Page - 259 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

259Observing Venus and Debating the Parallax Although not in the framework of the Expeditio litteraria, the first part was ef- fectively published as the Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1769 (after the first edition in Copenhagen in February 1770, three further Latin editions as well as a Danish translation were issued later in the same year). One particular part of this work, on how to determine the latitude by means of stars culminating in the same zenith distance, was the subject of a more elaborate account in the Ephemerides (1774).1 As for the “accurate determination of the solar parallax” meant to be included in the Expeditio litteraria, this instead took the form of two intricate and polemical pamphlets, issued as appendices to the Ephemeri- des (1772 and 1773). The second part of the third volume would consist of contributions to the geography of western Scandinavia. Hell presented a report on his latitude de- terminations made en route between Copenhagen and Vardø to the Royal So- ciety of Sciences just before leaving Copenhagen in May 1770. It was translated into Danish and printed in the proceedings of the Copenhagen society in the same year.2 Not until 1790 was an (enlarged) edition of the Latin original issued in Vienna, as a supplement to the Ephemerides for the year 1791. Maps were also made, among them a frequently reprinted map of the Island of Vardø, and maps of “Norway, Nordland, and Finnmark.” The latter three should in modern terms represent southern Norway, the present-day counties of Nordland and Troms and Finnmark. According to Hell, he sent test-prints of these maps to the Copenhagen Society of Sciences around 1778, but these have not been found.3 1 Maximilian Hell, “Methodus astronomica Sine usu Quadrantis, vel Sectoris, aut alterius cu- jusvis instrumenti, in gradus Circuli divisi, item sine notitia refractionis, ope solius tubi in- structi micrometro filari, singula secunda indicante, et in apto ad hunc usum fulcro mobili applicati, elevationem Poli cujusvis loci, in continente siti, accuratissimam definire,” Ephe- merides 1775 (1774), 3–41. This has been described as the Horrebow–Talcott method, named after Peder Horrebow the Elder and Andrew Talcott (1797–1883), see, e.g., Peter Brosche, “Küstner’s Observations of 1884–85: the Turning Point in the Empirical Establishment of Po- lar Motion,” International Astronomical Union Colloquium 208 (2000): 101–8. 2 Maximilian Hell, “Nogle Steders Geographiske Breder.” The Latin original is today preserved at the National Library in Oslo, MS 4° 16. 3 Maximilian Hell, “Observationes astronomicae latitudinum, & longitudinum locorum borea- lium Daniae, Sueciae, Norvegiae, & Finnmarchiae Lapponicae per iter arcticum annis 1768, 1769, & 1770 factae,” Ephemerides 1791 (1790): 300–86, here 310: “These maps, engraved on cop- per, were sent to the highly illustrious Society of Sciences in Copenhagen already twelve years ago.” These maps were for a time in the hands of prominent Norwegian historian Ger- hard Schøning (1722–80), who has left a brief report on the names of places they included. It is not known whether these maps exist today (cf. Kristian Nissen’s manuscript “Pater Hells Norgeskarter fra tiden omkring 1770,” intended as a chapter in the unpublished Bidrag til Norges karthistorie, iii [National Library of Norway, Oslo. MS 4° 3051:c7]).