Page - 220 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 5220 the portrayed Jesuit. Present among the titles are his report “Observat: ♀ Wardöhus […]” and the (never accomplished) “Expeditio litteraria” itself. Oth- er titles are, besides various issues of the Ephemerides, the observations of Je- suit missionaries in China, edited by Hell (referred to as “Observat[iones] Pekin[enses]”), his Cluj textbooks on mathematics, his refutation of Schu- macher’s text on the Easter celebrations, his experiments with magnetism, his treatise on the moon of Venus as well as his tables of solar, lunar, and planetary orbits (here abbreviated “Algebra,” “Von der Oster Feyer,” “De Magnete,” “De Satell[ite] ♀,” “Tabul[ae] Astron[omicae] ʘ Ͻ et Planet[arum]”). In other words, the court astronomer of Vienna is portrayed as a man who knows “ev- erything.” Above his head shines the radiant emblem of the Society of Jesus, with Religion and Science smilingly lending support to his endeavors: this sense emerges from the ablative case of the inscriptions, RELIGIONE and SCIENTI[Ā], “by means of Religion and Science.” The meaning of the allegory could hardly be missed. The metropolitan court astronomer had returned from the wilderness to civilization as an explorer with first-hand knowledge encom- passing numerous branches of knowledge, backed by the Society of Jesus as a source of Enlightenment. Scherffer’s worries are dispelled by this imagery, which supplies a resounding response to any critic of “Jesuits abusing the trea- suries of kings.” 2 Enigmas of the Northern Sky and Earth The Expeditio litteraria was supposed to consist of three volumes, the second of which bore the title Tomus physicus. “Physics” here—true to the general un- derstanding of the term in the eighteenth century—encompasses areas now known as meteorology and upper atmosphere physics, as well as natural his- tory (marine and terrestrial biology alike), and even the exploitation of natural resources. In summary, the following parts were planned: Part 1: On plants, animals, fish, etc. in northern Norway; Part 2: On the decrease of the sea level in the Far North; Part 3: On the luminescence of the sea in the Far North (“morild” in Norwegian); Part 4: A new theory of the Aurora Borealis; Part 5: Meteorological observations, including inves- tigation of the ebb and flow of the tides, etc.; Part 6: Economic remarks.34 34 For a full edition and translation of the call for subscriptions, see Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 361–81.