Scientific Instrument Society

Bulletin March No. 80 2004 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society ISSN 0956-8271

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President Gerard Turner Vice-President Howard Dawes Honorary Committee Gloria Clifton, Chairman Ron Bristow,Vice-Chairman Robert Warren, Secretary Simon Cheifetz,Treasurer Willem Hackmann, Editor Peter de Clercq, Meetings Secretary Alexander Crum Ewing Paul Goodman Neil Handley Stephen Johnston Patrick Mill Tom Newth Sylvia Sumira Trevor Waterman

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In With the New As promised in the An Editor of a quarterly journal views the December Bulletin this evolution of the seasons in terms of the March issue has a dis- publication dates of his charge.The March tinctive marine flavour. issue coincides with the coming of Spring Willem Mörzer Bruyns’ in the UK.There is still a ‘nip’in the air but ten-year follow-up of his the days are getting brighter and the book on cross-staffs is colours of the hedgerows are turning from included,as is the paper brown to purple and will soon change into by Isabel Malaquias and green.There is optimism,rebirth,everything Emília Vaz Gomez on the seems possible.There is new energy and instruments used in teaching navigation in enthusiasm.With a little luck (and help from th our members), this will also infect the Portugal in the late 18 Bulletin: new writers to take up the chal- century.Willem’s paper lenge and new instrumental discoveries to contains more than thir- be made. ty newly discovered cross-staffs. This addi- One challenge some of you might like to tional material not only take up is a series suggested by Peter de confirms the conclu- Fig.1 Michael Wright lecturing.On the screen can be seen his Clercq under the rubric, ‘Classics of sions reached in 1994, but reconstruction of the front dial superimposed against the Instrument History’. He is intrigued by the has also produced new largest fragment of the Antikythera Mechanism. historiography of our field,especially where information about their it ties in with the devel- makers and their work- opment of museums. shops. This prolonged observation of a There are quite a few group of instruments has also produced an examples around, such unexpected insight concerning the as Tony Simcock’s book- behaviour of some collectors and the trade let on Gunther, the in historical instruments, in that several of founder of the Oxford the cross-staffs have grown additional limbs Museum of the History and vanes! Both these studies show the of Science, a small gem importance of detailed studies: the cross- in this genre. Then staff paper illustrates what can be learned there are the papers by from an in-depth catalogue-type study of a Mike Cowham on ‘The particular instrument, while the paper on Gatty Family’ (in the Portuguese navigation shows what can be British Sundial Society learned from an in-depth study of particular Bulletins of 2000 and documents.A similar case can be made for 2001), on Marice the short series on early printed ephemera Daumas by Jim Bennett of London instrument makers,of which we and Anthony Turner, have now reached Part 2, dealing with the and Peter de Clercq’s barometer trade literature. Such material discussion on the work can give us insight into how the trade was of Ernst Gerland on the Fig.2 Presenting the Society’s medal by our chairperson Gloria organized, as well as of instruments that Kassel Collection in Clifton to Michael after the lecture. have perhaps no longer survived. I suspect Part 3 of his series on that some of it will have to be treated with the Special Loan roded metal.His strength lay in his scholar- caution as an eighteenth-century trader was Collection Papers (Bulletin No. 75 of ship but his weakness in the fact that he as likely to ‘puff’his ware as any present-day December 2002). We could have short was not a trained and experienced trader. papers putting the classics by Rohde, mechanician. Michael Wright has been Michel, Gunther, Zinner, and others in per- revisiting the Antykithera Mechanism for It is with great sadness that we have to spective.Write in what you think of this several decades now, and those that know report the death of Gerry Martin, a bene- idea,and on any other topic you would like Michael,agree on at least one thing,and that factor of the Society. We are grateful for to see aired in the Bulletin. is that he is no mean hand with a lathe and Howard Dawes’ obituary of a dear friend a dividing engine. He is a mechanician to and colleague. A significant date in the Society’s calendar is his fingertips (meant as a compliment for the Annual Invitation Lecture, usually held we live in an age when most scholars of Bulletin’s Cover in late November.Over the years members technology can turn the pages of a docu- lucky enough to make it to this event have The cover illustrates Michael Wright's ment but not the feedscrews of a lathe). In been entertained by fascinating discourses, intriguing reconstruction of the front dial his Anniversary Lecture (Figs 1 and 2), of and this year’s was no exception. The of the Antikythera Mechanism.According which members will find a detailed extract Antykithera Mechanism discovered off a to his analysis this was probably a plane- in this issue, Michael described his novel small Greek island so named is the most tarium. Seven hands show the places in reconstruction based both on his academic complicated geared mechanism to survive knowledge of ancient geared mechanisms the Zodiac of the Sun, the Moon and the from antiquity.The late Derek de Solla Price and on his experience as an artisan of gear- five planets known in antiquity.The eighth astounded the scholars of ancient mecha- ing.To celebrate a most enjoyable lecture, hand shows the date. Michael has also nisms by his reconstruction which saw the the cover of this issue features his ‘minimal reconstructed the back dial,showing how light of day in 1974. Professor Price dis- reconstruction’ of the front dial. It will be the case containing the mechanism for the played remarkable doggedness in the man- interesting to follow the fortunes of ner in which he attempted to yield an front dial must be stepped out to accom- Michael’s reconstruction over the next answer from unresponsive lumps of cor- modate the back dial. decade.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 1 Announcements Letters

