Seite - 277 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

277Observing Venus and Debating the Parallax employing—strikingly, in the case of a Jesuit, but very much in the voyeuristic style of a great deal of eighteenth-century literature on natural knowledge— erotic allusions to the “feminine” shyness of Venus and her “rendezvous” with the Sun as Apollo, mostly taking place under the decent veil of clouds but reaching a climax in “four kisses” that were visible to the eager spectators. But besides the artfully covert wording used by Hell and Sajnovics when they de- scribed their observations prior to February 1770, the apparent holding back of meaningful data by them needs to be further contextualized. It is helpful both to look at Hell’s status and manner of procedure in 1761 and 1769 compara- tively, and at the conduct of the Royal Society of Copenhagen vis-à-vis various national scientific bodies. As of 1761, Hell was a newcomer on the international arena. He had only re- cently begun expanding his network of correspondents outside the Jesuit cir- cles of the Habsburg lands. As a corresponding member of the Académie Royale des Sciences of Paris (appointed December 1758), he shared theories and observations with several colleagues in that stronghold of theoretical as- tronomy. Not surprisingly, he sent the details of his Venus transit observation to Paris by letter less than a week after the event in 1761.56 This way of sharing ideas and datasets was not only in harmony with the ideals of the Republic of Letters but was also a good fit with the self-esteem of the astronomers of Paris, who considered themselves the natural coordinators of international pro- grams such as the transits of Venus. In the run-up to 1769, Lalande emerged as the leading figure in the Venus transit enterprise.57 As the elderly Delisle retreated, Lalande was issuing mem- oirs, offering personal advice, and placing orders at the instrument-makers on behalf of academies and individuals in various countries. It is illustrative how he advised the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg on how to proceed, and of- fered to send one of his students to preside over the observations at the official observatory of that academy. Lalande also kept an assiduous correspondence 56 See Aspaas, “Le père jésuite Maximilien Hell et ses relations avec Lalande,” 133–37 (with a facsimile of Hell’s letter to Lalande, dated Vienna, June 12, 1761, on 136–37). The observa- tions of Hell were soon shared among the astronomers of Paris, who in turn communi- cated them to colleagues across Europe long before they had been printed (see, e.g., the letter from Lacaille to Tobias Mayer in Göttingen, dated Paris, June 28, 1761, published in Eric Forbes and Jacques Gapaillard, “La correspondance astronomique entre l’abbé Nico- las-Louis de Lacaille et Tobias Mayer,” Revue d’histoire des sciences 49 [1996]: 538). 57 See, e.g., Pecker, “Jérôme de Lalande and International Cooperation,” 52–62; Simone Du- mont, Un astronome des Lumières: Jérôme Lalande, with a foreword by Jean-Claude Pecker (Paris: Vuibert/Observatoire de Paris, 2007), 36–43. Pertinent here is also the edition by Simone Dumont and Jean-Claude Pecker, eds., Mission à Berlin: Jérôme Lalande, lettres à Jean iii Bernoulli et à Elert Bode (Paris: Vrin, 2014).