Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume Ii Part 10

SPHERES, according to the Ptolomaick System, 8 Inches Diameter.

Price 1l. 10s."

[115] The following works may be cited for further reference to these early Chinese globes of Peking: Wylie, A. Mongol astronomical instruments in Peking. (In: Chinese Researches, Shantung, 1897, Part III, pp. 1-20.); Le Comte, L. D. Memories and Observations. London, 1699; Du Halde, J. B. Description geographique de l'empire de la China. Paris, 1735; Yule, H. Travels of Marco Polo. London, 1893.

Vol. I, pp. 448-456, with four ill.u.s.trations.

[116] Carton, Abbe C. Biographique sur le Pere Ferdinand Verbiest.

Bruges, 1839; Thompson, J. Ill.u.s.trations of China and its people.

London, 1874. Vol. iv.

Chapter XII

Globes and Globe Makers of the First Half of the Eighteenth Century--from Delisle to Ferguson

Activities of Guillaume Delisle.--Jean Dominique Ca.s.sini and his reforms.--Vincenzo Miot.--The globes of Gerhard and Leonhard Valk.--Activities of John Senex.--Nicolas Bion.--The armillary sphere of Carmelo Cartilia.--Mattheus Seutter of Augsburg.--Robert Morden.--Jean Antoine Nollet.--Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr of Nurnberg.--Terrestrial globe of Cusani.--Terrestrial globes of Siena.--The work of the monk Pietro Maria da Vinchio.--James Ferguson of Scotland.

Among the numerous globe makers of the eighteenth century, there are few, if any, ent.i.tled to rank with Blaeu or Hondius, with Greuter or Coronelli of the seventeenth. There was much written during the period, it is true, on the value of globes in geographical and astronomical studies, and there were many globes constructed, of which a very considerable number still have a place in our libraries, museums, and private collections.

With the improvements in scientific map construction, improvements amounting to a complete reformation, and ushered in during the closing years of the seventeenth century and the opening years of the eighteenth, by such men as Riccioli, Picard, Ca.s.sini, and Delisle, not to mention a number of their distinguished immediate predecessors and contemporaries, the last above-named working through the patronage of the Royal Academy of Science of France,[117]--with these improvements there appears to have been a decline in the relative value which the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries set upon globes. Once regarded as an essential part of a seaman's instruments for use in navigation, they gave place, just as the portolan chart of the earlier day gave place, to an improved sailor's chart. Globe makers, however, of this period, such as Delisle and Bion, as Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, as Vaugondy and Fortin, as Ferguson and Adams, have an honorable place in the history of globes and of globe construction.

France was leading at the turn of the seventeenth century in the field of geographical and astronomical science, a fact in part due to the generous subsidy allowed by royalty. Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726), perhaps the greatest among the reformers active in these years in improving the methods of map construction, was a native of Paris, in which city he pa.s.sed practically his entire life.[118] The father, Claude Delisle, famous as a teacher of history and geography, inspired in his son a particular love for the latter subject, or perhaps this may the better be referred to as a love for historical geography. The period was one in which there was much emphasis placed upon the relationship existing between the two branches of study, and it is interesting to note that this phase of geographical study is again coming into favor.[119]

Doubtless it was in part the influence of Ca.s.sini's teaching which found expression in Delisle's lifelong efforts to eliminate the numerous errors which he had found existing in the maps of his day, efforts which even in his early life won for him distinction as a map maker. In the year 1700, when he was but twenty-five years of age, there appeared under his name a world map and likewise maps of the several continents.[120] In these there was exhibited much originality, they being constructed in the main on the basis of astronomical observations which had been made at the Royal

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 118a. Terrestrial Globe of Johann Ludovicus Andreae, 1717.]