Three Important Events for your From Gramophone to Calendar Morgan Three-Wheeler Tuesday 6th April, 18.00-20.30: Christie’s, South Kensington Sale Since I first disassembled a Preview and Gallery Talk gramophone as a child, and then played with Meccano This preview of the Exceptional Sale of worm gears, I have been fas- Scientific, Medical and Engineering Works cinated with worms that of Art, which will take place on Thursday can, and cannot, be over- 8th April. Members are invited to attend hauled. The Instrumental this special evening preview reception Note, ‘Can a Worm Go kindly offered by Christie’s South Backwards?’ (Bulletin of the Kensington. Enquiries from scientific SIS, December 2003), pro- vided a fascinating insight instrument expert Tom Newth into the mechanics of driven [email protected] +44 (0)20 7752 worms, and also a very prac- 3147. At 18.30, there will be a Gallery Talk tical analysis of what will Fig.1 Diagram of the Morgan gearbox showing the posi- by Christie’s former scientific instrument overhaul, what will not, and tion of the worm drive (courtesy of Clarrie Coombes, expert, Jeremy Collins, Honorary Member why.It’s good to see this sort Morgan Three-Wheeler Club). of our Society.In an illustrated talk,‘Those of article on a regular basis in the Bulletin. That Seek Shall Find’, Mr Collins I have recently begun the restoration of a The Word ‘Microtome’ will discuss Renaissance instruments he Morgan three-wheeler, a cyclecar from the In his report on the visit to the Sir John has sold and how he went about finding late 1920s.Although not a scientific instru- Thorn Medical Museum in the Bulletin,No. them.All members, with partners and ment by any stretch of the imagination, 78 p. 13, Arthur Middleton says that the friends, are welcome to attend. Just show there are interesting parallels.To turn the word ‘microtome’ was coined in 1839 up, no need to book.This event and the transmission through a right angle from the though the instrument itself was only intro- sale is described in more detail in this propellor shaft to the drive chains, a bevel duced in 1858. Bulletin in ‘Market Place’. gear was originally fitted. However, once a three-speed and reverse gearbox was I don’t know about the term ‘microtome’, Sunday 2nd to Friday 7th May: offered around 1930 (Figs 1 and 2),another but a device for cutting very thin slices of Overseas Conference to Denmark method was needed.An eight-start bronze material for observation under the micro- scope was invented much earlier. Hill’s The programme is now finalized and our worm working on a 17-tooth steel gear (thus, giving a ratio of 1: 2.125) proved to Construction of Timber (1770) describes Executive Officer,Wg Cdr Geoffrey be the answer, provided it was kept and illustrates (in Plate I) what he called ‘the Bennett, will be sending out the extremely well lubricated with the right cutting engine’, which he used to produce registration papers to those who have kind of oil.Even so,worm drives often over- the very thin slices of timber for his obser- responded to the first circular in the heated, and some of the more unlucky vations.He said it was invented by ‘the inge- December Bulletin. Registration fee £ 190 drivers have reported opening the gear case nious Mr.Cummings’, who perfected the includes coach hire, Conference Dinner, and ladling out a couple of tablespoonfuls design, and that they were then made for one communal lunch and all museum of thick bronze paste from the bottom - all general sale by Ramsden. entries.As the maximum participant that remained of their precious worms! In order to cope with hard timber, his number is 45, those who want to join this With this kind of gear train it is also critical ‘engine’ had a cutting edge of spiral form. delightful and informative conference to avoid the abhorrent practice of slowing This was difficult to sharpen correctly,and down by using engine braking.Preservation should contact Geoffrey Bennett as soon in George Adams junior’s Essays on the of the overhauled worm drive on a Morgan as possible. Microscope (1787) he illustrated (in Plate three-wheeler requires one to depress the IX) a different design which had a straight Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd July: clutch,select neutral,and use the brakes for (diagonal) cutting edge.Both versions had a Conference in Cambridge including slowing,never allowing the rear wheel and micrometer screw for advancing the speci- drive train to push the engine. Annual General Meeting men and controlling the thickness of cut. Call for Papers Bob Barclay I don’t know when the ‘rocking-bar’micro- Historic Objects tome in common use in my pre-war school- A number of members have offered Canadian Conservation Institute days was invented.This had the advantage papers.These include David Bryden, Allan that the length of stroke could Mills, and Peter G. I. Stovin, but more are be set precisely, so that consec- needed. Please remember that this is an utive slices of a specimen opportunity for members to talk about mounted in paraffin wax subjects of interest to them.You might remained attached to each other even be able to air your particular hobby as a long ribbon. horse! The papers can range widely over Perhaps you could persuade any aspect of instrument history. somebody (not me) to write an article for the Bulletin on the Besides papers and the AGM, the event history of the microtome? I can will include visits to the Whipple provide illustrations of Hill’s and Museum and the Museum of Technology, Adams’s devices if required. possibly combined with a finger-buffet on a cruise boat. Registration details will be John R. Millburn sent to members in May with the AGM Fig. 2 The Morgan gearbox with the covers removes papers. (courtesy of Thomas Atkinson).

2 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Obituary: A Tribute to Gerry Martin 1930 – 2004

This photograph was taken last year at a Conference at King’s College Cambridge. It is so typical of his approach to things - who else would think of demonstrating the basic design of a telescope with two spheres – but of course it works perfectly. Gerry died peacefully in Sussex on 14th January 2004. You may have seen the Obituaries in the Times and Independent but those who did not, and who knew him will be deeply saddened.He was a very pri- vate man and many of our members may never have heard of him though his influ- ence touched so many people especially those interested in scientific instruments and the history of science generally. Photo courtesy of Alan Macfarlane Born in Alvechurch, south of Birmingham in 1930,Gerry had a conventional upbring- ing and on leaving school went in to his grants and equipment to graduate first job at Ether Industries,an engineering talk about his ideas.But Gerry was more,he researchers.His involvement in conferences firm, as an apprentice. After a couple of was a very practical man with his hands, a and projects are too numerous to mention years, the Managing Director encouraged doer and solver of problems, mostly other in detail but typical was the 5-year him to go to Chicago USA to work with peoples and always with an unexpected Achievement Project managed by Dr Wheelco Instrument Company to improve comment or suggestion.He simply saw the Penelope Gouk, and his support of publi- manufacturing co-operation between the world rather differently from most of us – a cations, such as Gloria Clifton’s now indis- two companies.This was a perfect oppor- lateral thinker. I mentioned that his influ- pensable Dictionary of British Scientific tunity for this brilliant 22 year old to devel- ence touched so many people and his huge Instrument Makers 1550-1851. As Jim op his strengths,working to improve tech- generosity with both his time and money Bennett reminded us, Gerry was crucial to niques of manufacturing and developing was always private but he helped scores of The Museum of the History Science in ideas on company organisation and struc- people. He even helped the Scientific Oxford in getting its grant from the Lottery ture. Instrument Society in its early years. Fund to carry out the major development In 1951 he returned to the UK with Jim of the basement and Library;he paid for the In 1996 Gerry was awarded an honorary Hartnett to set up the European branch of feasibility to get it all started. He also fund- Doctorate of Science at Sussex University, West Instruments for Mr Dick West the ed our President’s tenure as visiting profes- There is not much of Gerry’s writing to sur- owner. Gerry would be the MD and they sor at Imperial College in London. vive him in published form. His written finally ran the business from Worthing in Gerry was interested in trying to under- comments were usually short and to the Sussex. Sadly,West was killed in a plane stand the nature of innovation and achieve- point,but he did co-author a book with his crash and then his brother took over but ment. His background in business and long time friend Professor Alan Macfarlene Gerry and Jim were unhappy with the new instrumentation encouraged him in the of King’s College Cambridge called the arrangement. So in 1965 they set up their belief that the latest scientific information Glass Bathyscape: how glass changed the own business Eurotherm and Gerry’s wife or ‘new reliable knowledge’ as he called it, world (Profile Books, 2002). It became a Hilda played a crucial role in the early was crucial, but on its own was of little best seller.Alan has placed most of Gerry’s years. They then brought in two other value until applied in making something. unpublished writing on his website bright people to help them with sales and We can only understand our world if we www.alanmacfarlane.com new technology.Eurotherm started to build stay close to experiment with artefacts and Control Systems for high temperature oper- Gerry Martin will be sorely missed particu- as he put it ‘in the shifting of atoms’. In ations and after a hard time to begin with, larly by his widow Hilda, his son Tim and other words, our world is physical and in by 1969 it was doing very well and expand- daughter Louise and his four grandchildren the end all we can do practically is move ing into markets and with companies atoms about. He was a great thinker and I around the globe.Eurotherm,which is now have spent many hours in his company just Howard Dawes part of Invensys,became hugely successful listening to this profoundly intelligent man and had a multi-million pound market cap- italisation at the time of its floatation in 1979. Gerry decided to make a change. His success allowed him to fund his Book Note Renaissance Trust, a charity he had set up The paper in this issue concerning Portuguese navigation reminds me of a lovely in 1968. He decided to change his life and book on ‘measuring stars’, Medir estrelas, written by António dos Reis, and pub- pursue his interest in scientific instru- lished by the Portuguese Post Office in 2003.This is a volume in their ‘Discovering ments, (he was a great authority on micro- Collection’series and publicizes their series of stamps commemorating Portuguese scopes), and to supporting the science navigation.The book has many interesting pictures, some well but others much museums at Oxford and Cambridge. He less well known.The cost is 29.93 Euros,but there may only be a few still in stock. became an advisor and a Board Member of committees of the Museums of Science in Interested readers could find out by emailing mercadonacfi[email protected] London, Oxford and Cambridge. Soon he Willem Hackmann was suggesting research projects, giving

