Page - 69 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

69The Making of a Jesuit Astronomer in the Habsburg Provinces Physica Particularis (Introductions to physics: Part 1, general physics; Part 2, parts of physics [1752–53]) was the first to introduce Newtonianism in a phys- ics textbook in the Habsburg lands, and was an important source (among many others) of the Graz professor Leopold Gottlieb Biwald’s (1731–1805) Physica generalis and Physica particularis (General physics; Parts of physics [1767–68]), which, in turn, were influential across Europe.93 Scherffer also re- mained very active in the Viennese astronomical community during Hell’s tenure as imperial and royal astronomer, chiefly on the theoretical side, as demonstrated by his Institutiones astronomiae theoreticae (Introductions to theoretical astronomy [1777]).94 In 1745, Hell had his first (anonymous) work published. The Elementa arith- meticae numericae et literalis, exposita a Joanne Crivellio (Elements of numeri- cal and literal arithmetics, explained by Joannes Crivelli) is the “third, correct- ed” edition of a textbook by the Venetian mathematician and priest Giovanni Francesco Crivelli (1690–1743), originally published in Italian in 1728 and then in Latin in 1740. In some of the literature on Hell, this volume is referred to by the title Elementa algebrae Joannis Crivelli magis illustrata et novis demonstra- tionibus et problematibus aucta (Elements of algebra by Joannes Crivelli, illus- trated and expanded by new demonstrations and problems), and it is claimed that the “further explanations and expansions by new demonstrations and ex- ercises” indicated in the title were considerable.95 In the copy available to us (bearing the former title), this cannot be ascertained. Hell took the previous Latin edition of 1740 and—according to his short addition to the editorial preface—confined himself to “emending dubious Latin phrases by supplant- ing them with new ones that are both clearer and especially accommodated to 93 Cornelia Faustmann, “‘In parte physicae theoretica Newtonum eiusque commentators secutus sum’: Leopold Gottlieb Biwald’s Physica generalis as a Compendium Propagating Newtonian Physics in Europe,” in The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the eshs in Barcelona, 18–20 November 2010, ed. Antoni Roca-Rosell (Barcelona: schct-iec, 2012), 349–54, and Faustmann, “Physik des 18. Jahr- hunderts im Spiegel der Quellen” (PhD diss., University of Vienna, 2010). 94 It is noteworthy that while this work contains many references to great contemporary astronomers like Lalande, Lacaille, Halley, Boscovich, and so forth, none of Scherffer’s peers in Vienna are acknowledged. Despite treating topics in which Hell ought to be con- sidered an expert, he makes no reference to him: when mentioning, for instance, the so- called satellite of Venus, he presents in brief the same explanation as Hell had used in his treatment of the subject, but without any reference. Karl Scherffer, Institutiones astrono- miae theoreticae (Vienna: Trattner, 1777), 8. Similarly, while a brief section is devoted to “De transitu Veneris, vel Mercurii infra discum Solis,” he only quotes Lalande as an author- ity. Scherffer, Institutiones astronomiae theoreticae, 391. 95 Pinsker, “Der Astronom,” 103–4. Elementa algebrae is also the title mentioned in Sommer- vogel, “Hell,” 250.