Academy. Hitherto the Ptolemaic cartography had exerted an overpowering influence. Errors in the location of places still remained on the maps, attributable in large part to that ancient cosmographer, who continued for so long a period a most influential teacher of geography and map making after the renaissance of his 'Cosmographia' in the early fifteenth century. Among the greatest errors still to be found in the maps in Delisle's day was the excessive length given to the Mediterranean, this being about sixty-two degrees of longitude instead of its correct length, which is about forty-two, and the extension of Asia much too far to eastward, together with other errors following upon these.[121] Delisle, having the support of the Royal Academy, and of the King himself, was able to carry through the reforms in map construction, the fundamental principles of which, it is true, had been suggested before his day, based upon such astronomical observations as were those of Ca.s.sini, Picard, and La Hire, wherein there had been an attempt to determine the exact location in longitude of important places on the earth's surface and wherein they had been aided by the use of the telescope. Through the employment of this instrument they were able to fix the exact time of eclipses and determine the time of the transit of the moons of Jupiter.[122] In the 'Journal des Savants' of the year 1700 is given a letter addressed to the engraver and map maker, Nolin, and signed "Delisle." In this there is reference to a ma.n.u.script globe of the year 1696, the implication being that Guillaume was its author.[123]

The probability is that we have here a letter written by Claude, the father, it being hardly probable that the son drafted a globe map at the age of twenty-one. We, however, know, as before stated, that he achieved great distinction through the maps he published in the year 1700, when he was but twenty-five, and we are also informed that even at the age of eight he attracted attention to himself through the maps he drew to ill.u.s.trate ancient history.

In the same year that he published his epoch-making maps he issued the first edition of his globes, those having a diameter of about 31 cm. and those having a diameter of about 15 cm. The globe b.a.l.l.s were constructed of papier-mache covered with plaster over which were pasted the gore maps, each map composed of twelve parts with the usual polar discs. The engraver, we are told, in a brief legend on the terrestrial globe, was Carolus Simonneau, "Car. Simon. del. et sculpsit." On the larger of the terrestrial globes is the t.i.tle legend "Globe terrestre dresse sur les observations de l'Academie Royale des sciences et autres memoires," and a dedication reading, "a Son Altesse Royale Monseigneur Le Duc de Chartres. Par son tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur G. De l'Isle Geographie. Berey sculpsit."

The celestial globe bears the t.i.tle, "Globe celeste calcule pour l'an 1700. Sur les observations les plus recents. Par. G. De l'Isle Geographe," and is dedicated "a Son Altesse Royale Monseigneur le Duc de Chartres. Par son tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur De l'Isle,"

with the following reference to the privilege "a Paris Chez l'Auteur sur le Quai de l'Horologe a la Couronne de Diamans. Avec Privilege du Roy pour 20 ans. 1700."

While it has not been possible to obtain a detailed description of Delisle's globe maps, they are referred to as giving practically the same information as his plane maps, many of the latter to be found in our important library collections, and cannot be considered rare.[124]

The several constellations which he has represented on his celestial globes are those of Ptolemy to which have been added two in the northern hemisphere and thirteen in the southern, and the year chosen for the representation of the position of the stars is 1700. In general the names chosen for the several constellations are French, though a few are in Latin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 118. Terrestrial Globe of Guillaume Delisle, 1700.]

A pair of Delisle's globes may be found in the Konigliches Museum of Ca.s.sel, dated 1709; a pair dated 1700 in the Museo di Strumenti Antichi of Florence, and a terrestrial globe dated 1700 in the Real Biblioteca of Madrid (Fig. 118).

Weigel, Castlemaine, Coronelli, and Treffler, as has been noted, represented a tendency in globe construction in their day which we have referred to as the ultrapractical. It was impossible that their ideas should find anything like a general acceptance and approval. A globe eleven or fifteen feet in diameter, in the better judgment of astronomers and geographers, could not be counted as possessing superior scientific value, and globes of such dimensions seem only to have won the praise of the novelty-loving contemporaries, and the same general criticism may be pa.s.sed upon the smaller globes of Castlemaine and Treffler. Perhaps, however, one may well add that in all this a desire was expressing itself for improvement in globe construction.

