It is opposed to oblique ascension. The terms, right ascension and declination, are now generally used to point out the position in the heavens of any celestial object, in preference to the old method of indicating certain prominent stars by proper names or by Greek letters. By means of the transit instrument, or by an equatorially mounted telescope, a star or planet may be readily found, when once its right ascension and declination are known. Oblique ascension is the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and the point of the equator which rises with a star or other heavenly body, reckoned according to the order of the signs.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a small island in the southern Atlantic 1,000 miles off the Guinea coast. The area is 35 square miles. Population, 120. The island is of volcanic origin. It rises to a height of about 3,000 feet. Fifteen acres are under cultivation. A small British garrison is maintained. There is a regular postal service. Telegraphic communication is carried on with St. Helena 700 miles to the southeast, with England, and with the Cape of Good Hope . The island is the resort of the sea turtle, which come in thousands to lay their eggs in the sand. In 1907, 106 were taken, from 392 to 777 pounds in weight; they are stored in ponds, and eventually killed and distributed among the people. Rabbits, wild goats, partridges, pheasants, and guinea-fowl are more or less numerous on the island, which is, besides, the breeding ground of myriads of the sooty terns or "wideawake." These birds come in vast numbers to lay their eggs about every eighth month.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The astronomical half of this entry still stands: right ascension and declination remain the standard celestial coordinates, though modern catalogues fix them to a stated epoch (J2000.0) or to the radio-source-based reference frame adopted in 1998, since the vernal equinox Collier's measured from slowly precesses. The island half has changed beyond recognition. Aiton's 1910 population of 120 with fifteen acres under cultivation gave way to a US-built airfield in 1942, a staging post for Britain's 1982 Falklands campaign, and tracking stations for spaceflight and GPS; a few hundred people now live there, all on contract, with no right of permanent residence. The turtles and the "wideawake" terns are now protected rather than eaten: the turtle harvest has long ceased, feral cats were eradicated in the 2000s so terns could nest on the main island again, and in 2019 Britain announced a marine protected area covering the surrounding waters.
Written for this edition, 2026.