Page - 264 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 6264 Hell and Sajnovics, the travel diary of Sajnovics, and other surviving manu- scripts from the Vardø expedition. (The term “pole height” used below means geographical latitude.) Writing from Vardø to his replacement at the Vienna University Observato- ry, Father Pilgram, Hell states that upon his arrival in the island on October 11, my first wish was to acquire a preliminary knowledge of the latitude, but I had as yet no suitable place at hand from which to conduct this work; I measured from the entrance hall some altitudes of the Sun at noon, and have […] found the pole height to be between 70° 19′ 30″ and 70° 20′. This result is only preliminary, however, until I determine it accurately by means of observations of the vertical stars.21 In a letter to Horrebow on the same day, November 12, 1768, he mentions the same result, adding that it was the travelers’ quadrant of Niebuhr that had been used for this measurement.22 In various other letters from Vardø between November 1768 and January 1769, Hell speaks of a latitude of 70° 20′, but with- out explaining the methods used for this determination.23 21 Hell to Pilgram, dated Vardø, November 12, 1768, in Pinzger, Hell Miksa, 2:10. 22 Hell to Horrebow, dated Vardø, November 12, 1768, in Pinzger, Hell Miksa, 2:32: “I have here [in Vardø] also measured [the pole height] preliminary and with the same instrument [i.e., Niebuhr’s quadrant]. However, partly because of the lack of a proper place to observe from—for I observed in the forecourt [sic], where the quadrant rested on the not entirely fixed wooden floor—partly because the midday sun was already quite low, only four or five degrees high […], I have found it, by means of four Sun heights at midday and one culmination of the star Altair in the Eagle, to be approximately between 70° 19′ 30″ and 70° 20′.” 23 Hell to Gunnerus in Trondheim, dated Vardø, November 12, 1768, in Pinzger, Hell Miksa, 2:26; Hell to Mercier in Copenhagen, dated Vardø, January 15, 1769, wus, relevant part of letter not included in Pinzger; Hell to Horrebow in Copenhagen, dated Vardø, January 15, 1769, wus. Cf. Sajnovics to Splenyi in Trnava, dated Vardø, November 14, 1768 (mtak IL): “The Vardø Island is situated at a pole height of approximately 70° 20′.” Sajnovics’s diary gives additional information on the first attempts to determine the latitude of Vardø. In the entry on October 14, it is said that: “The quadrant of Niebuhr was mounted, since clouds full of snow came in intervals and gave us reason to hope for a view to the Sun. The complement of the altitude of the [upper] limb of the Sun was 78° 28′ 30″, giving a pole height of 70° 26′, [which is only] an approximation, because clouds disturbed the obser- vation.” The entry on October 16, 1768 states that “a wind from ssw melted the snow com- pletely and brought back the serenity in the sky. The complement of the altitude of the Sun’s upper limb was 79° 9′ 0″.” Finally, on October 18, Sajnovics says: “I have observed the altitude of the Sun, which gives a pole height of 70° 20′.” Other entries in the travel diary demonstrate that further attempts to measure the latitude were made as late as October