Page - 218 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 5218 In the next part, ad Polum arcticum, “to” as a translation is obviously prob- lematic: the North Pole was neither reached by Hell and his associates, nor was it ever meant to be. (Even though this is also what the German translation as Reisebeschreibung nach dem Nordpol implied.31 In this reading, “North Pole” simply designates “the region of the High North; the Arctic.”)32 In reality, at most, they moved “toward” it, which the preposition ad, when connected with verbs or nouns implying movement, usually means. However, another frequent meaning of ad is “by, near, in the vicinity of.” This is the meaning one may infer from a manuscript covering magnetic observations made during the south- bound part of the journey, that is, from Vardø toward Copenhagen. This manu- script bears the title “The Method Used for Observing the Magnetic Needle’s Declinations during the Iter litterarium ad Polum boreum.”33 (Iter, journey, is here a synonym for expeditio; boreus for arcticus.) Given the southbound travel route described in this manuscript, ad is clearly meant on this occasion to im- ply “by the North Pole,” not “toward.” On these grounds, the sense of the expres- sion Expeditio litteraria ad Polum arcticum is best conveyed as “Scientific Expedition by the North Pole.” Taken as a whole, the Expeditio litteraria was meant to comprise three vol- umes in folio, with numerous illustrations and several geographical maps of the regions visited by Hell and Sajnovics. One preserved portrait of Hell, pro- duced in 1771, possibly with the intention of serving as additional promotional material for the Expeditio litteraria, shows the Viennese Jesuit flanked by the allegorical figures Religio and Scientia (see fig. 8). In the middle of the portrait, there is vivid imagery illustrating the delicate process of observing a transit of Venus. Even more conspicuous, however, are the books lying about underneath on the basis of Newton’s theory of gravity and the measurement of degrees, by Boscovich. Christopher Maire and Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich, De litteraria expeditione per Pontifi­ ciam Ditionem ad dimetiendos duos meridiani gradus et corrigendam mappam geographi­ cam (Rome: Palladis, 1755), xiv. In 1770, this classic of geodesy appeared in a French edi- tion, bearing the title Voyage astronomique et géographique, dans l’etat de l’eglise. 31 Maximilian Hell, Nachricht […] Wien den 2. März 1771 (call for subscriptions, in German [n.p.: n.p.]), [1]. 32 Such a translation is given by the editors in Andreas Christian Hviid, Andreas Christian Hviids Europa: Udtog af en Dagbog holden i Aarene 1777–1780 paa en Reise igennem Tysk­ land, Italien, Frankrige og Holland, ed. Michael Harbsmeier, Claus Mechlenborg, and Morten Petersen (Copenhagen: Forlaget Vandkunsten, 2005), 589n368: “En litterær ekspe- disjon til de nordlige polaregne.” In that interpretation, “Polus arcticus” would be a syn- onym for “Zona frigida arctica” (used by Hell in the call for subscriptions, Tomi ii. Pars iv. Sectio i, see Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 374–75). 33 Maximilian Hell, “Methodus observandi declinationes acus magneticæ per iter litterari- um ad Polum boreum” (1769–70). wus, Manuscripte Hell.