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 3 The Annual Invitation Lecture The Scholar, the Mechanic and the Antikythera Mechanism: complementary approaches to the study of an instrument

M.T.Wright

Introduction An ancient shipwreck, discovered in 1900 off the small island of Antikythera, yielded a rich cargo of mixed luxury goods.This ‘Antikythera Treasure’,preserved within the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, includes fragments of a Mechanism includ- ing dials and many small-toothed wheels.1 The material is dateable to the earlier part of the first century B.C., making the Antikythera Mechanism both the oldest portable elaborate scientific instrument and the earliest known geared mechanism.The largest fragment, in its present state, is shown in Figure 1. Professor Derek J. de Solla Price published Gears from the Greeks,his last word on the Antikythera Mechanism, in 1974.2 The paper was a revelation and a sensation. Price displayed the depth of understanding and breadth of vision for which he is right- ly remembered,writing cogently about the importance of this astonishing artefact to young Research Assistant at the Science Fig. 2 Reconstruction according to Price the history of instruments and mechanism. Museum who had not yet learned the value (note 2), general arrangement. He also offered a solution to the problems of scepticism,I supposed that the problem Reproduced by kind permission of The of what it was and how it worked. The lay in my ignorance. American Philosophical Society. paper engaged my interests in the ancient In 1983 The Science Museum acquired world, in mathematics and in mechanism, minimal reconstruction of the Sundial- another fragmentary mechanism with but I could not follow some of the argu- Calendar, with its inscriptions in Greek, is Greek inscriptions and gear wheels.3 My ments through which Price developed his important because it corresponds closely colleague J.V.Field dated it to around 500 reconstruction of the Mechanism. As a to the ‘Box of the Moon’described five hun- A.D., and named it the ‘London Byzantine dred years later by al-Biruni.It provides arte- Sundial-Calendar’. I factual evidence for two points that Price devised a reconstruction, had offered as mere conjectures:there was and made several exam- 4 a continuing tradition of the making of ples at home. This work geared instruments in the Hellenistic world, showed me the value of and that tradition was transmitted to being a practical man; it Islamic culture.Moreover,although simpler taught me a great deal and later, it makes the Antikythera about the instrument that Mechanism seem less of a freak. I should probably never have learned in any other In fact, the closest comparison material to way. It convinced me that this instrument was the Antikythera my true vocation was to Mechanism, so my work drove me back combine practical and again to Gears from the Greeks.Ten years intellectual activity. older and more sceptical, I saw that some of Price’s arguments were unsound.With I coined the term mini- this began my compulsion to study the mal reconstruction to Antikythera Mechanism for myself. describe the outcome, in which there are no more According to Price, the Antikythera features than are neces- Mechanism comprised dials on the oppo- sary to account for what is site faces of a flat box, interconnected by found in the original. Just gearing within (Fig.2). A single input,prob- eight gear wheels,worked ably the turning of a hand winch or knob, by a pointer turned caused all the indicators to advance togeth- through one revolution in er.The ‘front’ had a dial with two concen- a week, provide approxi- tric rings: the inner divided into the twelve mate displays of the syn- signs of the Zodiac and subdivided into 360 odic month, the tropical degrees; the outer divided into the twelve month and the year. More months of the year and subdivided into 365 Fig. 1 Antikythera Mechanism, fragment A (the largest elaborate versions of the days.One indicator showed both the mean fragment), front face.The spoked wheel, one turn of which gearing are possible, and place of the Sun in the Zodiac and the date, represents one year, measures about 130 mm. in diameter. are interesting, but this and another showed the mean place of the

4 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) his reconstruction. I spoke to my late friend Allan Bromley of my determination to examine the Antikythera Mechanism for myself.Together we undertook several campaigns of inves- tigation,including direct visual examination and measurement, photography and radio- graphy.As a mechanic, I also devised and made apparatus for measurement and for the radiographic technique of linear tomog- raphy.5 Many of our observations ran counter to those of Price, and it became ever clearer that we must reject much of his recon- struction; but we could not immediately make sense of our mass of new informa- tion.Bromley took most of our photographs and radiographs to Sydney, which placed me in a twofold difficulty:not only was this work a casual spare-time occupation, but the material that I needed was at the oppo- site side of the world. In late 2000, as Bromley’s health declined,I visited him and recovered most of it. Since then I have made progress in developing a new recon- struction.

Price’s Reconstruction as a Point of Departure Fig. 3 Gearing scheme according to Price Price’s reconstruction is still (note 2). Reproduced by kind permission familiar, and I retain (and of The American Philosophical Society. extend) his nomenclature for the axes and wheels.Therefore Moon;that is,their revolutions represented his diagram of the gearing (Fig. one year and one mean sidereal month 3) makes a useful starting respectively.The ‘back’ had two dials, one point. above the other. On the lower dial, driven The reverted train from wheel by a train including an amazing differential B2 to wheel B4, through axes gear to combine the two motions from the C and D, links two indicators front, one turn of the pointer represented on the front dial in the ratio one synodic month.The rate of rotation of 19:254, a well-established the pointer on the upper dial was less cer- approximation to the ratio of tain: perhaps one turn in four years. Price the lengths of the sidereal or suggested that this instrument might have tropical month and the year.6 been used for demonstrating or predicting The wheel marked ‘Sun celestial or calendrical phenomena, and he Position’, with the same num- called it a ‘calendar computer’. ber of teeth as the ‘Drive Actually, it is hard to see any real use for Wheel’, is Price’s conjectural Price’s reconstruction.Reasonably enough, addition,providing a reversal to he had attempted a minimal reconstruction, make the Sun and Moon go the but his proposed dial indications are banal same way round the Zodiac. in relation to the complication of the inter- The engagements B3 – E1 and nal mechanism,and a more elaborate recon- B4 – E2i transfer the once-a- struction might perhaps have made better Fig. 4 Radiograph of part of fragment A, showing year and once-a-tropical-month sense. Others have tried since, but, as will engagement of wheels on axes B (upper), D rates of rotation from axis B at become clear, in elaborating Price’s recon- (lower)and E (upper right). Circles are drawn around the front dial to Price’s differ- struction they have built on a rotten foun- the tips of the teeth of the wheels in question, showing ential gear on axis E. From dation. how the large wheel on axis D (wheel D2, Fig. 3) here, the train though axis F engages a wheel on axis E, not one on axis B. Price’s assessment of the importance of the leads to axis G at the centre of Antikythera Mechanism, as evidence of a the lower back dial,and thence previously unexpected level of technical appeal to supposed practical arguments through H to I, the subsidiary dial. achievement of Hellenistic culture and as a that actually make no sense. The really The other train, from wheel B2, leading remarkable survival of an early tradition of unfortunate thing is that he seems to have through axes L and M to N, the centre of fine mechanism, is not in doubt. On the developed so strong an idea of how the the upper back dial, and probably thence other hand, his reconstruction of it is instrument must have been arranged that to O, the subsidiary dial, is less complete frankly unsatisfactory. In Gears from the he was tempted to use the evidence selec- than Price’s diagram suggests.Price himself Greeks he justified his conclusions by the tively, ignoring points that did not fit with

