Page - 150 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 3150 brief, merely four-and-a-half pages.35 Here, Hell exclusively reports the obser- vations of his confrère Weiss in Trnava, without even mentioning the existence of able observers such as the Calvinist Hatvani or the Lutheran Schumacher in the same territory. Instead, the imperial astronomer is careful to extol the Trna- va university as an institution run entirely by the Society of Jesus. At the end of this account, he explains that Weiss has already shared the details of his Venus transit observation with the illustrious Cassini de Thury, “when he, accompa- nied by myself, visited the observatory in Trnava [i.e., shortly after the transit had taken place].” Furthermore, Hell himself made sure to dispatch a tran- script of Weiss’s observation to Lacaille in Paris, “for him to include in his collections.”36 The message resonates clearly: the one and only Jesuit-run ob- servatory in Hungary is fully integrated in the Republic of Letters; any activity by scholars belonging to other denominations is not worthy of mention. A longer subchapter entitled “Observationes per Germaniam factae,” or ob- servations made throughout the German-speaking parts of Europe, gives further evidence of confessional as well as imperial concerns.37 The above- mentioned amateur, Baron zum Schlug, is accorded no fewer than six pages, consisting of full length quotations from a letter addressed to Hell, followed by the imperial astronomer’s corollary: If only the brightest of intellects, the kind of which our flourishing terri- tories […] are teeming with (in much the same way as France, England, Italy, etc.), would become inspired by this uniquely illustrious noble- man’s example to engage both in astronomical works, worthy as they are of the capacity of sublime minds, and in activities more useful than any other pastime!38 Next in line after the illustrious Austrian baron, we find seven-and-a-half pages devoted to the Jesuit Georg Kratz (or Kraz [1713–66]) of Ingolstadt (taken from a letter); two pages consisting of a summary of a printed report by an anony- mous team in the Catholic stronghold of Munich; two pages with a similar summary of a printed report by Hell’s associate, the Jesuit Franz Huberti in Würzburg; and two-and-a-half pages on yet another associate, the Jesuit Chris- tian Mayer, who observed the transit in the company of Prince-Elector Charles Theodore (1724–99, r.1742–99) in Schwetzingen (a letter is here again the 35 Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 84–89. 36 Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 88. 37 Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 62–84. 38 Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 67.