Page - 189 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

189The North Beckons Danske Kancelli (in effect, interior minister of Denmark), and—on Hell’s own account—one of the three men responsible for Hell’s invitation (the other two being Foreign Minister Bernstorff, already mentioned, and Privy Councilor Count Adam Gottlob Moltke [1710–92]).57 Not only is Hell’s claim of having had no scientific correspondence with anyone in Denmark before 1767 incor- rect; his Copenhagen interlocutor also had access to the decision-makers, and may well have prompted them to consider Hell for the Vardø expedition (a hypothesis that, in lack of sources, cannot be corroborated). The other puzzling claim Hell made at the beginning of the Observatio tran- situs Veneris […] 1769 is that by the time he first met the Danish ambassador on September 5, 1767, he “had already rejected two invitations to go abroad” for the 1769 Venus transit observation.58 Hell gave reasons for these rejections, re- ferring to his “failing bodily strength”59 but nowhere revealed the identity of those who had allegedly invited him. This is not surprising. Administrative documents demonstrate that the authorities in Copenhagen asked for secrecy when they gave the Viennese ambassador orders to contact Hell.60 Had he de- clined the Danish invitation, it would certainly have been very difficult to find evidence for it. One may speculate that, even though the Society of Jesus was already expe- riencing troubles, one of the mysterious invitations arose from the Jesuit net- work. As early as 1766, Boscovich was planning an expedition to North America for the upcoming transit of Venus under the auspices of the Royal Society of London, of which he was a member. Baja California in present-day Mexico was later fixed as the site of his observation.61 In the same year, the Spanish famous man compared these observations of mine with his own, and found from this comparison that Copenhagen lies seventeen minutes twenty-seven seconds in time west of Vienna.” 57 Hell, “Introductio ad Expeditionem litterariam,” in Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 406–7. 58 Hell, Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1769, 1. Cf. Hell, “Introductio ad expeditionem litter- ariam,” in Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 416–17. 59 Hell, “Introductio ad Expeditionem litterariam,” in Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 408–9. However, in the other relevant account, the number of his years and the feebleness of his body soon appear as factors overcome by the exhilaration caused by the Danish invita- tion: “As though I had been weakened by a surprising slap, not laying much weight on my already well-advanced age, nor on the difficulties of traveling, the risks to your life, or the danger imposed upon my feeble bodily strength by the inclemency of the climate in the Arctic […], I embarked upon the journey to the Arctic in a lofty and fearless spirit.” Hell, Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1769, 1–2. 60 “Unter der Hand,” Tyske Kancelli, kopibogen, entry under August 18, 1767 (RA); “Sonder sous main,” Bernstorff to Bachoff in Vienna, dated Copenhagen, August 18 1767 (RA). 61 The secretary of the Royal Society, Charles Morton (1716–99), sent Boscovich a letter of invitation early in 1766. In his response, dated Pavia, May 9, 1766, Boscovich expressed