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 5 could not decide just how to restore it or In particular, the interconnection of the out of place by one degree.There is an argu- what that dial was for. I ignore these prob- wheels on axes B,D and E is now correctly ment for seeing whether the same level of lems on this occasion,to concentrate on the represented for the first time. performance can be built into all the indi- other trains already described. cations of the instrument. In showing that Secondly, this reconstruction is not fantas- this can be achieved, I have demonstrated At the heart of the gearing is the connec- tic. Examination of the original convinces that the planetarium scheme is entirely tion between wheels B4, D2 and E2i.Axes me that epicyclic gearing has been lost practicable.One may argue that a less accu- B,D and E actually lie in a triangular pattern from the large wheel, B1. One turn of this rate performance might have been accept- and the edges of these wheels all come wheel represents one year,and an epicyclic able, or even – though I do not see why – close to one another: by direct inspection cluster turning at this rate must have mod- more appropriate, or that the correspond- of plain radiographs,the only method open elled either the Sun or an Inferior Planet – ing simplification of the gear trains is more to Price, it is not easy to make out which Mercury or Venus – or a combination of plausible.In any case,since the complicated wheels are engaged,and it is not surprising these three.I have shown that the evidence model works well enough, one may have that he misinterpreted the arrangement. is compatible with the modelling of confidence that any version with simplified Having first tentatively announced Price’s Hipparchus’s theory of the Sun and a sim- gearing would be wholly practicable. If I error in 1997, I have since arrived at a firm ple epicyclic theory of both Inferior had built only a simple version, one could conclusion both through use of tomo- Planets, all at once. not argue the case in the other direction. graphic sequences (resolving the depths at which the several wheels lie) and through So far,the reconstruction is to some degree The business of accuracy is not quite detailed analysis of digitised images.One of supported by the evidence of the original straightforward. So far, I have mentioned the latter is reproduced in Figure 4. Circles fragments.My addition of Hipparchus’s the- only approximations to the intended peri- are drawn around the tips of the teeth of ory of the Moon, and the simple epicyclic ods, built in to the gear trains.These give the wheels in question. Wheel B4 does theory of the Superior Planets – Mars, rise to errors that go on increasing as long engage an equal wheel on E as Price stated, Jupiter and Saturn – is wholly conjectural; as the trains run; in due course one has to but D2 engages a further wheel on E, not but these further features complete a con- disassemble the mechanism and reset the wheel B4. Since both these wheels on E sistent scheme that is still compatible with wheels to correct this cumulative or long- have 32 teeth the ratios remain unaltered, the physical evidence, and is justified by term error. On the other hand, within the but we have two reversals: in the nomen- contemporary literary accounts of plane- bounds of practicability,the designer is free clature of Figure 3, B4 runs the same way taria. to refine this aspect of the performance of as D2 and E2i runs the opposite way to D2. I do not claim that the original was just like his instrument through his choice of wheels for the gear trains. The latter reversal presents a difficulty, to this, and certainly not in detail; we simply which we will return later.Before that, and do not have the evidence. But I have There is another type of error that is out- following the order in which the work was explored the principle, and demonstrated side the designer’s control,forced upon him actually done, I will show how the former the practicability, of reconstruction as a by the limitations of the theory that he reversal makes possible a new reconstruc- planetarium.In doing so,I have introduced models.We do not know what theory of the tion of the front dial. no significant design features that cannot planets was available to the designer of the be found in the original fragments in at least Mechanism, but I supposed that he might Front Dial as Planetarium some rudimentary form, and I can demon- have modelled the simple epicyclic theory strate that I have made no demands on Since B4 and D2 run the same way,the cen- that was investigated well before his time materials or skill that could not have been by Apollonius.According to this, the plan- tral arbor at B and wheel B1 actually rotate met by the workman of the time. in the same direction.Therefore the ‘Sun et’s position is defined by a point revolving Position’ wheel, which Price introduced to This reconstruction is not significantly more on an epicycle, the centre of which is car- make his indicators for the Sun and Moon complicated than the original fragments; it ried around a circle – the deferent – that is move the same way through the Zodiac, is is simply more extensive. In its present in turn centred on the Earth.This theory, not wanted.That wheel was in fact prob- form,however,my model contains 41 addi- though easy to mechanise, leads quickly to lematic, because wheel B1 still carries the tional wheels: a degree of conjectural addi- pretty gross errors; but if the astronomer remains of some structure rising higher tion that may provoke some discussion.This could give him no better theory,the design- than the top of wheel A, leaving no room leads us to questions of accuracy of perfor- er could not have avoided them. for the upper wheel. Removing the extra mance and practicability of the design. At first sight, therefore, it may seem point- wheel leaves scope for developing an inter- In any astronomical model, the periods to less to have developed elaborate gear trains pretation of the structure on wheel B1 (the be reproduced are awkward to approxi- aimed at reducing the cumulative error;but large wheel seen in Figure 1) that is there- mate using gearing. One may accept crude the second type of error builds to a maxi- by exposed. approximations, and so make a simple mum and then, periodically – at the end of Before announcing my reconstruction of instrument that will probably work well; a planet’s great cycle – it dies away to noth- the front dial as a planetarium,in May 2002, but if one wants close approximations then ing of its own accord.9 For this reason I call I made a working model to illustrate it (see the wheelwork has to be very much more it cyclical, or short-term,error. 7 cover). I did so to pre-empt the expected complicated. The labour of making it The simple epicyclic model is equivalent to criticism that such a reconstruction would increases enormously, and so does the dif- the assumption that both the Earth and the be impracticable.The background to this ficulty in making it run. planet have circular orbits around the Sun, work is laid out in two conference papers It is unclear what the attitude of the design- as in an orrery.The analogy with orrery- which are now in print.8 I will not repeat er of this Mechanism might have been to making is instructive:the record shows that myself at length here,but I take this oppor- such questions of accuracy,but one approx- designers of orreries have striven for ever- tunity to emphasise a few points. imation that he did adopt is preserved with- better values of the periods, and yet it has Firstly,this is the only reconstruction based in the original fragments: the tropical always been well understood that the on new observations of the original frag- month is 19/254 of the year.This is in close model itself was inexact.Human nature has ments,and not on those published by Price; agreement with the ratio of values given by not changed, and so it is appropriate to I have therefore been able to pay closer Hipparchus,the best available at the time:it have shown that good values for the peri- attention to the detail of the original than would take over 500 years (turns of the Sun ods can be built into my reconstruction. has the author of any other reconstruction. pointer) for the Mean Moon pointer to get

