Seite - 236 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe
Bild der Seite - 236 -
Text der Seite - 236 -
Chapter
5236
correlation between the Hungarian and Lappish language, which Honor
able Father Hell had formed in his mind already beforehand, from reading
the “Lapponia” of Schefferus and the “Geographia” of Büsching, a conjec-
ture he had mentioned to me every so often during the journey [empha-
sis added].80
Hell now appears explicitly as not merely a constant source of support but as
the fons et origo of the linguistic endeavor of the Vardø expedition. His direct
involvement in the project is also stressed by changing “an occasion for a Hun-
garian [Ungaro] to visit the Lapps” in the first edition to the plural (Ungaris) in
the second. An extant draft in Hell’s own hand, intended to be sent to Sajnovics
in the winter of 1770–71, demonstrates that these changes were introduced in
the Trnava edition upon Hell’s own explicit instruction:
In the preface to the Royal Society [of Copenhagen] // After the words:
“Imperial and Royal Astronomer from the University of Vienna” [add the
following], “also a Hungarian by nation, invited to Vardøhus by the re-
doubtable Majesty King Christian vii of Denmark and Norway in order
to observe the transit of Venus in front of the disc of the Sun. Since the
same Hell, formerly my teacher in astronomical subjects, had chosen me
as his travel companion in order to assist him in his astronomical tasks
and in particular the examination of the Lappish language, I set off for
Finnmark, where I spent about a year. // For on this occasion, it was pos-
sible for Hungarians to spend time among the Lapps; on this occasion, it
was possible to put to the test Father Hell’s conjecture, which he based
upon the Geographia of Büsching and the Lapponia of Schefferus and
which he had frequently mentioned to me during the journey […].”81
As a result of the additions and the small amendments in the second edition,
Hell emerges as not only the initiator but the permanent guiding spirit of and
an equal, even principal contributor to the research. He now appears also to
have been the one who introduced Sajnovics to the method of comparison: “In
his leisure hours, he joined me, studied the Nomenclator [the 1756 Danish–Lap-
pish dictionary of Leem] with me, searched for words and interpreted them.”82
He is credited with having directed the work of data collection by putting
80 Sajnovics, Demonstratio (1771), [xi–xii], cf. 22.
81 “Jn adlocutione ad Societatem Regiam,” Manuscripte Hell, wus. Digitized in Aspaas,
“Maximilianus Hell,” 126–7.
82 Sajnovics, Demonstratio (1771), 23.
Maximilian Hell (1720–92)
And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe
- Titel
- Maximilian Hell (1720–92)
- Untertitel
- And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe
- Autoren
- Per Pippin Aspaas
- László Kontler
- Verlag
- Brill
- Ort
- Leiden
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-90-04-41683-3
- Abmessungen
- 15.5 x 24.1 cm
- Seiten
- 492
- Kategorien
- Naturwissenschaften Physik
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Acknowledgments VII
- List of Illustrations IX
- Bibliographic Abbreviations X
- Introduction 1
- 1 Shafts and Stars, Crafts and Sciences: The Making of a Jesuit Astronomer in the Habsburg Provinces 37
- 2 Metropolitan Lures: Enlightened and Jesuit Networks, and a New Node of Science 91
- 3 A New Node of Science in Action: The 1761 Transit of Venus and Hell’s Transition to Fame 134
- 4 The North Beckons: “A desperate voyage by desperate persons” 172
- 5 He Came, He Saw, He Conquered? The Expeditio litteraria ad Polum Arcticum 209
- 6 “Tahiti and Vardø will be the two columns […]”: Observing Venus andDebating the Parallax 258
- 7 Disruption of Old Structures 305
- 8 Coping with Enlightenments 344
- Appendix 1 Map of the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus (with Glossary of Geographic Names) 394
- Appendix 2 Instruction for the Imperial and Royal Astronomer Maximilian Hell, S.J 398
- Bibliography 400
- Index 459