In this connection attention may be called to a plan for reform in globe making proposed by Jean Dominique Ca.s.sini (1625-1712), one of the most famous astronomers of the period.[125] Ca.s.sini was a native of Perinaldo, Italy (Fig. 119). Early in life he became interested in the study of astronomy, and at the age of twenty-five received an appointment as professor of this science at the University of Bologna.

Recommended by Colbert as one worthy his royal master's patronage, Ca.s.sini in 1669 accepted the invitation of Louis XIV to fill the chair of astronomy in the College de France, a position once held by Pierre Ga.s.sendi.[126] In 1671 he became the director of the Royal Observatory of Paris, a position held in succession by four generations of his family. To him we owe the determination of the rotation periods of Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, the discovery of four of Saturn's satellites and the determination of their periods of revolution. He devoted much time and study to the problem of the obliquity of the ecliptic, to the precession of the equinoxes,[127] and to the determination of the lat.i.tude and longitude of places.[128] This precession, he found, could not be represented on a celestial globe such as. .h.i.therto had been constructed, and he set himself to the task of devising one on a new plan. The position of the constellations, as indicated on the ordinary celestial globe, he, as others, noted would soon be found to be inaccurate. What he proposed was a globe capable of such adjustment as to obviate this difficulty; in other words, he proposed the construction of a globe by means of which this perpetual change might be indicated, or one which would serve to indicate the position of the several constellations at any time, past, present or future.

It was to Nicolas Bion, map and globe maker of Paris that the astronomer Ca.s.sini entrusted the manufacture of such an instrument, and it is from him that we have a brief description of its peculiar features.[129] He tells us that the sphere on which the several constellations were represented was enclosed within a number of armillae representing the celestial circles, that is, the colures, the ecliptic, the tropics, the equator, and the polar circles. This inner sphere was attached to a meridian circle at the poles of its equator, within which circle it turned as the ordinary sphere, and it was also attached to the same meridian at the poles of the ecliptic. Around this polar axis of the ecliptic the sphere, with the attached meridian, could be made to revolve, the pole of the equator in its revolution tracing a circle having a radius of twenty-three and a half degrees, a complete revolution being made to represent a period of twenty-five thousand two hundred years, or the time required for the complete precession of the equinox according to his reckoning. This pole in its circle of revolution could be immovably set at any desired point to represent any time past or future, and the sphere then revolved around the pole of the equator. The several stars or constellations could thus be represented in their proper position for the time selected. Bion's reference to this globe seems to a.s.sure us that he completed its construction, yet no trace of it has been left, unless we have such in a record to be found in the history of the Royal Academy for the year 1727. In this we find that a globe constructed on the principle laid down by Ca.s.sini was presented to the Academy, in the year designated, by Outhier, a priest of Besancon.[130] This globe, which has disappeared, had the double movements, one about the axis of the equator and one about the axis of the ecliptic. It was a globe which would represent the daily and annual movements of the sun, the difference between the true and the mean time, the movements of the moon and its phases, the eclipses, and the pa.s.sing of the several fixed stars across the meridian.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 119. Portrait of Jean Dominique Ca.s.sini.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 123. Portrait of Nicolas Bion.]

Vincenzo Miot, a little-known Italian globe maker of the early eighteenth century, holds a place among the men who were interested in this field, through one extant example of his work, this being a small celestial, having a diameter of about 17 cm.[131] Its author and date legend reads, "Sphaera Mundi majoribus et minoribus circulis distincta praecipuisque stellis in nostro Horizonte conspicuis ornata ad annum 1710. Studio et opera D. Vincentio Miot." "World globe marked by large and small circles, and adorned with the princ.i.p.al stars visible in our horizon calculated for the year 1710. By the learning and labor of D.

Vincentio Miot." The sphere is covered with an engraved map showing the several constellations and the princ.i.p.al celestial circles. Its twelve segments are fashioned to terminate at the poles of the ecliptic, instead of at the poles of the equator, a practice not uncommon. The globe has a simple mounting of wood, is reported to be in good condition, and may be found in the Liceo Marco Foscarini of Venice, to which library it came, in the year 1807, from the Convent of S. Georgio Maggiore.