6 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Modifications to the Simple Epicyclic be adjusted accordingly, and System that may mean, for conve- In fact, the cyclical errors in a planetarium nience, changing the numbers of the first century B.C. might have been of teeth.It may also be expedi- less gross than I have suggested.While some ent to alter the order of the authors suggest that the simple epicyclic stages, perhaps bringing that planetary theory remained unmodified for Mars, with its large eccen- from the time of Apollonius, through the tricity,to the top. time at which the Mechanism was The Inferior Planets now ride, designed, until supplanted by Claudius with the Sun,on a single wheel Ptolemy, I have recently become aware of as a common platform. evidence that planetary theory did indeed Therefore setting their stages evolve during that time. eccentric would entail a Pliny the elder, writing a century before greater complication, and the Ptolemy, gives a garbled account of plane- gain would be more question- tary astronomy in which he seems to list able. Moreover, the wheel that the apogees of the planets.Actually,he gives serves as their common plat- two lists, end to end, in which the parame- form in my reconstruction is ters are quite different,but the point is this: one that survives in the origi- he had an informant – or, probably,at least nal, and I am not yet satisfied two – who thought of the planets’deferent that such a modification could circles as eccentric. be made compatible with the evidence. Fig. 5 Radiograph of part of fragment A, showing Pliny’s account post-dates the loss of the axis F, with circles drawn around the roots of the Antikythera Ship by a good hundred years, The Train to the Lower teeth of the two wheels on it.The larger wheel is F1. but the concept may be older. Simplicius Back Dial Data points, representing the apices of the spaces between teeth, have been marked in. quotes from a lost work by Geminus, com- Retracing my steps to the menting in turn on a lost work by important error that I found in in that case,the central arbor on axis E must Posidonius; and again there is reference to Price’s gear scheme, I pointed out that his have been fixed.11 the eccentricity of the planets’ paths. wheels E2i and D2 (Fig.3) turn in opposite Posidonius lived in the first century B.C., directions, not in the same sense as Price Accordingly, instead of a differential gear and the Antikythera Ship was probably lost supposed. If we were to assume that the with three connections, we have an in his lifetime; and so, although we do not connection B3 – E1 remained as Price epicyclic gear – with just one input and one know whether this idea was present in shows, then we would have a very serious output – followed by a fixed-axis train.This what he actually wrote, we must consider problem:reversing just one of the inputs to arrangement was often used much later in its implications for the Antikythera the differential gear would make its output astronomical dial work to yield a ratio that 10 Mechanism. not the difference, but the sum, of the two is not easily got by a fixed-axis train alone, and this is also the most plausible explana- This single addition to planetary theory can rotational velocities of E1 and E2i: the dif- tion for its use here. Our task is to recog- yield a great improvement. Its mechanical ference between the rates (one turn in a nise what ratio, difficult enough to achieve realisation is in principle simple,at least for year) and (one turn in a tropical month) is that it would justify the designer’s use of the Superior Planets, but to include it will (one turn in a synodic month), but their this elaborate arrangement, might have entail some rebuilding of my model. Each sum means nothing and this arrangement been intended.The problem is not easily or epicyclic mechanism must be placed off- would make no sense. unambiguously solved, because the tooth- centre under the dial by a specific amount. A resolution to the impasse offers itself if counts of most of the wheels are uncertain. Such an eccentric stage must have a larger we look for wheels B3 and E1; they cannot central boss,so that the central hole can be be found.While it is conceivable that wheel In Price’s differential gear, the numbers of set to one side (and if there is a further E1 might have broken away and dropped teeth of the several small wheels were eccentric stage below it the pipe coming out as the instrument decayed, one cannot unimportant, so long as the ratios K1:E2ii through will be larger,and so the hole must say the same of wheel B3.The most proba- and K2:E5 were equal.If,however,this were be larger too).The sizes of the gears must ble explanation is that they never did exist: an epicyclic cluster, yielding a non-trivial

Fig. 6 Analysis of wheel F1.A centre has been chosen and the points (x) represent the radii from it to the data points (Fig. 6).The centre has been adjusted to make the graph as nearly horizontal as possible.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 7 into the lacunae (Fig. 7). The data points and centre are also pre- sented as a plot,over which a ‘model’,a cir- cle of equidistant points, is superimposed. The number of points in the model, and their angular relationship to the data points, can be adjusted to explore the match. I begin with a model having the number of teeth suggested by the previous routine,but visual inspection sometimes persuades me that an adjacent number offers a more con- vincing fit; that is to say, in deciding what will make a workable toothed wheel, the experienced eye is at least as good a guide as mindless averaging (Fig. 8). This procedures offer an easier and more objective method for estimating numbers of teeth in wheels than that of inspecting radiographs with a magnifier; moreover, it can generate a permanent record. On the other hand, the analysis shows very clearly that there are wild variations in the pitch of the teeth of many of the wheels, seem- ing to result from their manufacture and not Fig. 7 Analysis of wheel F1.The angular separation of the radii from the chosen centre from damage.12 Consequently,where there to all the data points is given in terms of numbers of mean tooth-spaces, and from is a large lacuna between preserved wheel this a tooth-count is derived. teeth,we have to admit considerable uncer- tainty in deciding how many teeth it con- velocity ratio, the numbers would matter. The data set obtained in this way is then tained.The problem is especially acute for In the fixed-axis train that follows it, Price copied to a spreadsheet program for analy- the wheels in the epicyclic gear, because was obliged to adopt numbers for the sis.The data points, together with a first each of these is broken away roughly across wheels that would give a ratio of 2:1 approximation to their centre, are present- a diameter,and the remaining halves are not between axis E and axis G,because the out- ed as a plot of radius against angle (Fig. 6). all very well preserved. put of his differential gear could only be The centre is shifted iteratively to make the one turn in two synodic months; but here plot approach a horizontal line.The new It follows that further analysis cannot offer the evidence just will not support his fig- centre and any marked departure from certainty in reconstructing the gear train. ures. roundness are checked back against the Rather, it confirms what I have stated original image. before: the condition of the fragments is I have started again from scratch, working such that, without further evidence from from my own radiographs to prepare new The angular separation of the teeth is then elsewhere, we can probably never be cer- estimates of the numbers of teeth in all the analysed.Working from the mean pitch of tain just how the Mechanism was arranged wheels.This is not straightforward:very few data points accepted as representing adja- or just what it did. of the wheels are complete, and very large cent teeth, the table presents suggestions parts of some are missing. Moreover, it is for the numbers of teeth to be interpolated Nevertheless, pro-gress may be made.We often impossible to see the full extent of what does survive in any single view because the density of the image, corre- sponding to the radio-opacity of the object, differs greatly from one point to another. The task has however been eased by the availability of high-resolution digitised images of these radiographs.The brightness and contrast can be varied at will, and any part can be inspected at high magnification. The coordinates of a set of selected points, typically either the tips of teeth or the bot- toms of the spaces between them, are recorded using a ‘point and click’tool.A cir- cle can be overlaid on the image,and occa- sionally this is helpful when searching for teeth in difficult areas of an image.An image of wheel F1 is shown as an example (Fig. 5).

Fig. 8 Analysis of wheel F1.The data points (x) are plotted against a set of ‘model points’(+) equally spaced about the same centre. In this case a model of 55 points arguably gives a better match than one of 54 as suggested by the table (Fig. 7).

