Page - 257 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

257The Expeditio litteraria ad Polum Arcticum studies of Sajnovics) and even fierce opposition (the historical theories build- ing upon them), or, worse still: disinterested silence from the theoreticians that he most of all would have wanted to reach (the theory on the aurora borealis). In short, instead of relishing the comforts of fame both home and abroad, Hell saw his authority under attack from virtually all sides. His fierce and often pu- erile reactions indicate a man with his back against the wall, jealously protect- ing what is left of his standing in the Republic of Letters. Nowhere was his public response more verbose than when he felt his credibility as an astrono- mer questioned. The next chapter deals with what would have become the third and fundamental part of the Expeditio litteraria: the “mathematical and astronomical volume,” or Tomus mathematicus & astronomicus.