Page - 169 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

169The 1761 Transit of Venus and Hell’s Transition to Fame I would have liked to follow in the footsteps of Riccioli and produce a work of the same length as his, but I would never have found a publisher to cover the costs of its printing. It is difficult for us in Paris to publish books on mathematical subjects; an author could hardly expect to re- ceive a copy or two from the typographer in return for a voluminous manuscript: I admire how our friend father Hell, however famous and erudite, is able to publish a quite lengthy volume of his Ephemerides ev- ery single year.101 As the role of the Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen (Göttingen re- ports on learned matters), in which the Ephemerides was also mentioned at generous frequency, was similar on the German scene to the Journal des Sça- vans on the French one, the same assumption of wide recognition probably holds for Germany, too. The Ephemerides was first reported in the Göttingi- sche  Anzeigen in 1764—possibly thanks to the extensive 1761 Venus transit coverage—and was specifically commended on account of the lasting value of the materials published in it besides the astronomical tables for the year.102 Thereafter, the “excellent annual” (vortreffliche Jahrbuch), in which the mate- rial is “very conveniently arranged” (sehr bequem eingerichtet),103 was reviewed regularly (although not each year). The special attention given to the appendi- ces demonstrates that its distinctiveness did not escape the attention of the reviewer, the Göttingen mathematician, professor of geometrics and physics (and enlightened polymath), Abraham Gotthelf Kästner.104 Kästner would later express his grave concern in commenting on the 1776 volume that as Hell’s efforts to replace the leverage of the Society of Jesus through the founda- tion of a scientific society (academy) by the monarch became thwarted, the Ephemerides—which in regard of the “accuracy of its calculations, its richness of detail, and its serviceableness has been superior to all others”—might be discontinued.105 One might also add that today copies of the Ephemerides (for the most part, of the entire series) are available in at least fifteen academic li- braries in Germany—another indicator of wide dissemination. 101 Lalande to Weiss in Trnava, dated Paris, June 10, 1764, in Vargha, Correspondence de Ferenc Weiss, 1:57. As noted and will be developed, Lalande’s attitude to Hell was soon to change. 102 Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen (hereafter: GAgS) [12]:2, no. 98 (August 16, 1764): 788–90. 103 GAgS [20]:2, no. 134 (November 7, 1772): 1138; [17]:2, no. 97 (August 14, 1769): 879. 104 On the highly complex character and diverse activities of Kästner, see Rainer Baasner, Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, Aufklärer (1719–1800) (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1991). 105 GAgS, [25]:1 no. 3 (January 6, 1777): 24.