8 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) ant on Price’s better performance. reconstruction. Provisionally, we Beyond these options, one may consider cannot rule out the the possibility that the lost half of the no-idler option,per- epicyclic assembly carried not just an idler haps with the train gear, but a compound train.The size of the driven from here, platform limits what wheels might be fit- yielding a short- ted, but even so the range of possible out- period display at put periods is widened appreciably. the lower back A New Feature dial.13 Possibly the key to the use of the epicyclic With an idler gear gear may be found in another curious fea- in the epicyclic ture. Price noted a one-tooth gap in one of assembly, the over- the wheels in the epicyclic train, which all ratio of the shows in radiographs as a well-defined radi- whole train would al slot with a square inner end. He inter- be rather close to preted it as evidence of a repair. unity. In other On closer examination, I find that the slot Fig. 9 Radiograph of part of fragment A, showing axis K.The slot words,the indicator was once closed, but that a piece has bro- in the upper wheel, the hole for the pin in the lower wheel, and at the lower back ken out at the end, taking away the lost the central stepped arbor, are overdrawn.The portion of the dial would have tooth, Figure 10.The circular image in the upper wheel lost through the breaking out of the end of the slot rotated roughly slot is the hole in the wheel beneath for a is also indicated. once a month.The synodic month of pin to engage the slot in the upper wheel. Price’s reconstruc- At the centre we see two circles, one with- have an input – one turn in a tropical tion is unconvincing because it could so in the other but offset so that the periph- month – leading, through an epicyclic easily have been got by a short fixed-axis eries of the two touch.This is a stepped assembly and then fixed-axis gearing,to the train without the use of his differential gear. arbor, allowing the two wheels to turn lower back dial. Multiplying together the By the same argument,this output does not about different centres.14 possible range of tooth-counts for all the justify the use of our epicyclic train, so we wheels, we have some 2 million permuta- The pin-and-slot arrangement allows one should look at other types of month.The wheel to drive the other,even though they tions.This must be doubled to take account draconitic month,affording a means of pre- of two possibilities: there may or may not are not concentric, introducing a roughly dicting eclipses, is an interesting possibili- sinusoidal wave into the velocity ratio of have been an idler gear – Price’s wheel J ty:there are several possible trains that yield (Fig. 3) – on the epicyclic platform. the train. Its amplitude is fixed by the ratio quite good approximations, but unfortu- between the radius at which the pin is set It is straightforward to set up a ‘spreadsheet’ nately – from the point of view of trying to and the offset between the axes of the two program to calculate the ratio of the gear- offer a clear rationale for the epicyclic wheels, and its frequency depends on the ing, running through all the possible num- assembly – it is again easy to find several rate of rotation of the two coupled wheels bers. One must be a little circumspect, compact fixed-axis trains that yield an even with respect to the platform. Here are fur- because it is easy to start a computation ther factors to juggle. that would take days to complete, over- loading the system with data to be sorted. At present, this feature remains unex- Before beginning the number-crunching, plained. Even so, the use of a crank pin some general points can be made to help embraced by a slotted follower provides a us to see what sort of result we may be good precedent for the use of similar seeking. ensembles in my reconstruction of the front dial display to connect the epicyclic trains With no idler gear – no wheel J – the plat- to the hands. form of the epicyclic assembly would run rather fast, and the function at the lower The Casing and the Back Dial back dial would have a short period.About Comparison of Figures 2 and cover illustra- a day or half a day is possible,and we might tion shows that the shape of the case of my think in terms of the culmination of stars, partial reconstruction is very different from timekeeping,hours of daylight,tides,and so that of Price’s. on.On the other hand,I dislike the prospect of such a fast-moving train.I judge that,with Firstly, my case is deeper. I have raised the the rather crude teeth,and the consequent front dial above the frame plate on which poor engagements, it would be very hard the surviving wheels are mounted to make indeed to drive the device from where it room for the stages for the Superior Planets. seems to have been driven: the slow end. This is acceptable because there is no evi- The step-up ratio from the large wheel B1 dence of a direct connection between orig- (Fig. 3) to a pointer making one turn a day inal fragments A, with all the gearing, and would be an impracticable 365:1. It is Fig. 10 Antikythera Mechanism, frag- C, with the remains of the dial. worth remembering, however, that there ments B and E assembled on the back are teeth around the edge of the epicyclic face of fragment A, showing the visible Secondly,while the two are much the same platform – Price’s E4 – for which we have remains of the back dial system.The dial width, my box is more nearly square than no purpose.Bromley chose to drive his con- is partially overlaid by the remnant of a Price’s,which is elongated to suit the appar- jectural reconstruction at this point,which ‘cover plate’, and some further details ent geometry of the back dial.Therefore the is why it works better than any other vari- can be made out only through radiogra- shape of my box,which is certainly shorter phy. than the back dial, calls for an explanation.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 9 case have been derived from the once-a- year rotation using only a short fixed-axis train.Accordingly,while it remains possible that the designer of the mechanism did not spot this possibility, or that he preferred a more complicated solution for some reason that escapes me, the display of this period does not offer a very satisfactory explana- tion for my revised arrangement using an epicyclic train.Nevertheless,it seems quite likely that the synodic month,expressed as the age of the Moon in days or as a repre- sentation of the Moon’s phase,is a function that the designer would have wished to dis- play somewhere. I will close by pointing out that such a display can be added to the front dial using no additional gearing what- ever. We already have on the front dial two indi- cators showing the positions of the Sun and the Moon in the Zodiac.While, relative to to have a common centre displaced from Fig. 11 Author's reconstruction, showing the dial, the Moon hand turns once in a that of the arbor by about half the width of how the case containing the mechanism tropical month, relative to the Sun hand it the distance between slots. for the front dial must be stepped out to turns once in a synodic month.The synod- accommodate the back dial. Comparing the two fragments, the inner- ic month can therefore be indicated by the most and outermost slots of each have motion of one of the hands over a circular In the original fragment A there are clear about the same radii, but the separation scale fitted to the other.The earliest known traces of woodwork.A piece runs down one between adjacent slots differs so that there application of this economical idea is in a side, and a second piece runs at right- are different numbers of slots in the two so-called geared astrolabe of about 1300.15 angles,across the back dial plate.Price took cases.Nevertheless,on the assumption that The same idea was widely used soon after the cross-piece to be internal framing, but the upper and lower dial systems were that in the dial work of monumental clocks, he missed the fact that the two pieces meet designed in similar ways, the observed fea- in which it was common to use the differ- at a mitred joint, which makes sense only tures can be accounted for by supposing ential movement to provide some sort of as the external corner of a box.This joint is that each was made with a single slot form- visual representation of the phase of the aligned over the corner of the internal ing a crude spiral, drawn as a set of arcs Moon. frame plate,suggesting a box fitting closely struck alternately from two centres. Figure There remains in the original fragment C around the frame plate. If this is a correct 12 is a rough sketch of this arrangement. of the Antikythera Mechanism a curious cir- interpretation, then the case has to be cular component, cemented by corrosion stepped out to accommodate the longer A further oddity is apparent.The subsidiary back dial as shown in Fig. 11.. dial in the upper system seems to be neat- ly placed on the horizontal line through the The detail of the back dial plate itself is centre of the system,‘at 3 o’clock’, while interesting.Segments of both the upper and that of the lower system is not.The surviv- lower dial systems survive (Fig. 11), each ing gearing connecting the latter subsidiary showing what Price interpreted as a set of dial to the centre offers no obvious expla- concentric rings. I have previously drawn nation:these wheels might just as well have attention to the fact that these rings were been planted to achieve the neater layout not moveable,as some have supposed:they of the upper system.The explanation might were joined by bridge-pieces into a rigid have lain in some detail of the lost part of structure, with gaps between them. The the dial surface, that called for the larger object of the arrangement was to leave space made available by moving the sub- slots, and the bridges were designed to sidiary upwards. leave the margins of the slots clear on the back of the dial, so that moveable pieces Understanding the significance of these should be free to run in the slots, like the bizarre features might help greatly in the beads of an abacus. reconstruction of the instrument as a whole, in view of the considerable uncer- Recently I have examined these dial frag- tainty in the gearing leading to each of the ments more carefully, using the tools back dials. devised for analysis of the gear wheels.Each has its own oddity.The slots of the upper Tailpiece: Displaying the Synodic back dial are indeed circular and concen- Month tric with the arbor that carried the hand, I have shown that we can no longer accept but radiographs show that the innermost Price’s train – including his differential gear slot comes to a neat, abrupt end, apparent- – leading to his proposed display of the syn- ly on the vertical midline of the dial plate. odic month on the lower back dial. The This part of the lower dial is not preserved, same value for the synodic month, perfect- but here the circular slots,though probably ly consistent with the value for the tropical concentric with one another, are certainly month shown on the front dial,could in any Fig. 12 A rough sketch of the author’s not concentric with the arbor.They appear reconstruction of the back dial system.