It is not a little surprising that our information is so meager concerning men as active in the field of map and globe making as were Gerhard and Leonhard Valk in the latter part of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. We cannot be certain of their relationship; apparently they were not brothers, as has been sometimes stated. If there is not left to us a biographical word by any admiring or appreciative contemporary of these praiseworthy Netherlanders, there is extant a very considerable amount of their work which warrants our giving them rank well toward the van of those interested in their particular field. Of the two, Gerhard seems to have been the more prominent, his name very frequently appearing as the engraver or maker of many of the maps one finds in the collective atlases of the early eighteenth century.[132] With Leonhard he was the maker of globes, large and small, ranging from about 7 cm. to 46 cm. in diameter, of which a very considerable number may still be found in our libraries and museums.

In an undated work published by Gerhard on the uses of celestial and terrestrial globes,[133] he tells us of the improvements he introduced, noting that he had attempted to give the location of the stars on his celestial globe as late as 1700, while on those issued prior to his own, the dates selected were in general 1640 or 1660. The suggestion contained herein is that he at least began the construction of his globes as early as 1700, although none are now known bearing date so early.[134] There appears to be an example of his work in the University Library of Ghent, dated 1707, but a description of this it has not been possible to obtain. The date most commonly found on the Valk globes is 1750, all of which, if correctly dated, were issued long after their death.

The Hispanic Society of America possesses three pairs of the Valk globes, each apparently dated 1750, though in some instances, as noted below, these dates have been altered by skilfully cutting out the last two figures of the original and inserting the number 50. The diameter of each of the largest pair is 46 cm. (Fig. 120). Each is supplied with a graduated meridian circle of bra.s.s, the celestial being furnished with a bra.s.s hour circle and pointer, and the terrestrial with a bra.s.s quadrant of alt.i.tude. Each is further furnished with a broad horizon circle of wood on which has been pasted an engraved paper giving the names of the signs of the zodiac, the various chronological signs, such as golden numbers, epacta, and dominical letters, the names of the months, and points of the compa.s.s, including both the old and the new nomenclature for the directions of winds, as "Borro Lybicus" or "Noord-West,"

"Zephyrus" or "West." The under supports of the globes consist in each instance of four turned columns attached at their lower extremities by crossbars on which rests a circular turned plate 42 cm. in diameter.

From the center of these plates rises a post 10 cm. in length through a notch in which the bra.s.s meridian circle is made to pa.s.s in moving the globes to an adjustment for any desired alt.i.tude. The gores of each are twelve in number, those of the terrestrial globe having an equatorial mounting while those of the celestial globe have an ecliptic mounting, that is, the meridian lines pa.s.s from pole to pole of the ecliptic instead of from pole to pole of the equator. In each, the gores have been truncated twenty degrees from the poles, the polar s.p.a.ce being covered by circular discs. The engraving of both the terrestrial and the celestial map is exquisitely done, and much of the color originally applied by hand yet remains. The several figures representing the constellations are copies of the figures as represented by Hevelius in his 'Prodromus Astronomiae,' and reference to this great astronomer is made in the t.i.tle legend quoted below. These figures are among the most artistic representations to be found on any of the globes of the period, which the author is preparing to reissue in facsimile as a by-product of these globe studies. (Fig. 120a.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 120. Terrestrial Globe of Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, 1750 (?).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 120a. Southern Hemisphere of Celestial Globe by Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, with Author and Date Legend, 1750 (?).]