10 6. Price refers to the sidereal month; but the dial is marked with the names of the conventional con- stellations of the Zodiac and with the degrees of the ecliptic, not with a star map, so strictly the tropical month is indicated. The numerical difference between the two is, of course, very small. 7. M.T. Wright, ‘A Planetarium Display for the Antikythera Mechanism’,Horological Journal,144, No.5 (May 2002),pp.169 – 173,and 144,No.6 (June 2002), p. 193. 8. M.T. Wright & A.G. Bromley, ‘Towards a New Reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism’,S.A. Paipetis, ed., Extraordinary Machines and Structures in Antiquity, (proceedings of a confer- ence of that name,Ancient Olympia,August 2001), Peri Technon, Patras 2003, pp. 81 – 94; and M.T. Wright,‘In the Steps of the Master Mechanic’,

(Ancient Greece and the Modern World),(proceed- ings of a conference of that name,Ancient Olympia, July 2002), University of Patras 2003, pp. 86 – 97. Fig. 13 Antikythera Mechanism, fragment C, inside face.The circular component mea- 9. The concept of the great cycle, a period after sures approximately 62.5 mm. in diameter. which the observed behaviour of the planet recurs, was developed within the predictive Babylonian astronomy that was absorbed into Hellenistic astron- products to the back of the preserved cor- Acknowledgements omy.The actual lengths of Babylonian great cycles ner of the front dial (Fig. 13). Its relation- I take pleasure in recording my thanks to range from 8 years (Venus) to 83 years (the longer of ship to the front dial is certainly suggestive, the Committee of the Scientific Instrument two cycles for Jupiter).The system is explained clear- and the component is of a suitable size and ly in J. Evans, The History and Practice of Ancient Society for having honoured me with their Astronomy Oxford: O.U.P., 1998). weight to make plausible the tentative invitation to give the Society’s Annual assumption that it may be the wreck of Lecture and, in particular,my thanks to the 10.The relevant passages in Pliny and in Simplicius such an arrangement.It has an offset circu- Chairman and the Meetings Secretary for are given in translation by J.Evans (note 9),who also lar opening, which might just have been a their particular help with the arrangements; gives a clear demonstration of the considerable value of this addition to planetary theory. ‘window’displaying some representation of and my further thanks to the Editor for his the Moon’s phase, even a rotating Moon patience while I have prepared this version 11.Illustrate this new interpretation in a revised ver- globe. I am happy to record that Price also for publication. sion of Price’s gearing diagram in: M.T. Wright, hinted tentatively at this interpretation.His ‘Epicyclic Gearing and the Antikythera Mechanism, alternative, that it might have been a driv- I am indebted to my sons,who have helped part 1’,Antiquarian Horology, 27,3 (March 2003), ing knob with a folding winch handle, has by setting up the computer tools that I have pp. 270 – 279. Part 2 is in preparation. been widely accepted; but this suggestion used, and my wife, who has put up with all 12.The local variations in pitch,and the equally strik- was certainly wrong. this activity and who has read this paper in ing variations in tooth profile, seem random.The draft and made many valuable suggestions. tooth profiles suggest that they were cut freehand, Conclusion using a file, and the variations in pitch suggest that Figures 2 and 3 are reproduced from Price their positions were laid out using simple methods, In a sense I can offer no conclusion, (note 2) by kind permission of the and pretty roughly too; the work can easily be because I continue to extract new infor- American Philosophical Society.All other matched using a few hand tools. mation from the material collected by illustrations are the author’s copyright. Bromley and myself, and I have to go on 13.Any such arrangement would, however,leave us with no purpose for the contrate wheel A (Fig. 3). working through its consequences. The Notes and References notes given here include reference to mate- 1.The Mechanism bears inventory number X.15087. 14.The stepped arbor was commonly used, much rial already in print, and I plan to continue later, in modelling the Ptolemaic system, allowing 2.D.J. de S. Price, ‘Gears from the Greeks’, several mobiles to be superimposed while turning publishing further material,including those Transactions of the American Philosophical topics that I have merely touched upon. about different centres. It seems far-fetched to sug- Society, 64, No.7, 1974; also issued as an indepen- gest a connection,but it is curious that,although this I believe, however, that I may claim that a dent monograph,Science History Publications,New represents a different use of it,the ensemble should York 1975. new reconstruction of the Antikythera in both cases occur in the context of mechanical Mechanism is emerging,one which is more 3. Inventory number 1983-1393. models of astronomical phenomena. firmly based on the detailed appraisal of the 4.The first account of this artefact is:J.V.Field & M.T. 15.The Science Museum,London,inventory number original.It makes better sense than any pre- Wright, ‘Gears from the Byzantines: a Portable 1880-32.The instrument is now in a garbled state.A viously offered: as a mechanism; as a scien- Sundial with Calendrical Gearing’, Annals of reconstruction is offered in J.D.North,‘Opus quorun- Science,42 (1985),pp.87-138,reprinted in J.V.Field, dam rotarum mirabilium’,Physis,8 (1966),pp.337 – tific instrument; and as an artefact of its D.R. Hill & M.T. Wright, Byzantine and Arabic time. 371.A clearer illustration, but with the unfortunate Mathematical Gearing (London: The Science misprinting of 47 for 45 (for the number of teeth of Museum, 1985). Some technical considerations are Even without Price’s differential gear – one of the wheels) is given in J.V.Field & M.T.Wright, treated more extensively in: M.T.Wright,‘Rational Early Gearing (London: The Science Museum, which, I suggest, was a mistaken interpre- and Irrational Reconstruction: the London Sundial- tation – it is clear that the designer of the 1985).A central dial is fixed to the (broken) Sun Calendar and the Early History of Geared hand.The tail of the (missing) Moon hand should Antikythera Mechanism could draw on a yet Mechanisms’, History of Technology, 12 (1990), pass over this to indicate the age of the Moon in wider range of mechanical ensembles than pp.65-102. days, beginning when the two hands are aligned. has previously been realised. We must 5. M.T.Wright,A.G. Bromley & H. Magou,‘Simple X- accept that as early as the first century B.C. ray Tomography and the Antikythera Mechanism’, Authors address: the arts of the mechanician and the instru- PACT 45 (1995) (proceedings of conference The Science Museum ment-maker were already well developed. ‘Archaeometry in South-Eastern Europe’,April 1991), London SW7 2DD pp.531 – 543. [email protected], or [email protected]