Between the constellations "Cetus" and "Phoenix" on the celestial globe is a cartouch which appears to have been pasted over an older t.i.tle, reading, "Uranographia Syderum et Stelarum in Singulis Syderibus conspicuarum, exhibens Delineatonem accuratissimam qua ex observationibus Astronomi plane Singularis Johannis Hevelii usque ad finem anni MDCC emendata est. Nova praeterea methodo additus est ex mente Lotharii Zumbach M.D. et Mathem. Cearis Horizon ad Meridianum Amstelaedamensem accurate per annos plures quam ducentos Lunae Syzygias indicans praeter annos communes et biss.e.xtiles. Opera et Studio Gerhardi et Leonhardi Valk Amstelaedamensium 17[50]." "Uranography of the constellations and of the single stars, exhibiting an accurate delineation (of the same) corrected from the observations of the renowned astronomer Johannes Hevelius, and conformed to the year 1700.

Besides a new method is added, the invention of Lothar Zumbach, M. D., and a renowned mathematician, accurately exhibiting the horizon on the meridian of Amsterdam for more than 200 years, also the changes of the moon in addition to the common years and leap years. By the learning and the labor of Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, citizens of Amsterdam, 1750."

Near the constellation Argo appears the dedication to the Burgomaster of Amsterdam and President of the East India Company, Johannes Trip J. U.

D. (1664-1732). In this there is, of course, conclusive evidence that the globe must have been made before the year 1732. The dedication reads, "Viro amplissima dignitate ac meritorum Splendore, conspicuo Johanni Trip J. U. D. Reipublicae Amstelaedamensis Consuli Gravissimo, Societatis Indiae Orientalis Moderatori integerrimo Toparchae in Berkenroden iustissimo & hanc Universi Orbis Terrarum Faciem ea qua par est reverentia D. D. D. Gerhardus et Leonhardus Valk." "To John Tripp J.

U. D., Consul of the Amsterdam Republic, President of the East India Company, the upright and honorable magistrate of Berkenrode, a man conspicuous by reason of his great worth and the splendor of his achievements, this globe is dedicated with reverence which is befitting by Gerhard and Leonhard Valk."

Near the first legend has been pasted the following brief printed statement, "Propter motum, Stellarum fixarum versus ortum post annum 1750 additione 3/4 gr. Correctio Longitudinum ut inst.i.tuatur monendus Uranophilus." "Because of the movement of the fixed stars toward the east since the year 1750, the student of astronomy is advised to correct the longitude by the addition of 3/4 of a degree." The terrestrial globe map, composed of eighteen gores, is filled with interesting geographical details, with geographical names and brief explanatory legends, being a fine example of the superior cartographical work published in that century in the Netherlands. There is something of an exaggeration in the representation by waving line of the several coasts and river courses, all of which appears to have been done for artistic effect rather than for a desire to be strictly accurate. In the New World we find such regional names as "Penn-Sylvania," the first part of the name being north of Lake Ontario, also "Carolina," "Virginia,"

"Belgia Nova," "Anglia," "Scotia Nova." Many provincial names are given in South America with boundary lines drawn. California is represented as an island, stretching northward to "Fretum Aniani." To the west of this stretches as far as the northeast coast of Asia, through about seventy-five degrees of longitude with definitely drawn southern coast line but extending indefinitely northward, a continental region bearing the legend "Terra incognita sive terra Esonis." Loxodromic lines are represented as on the best globes of the period radiating from numerous compa.s.s roses located along the meridians 0 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees. Frobisher's Strait is strangely duplicated at the southern extremity of Greenland. The t.i.tle legend of this terrestrial globe, placed in the southern Pacific, reads, "Universi Orbis Terrarum Facies c.u.m industria ac fide Secundum certissimas et novissimas Praestantissimiorum Geographorum Observationes denuo luci exposita; cuique praeterea longitudinis et lat.i.tudinis gradus Secundum Uranographiam novam, ac proinde &c. rei veritate sunt inscripti per Gerhardum et Leonhardum Valk, Amstelaedamenses 1750, c.u.m privilegio." "A representation of the land of the whole earth exhibited with industry and accuracy according to the most reliable and the most recent observations of the most renowned geographers, on which, in addition the degrees of lat.i.tude and longitude according to a new method and also in accord with truth, have been inserted by Gerhard and Leonhard Valk.

Amsterdam. 1750. With privilege."

In the second pair of Valk globes belonging to The Hispanic Society of America (Fig. 121), both terrestrial and celestial have diameters of about 30 cm. The mounting of these globes is practically the same as that in the larger pair. An author and date legend appearing in the Pacific to the west of South America reads: "Cosmotheore. Coelesti nostro Globo, Par et plane Novus. Hic Terrestris Ut existeret: certo facias: Errore Veterum Sublato, Non tantum Utrisque Orbis Longitudines ac Lat.i.tudines, per reiteratas Neotericorum Observationes. Hicce esse rest.i.tutas; Sed et nullum typis Emendatiorum pro diisse, Hoc igitur Novissimo tam diu fruere, Donec, sub Majori forma, Meo aere Alios excudemus. Ger. et Leon. Valk Calcographi Amstelaedami. Revis. A? 1750 c.u.m Privilegio." "Cosmotherium. That this terrestrial globe might equal (be a companion to) our celestial globe and entirely new, be a.s.sured that after correcting the errors of those who have preceded us, not only the longitudes and lat.i.tudes of each sphere have been corrected by the repeated observations of later astronomers, but likewise no (globe) has appeared more carefully corrected in the printing. This most recent globe therefore make use of until in a larger form at my own expense we Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, engravers shall construct others. Amsterdam.

Revised to the year 1750. With privilege."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 121. Terrestrial Globe of Gerhard and Leonhard Valk, 1750 (?).]

A dedication, such as appears on the first pair referred to, is wanting.

There is no particular improvement to be noted in this revision.

California is still laid down as an island. The uncertainty as to the outline of "Holandia Nova" is a striking feature, as is the omission of an austral continent. Geographical details are less numerous than in the larger pair, but in the matter of the engraving of the map it exhibits practically the same characteristics.

The celestial globe map has the author and date legend placed near the constellation "Cetus." It reads, "Uranographia Coelum omne hic Complectens, illa pro ut aucta, et ad annum 1750 Completum MAGNO ab HEVELIO correcta est; ita ejus ex Prototypis, sua noviter haec Ectypa veris Astronomiae cultoribus exhibet et consecrant GER. et LEON. VALK, Amstelaedamenses. c.u.m Privilegio." "Star-Map comprising the entire heavens according as it has been corrected to the end of the year 1750 by the Great Hevelius; so from his prototype Gerhard and Leonhard Valk present and dedicate these their own recent copies to the true lovers of astronomy. With privilege."

Near this legend, now appearing as a part of the original engraving, is that which, in the larger globe referred to above, had been pasted on as a separate slip, reading "Propter motum ... Uranophilus." Near the constellation "Hydra" is the legend reading "Monitum Novis hisce Sphaeris Novissimus. Ex praescripto Lotharii Zum-Bach Med. Doct. unus, et alter additus Horizon: Quorum Is, qui huic Caelesti singularis, Praeter Communes atque Biss.e.xtilem, Ut exactior, Luminarium indigetur Locus ad Meridianum Amstelodamens. Plus quam per Ducentos Annos, Suis Mensium Diebus Appositas Lunae Syzygias, Medio Tempore Medias, Ingeniosa Methodo et eruit, et exhibet." "Notice. To these our spheres, in accord with the directions of Lothar Zum-Bach, Doctor of Medicine, there has been added one very recent, and also a second horizon; of these two the one which belongs to the celestial globe has in addition the common and biss.e.xtile years, in order that the location of the stars may the more exactly be discovered; it both works out and exhibits by an ingenious method, according to the meridian of Amsterdam, over a s.p.a.ce of more than two hundred years the syzygies of the moon placed opposite their proper days of the month, the middle ones being in the middle time."

Each of these globes is well preserved, the colors originally applied remaining particularly bright in the southern hemispheres, these being better protected from light and from injuries incident to the more exposed upper surfaces.

In the third pair of Valk globes belonging to The Hispanic Society (Fig.