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 11 More Early Printed Ephemera of London Instrument Makers: Instructions and Advertising Broad Sheets

Part 2: Barometer Trade Literature, c. 1680 – c. 1720

D.J.Bryden Warner’s Weather Journal This copy was presumably sent out by Early in 1686, London mathematical instru- Henry Wynne, as Warner’s name and ment maker John Warner wrote to the address has been inked-over - though Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Robert thanks to the fading of the ink it can now Introduction Plot, a leading figure in the short-lived be easily read. It was noted in the previous article in this Oxford Philosophical Society.Warner had In their standard histories, Middleton8 and series that during the latter part of the read a paper by Plot, recently published by Goodison9 both discuss how Francis North Stuart period that increasing sales of instru- the Royal Society, which included an illus- (1637- 1685), Baron Guilford (1683), Lord ments as consumer durables is indicated by tration of a draft design for a sheet for log- Chancellor from 1682,stimulated commer- the chance survival of related printed ging daily readings of the barometer.What cial production of the barometer by London ephemera. Such items frequently exist in Warner sent to Plot was an engraved pro- craftsmen in the early 1680s. Guilford’s single copies, and are not well known to forma headed: ‘A DIARY or younger brother Roger North records that historians of instruments. In this part, vari- WEATHER=JOURNALL kept at [ space ] in having failed to persuade the clockmaker ous ephemeral printed items related to the MONTH of [ space ] ANNO DOM: [ Henry Jones to undertake the trade, the London-made barometers are discussed. If space ]’ on to which the daily readings of Lord Chancellor was more successful in the disquisition appears concerned with barometer and thermometer could be plot- encouraging Henry Wynne to manufacture fine detail it is because the student of the ted. He offered to sell Plot multiple copies for the domestic market. Whether the history of the barometer is particularly well at three shillings (15p) per dozen. The Wynne/Warner, or the Warner issue of served by two excellent historical studies. British Library copy has been recorded by ‘Aeroscopium’ has precedence, is not pos- Dr W.E.K.Middleton dealt with the barom- bibliographers [Wing D1379], but not that sible to ascertain on the available evidence. eter as a meteorological instrument1,whilst in the Library of Trinity College Cambridge, John Warner’s role as a pioneer maker of Sir Nicholas Goodison considered the though it was reproduced in 1939 togeth- barometers has not hitherto been noted.We English-made barometer as a domestic arti- er with a transcription of Warner’s commu- are secure in dating the Warner issue as fact.2 The broadsheets discussed here pro- nication, by the indefatigable Robert 1685,for not only was it sent to Robert Plot vide key additional data on the early histo- Gunther,first Curator of the Museum of the in January 1686, but it must have been ry of the instrument, information that fills 4 History of Science in Oxford. At the foot printed after February 1685, for the text a gap in the coverage of what deservedly of the sheet is the statement of responsi- refers to barometers made by Sir Samuel remain the standard works. bility: ‘London, Printed & Sold by Iohn Morland ‘for his late Majesty King CHARLES Warner Mathematicall Instrument=maker the Second’. The Barometer in Lyncolns=Inn feilds at ye end of It is commonly claimed that the barometer Portugal Row who makes & sells ye truest A Lost Barometer Publication by was invented in 1643 by Evangelista Baroscopes & Thermometers’.This sheet is Samuel Morland Torricelli (1608-47), the Italian natural considered of some importance by histori- philosopher who was mathematician to ans of mathematics, being cited as the ear- ‘Aeroscopium’ provides the earliest pub- Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In liest commercial printed stationary for the lished attribution to Samuel Morland as 1644 Torricelli certainly imagined the pos- graphical presentation of observations.5 inventor in 1678 of the balance barometer, sibility of making ‘an instrument, which and notes that he had published a ‘sheet’ might show the changes of the air, now The ‘Aeroscopium’ Broadsheet about it. In the mid-nineteenth century J.D.Forbes,Professor of Natural Philosophy heavier and coarser, now lighter and more Warner’s note to Plot about his ‘Weather subtle’.However,it was twenty years before in the University of Edinburgh, noted that Journal’ were written on the blank reverse London barometer makers attributed this the Torricellian experiment, led to the of a bifolium, on the front of which were barometer; and it was not until the 1680s instrument to Morland, and told of an printed the two sides of an advertising example presented to Charles II.10 Roger that the initial pre-occupation with a device broadsheet, with the central heading: to demonstrate the existence of a vacuum North records, without giving a firm date, and other phenomena of the new physics, AEROSCOPIUM: that his brother penned a response to the Or, An Account physical explanation of the instrument pro- then as an instrument for measuring the 11 height of mountains, settled into general Of Weather Glasses Exactly Made. posed by Morland. No printed copy of acceptance of the barometer as a prognos- And Sold by Morland’s printed sheet appears to have ticator of the weather.3 In the 1680s, John Warner, Mathematical Instrument-Maker,near survived.Indeed,a fragmentary manuscript London craftsmen began to develop the Great Lincolns-Inn-Fields, at the end of Portugal-Row note ‘of aerostatick instruments’ written c. barometer for over-the-counter sales. next to Lincolns-Inn, by the Booksellers.6 1683 by the inventive polymath Robert Instrument design responded to perceived Hooke, ends abruptly and prematurely, scientific and technological needs,but per- apparently for Hooke’s inability to lay hands In the National Library of Scotland is anoth- on the copy of Morland’s text on the bal- haps the greatest drive for change was the er issue of ‘Aeroscopium’.7 My notes made need to follow fashions in furniture design. ance barometer that Henry Wynne had in the early 1970s imply that it is printed as 12 The printed ephemera discussed here passed to him in September 1678. A con- a double-sided broadsheet. It is the very temporary manuscript of the text, dated reflect the early years of marketing the same setting,distinguished only by changes barometer in London.There certainly was August 1678, survives and has been pub- to the statement of responsibility within the lished.13 a meteorological use in making a record of centered heading: barometric pressure,and by observation of patterns,a hope to be able to forecast future Henry Wynne At the Kings-Arms in Chancery-Lane weather,but the main sale was to a domes- and tic market with the barometer more an item Mathematical of furniture for the salon rather than as a John Warner Near Great Lincolns Inne-Fields at the Instrument-Makers scientific instrument. { end of Portugal Row, next to Lincolns Inn, by the Booksellers. }

12 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Fig.1 John Patrick’s Directions, c.1690 +/ -4. Science Museum, London.

when he was still at the Jewen Street address17,but before 1700,the earliest firm date known to me for the Old Baily address that he occupied for the rest of his trading life.A date closer to 1686 than 1700, say 1690 +/-4 9Plate 1), seems consistent with the instructions relating to a very basic wall mounted instrument,with few of the refine- ments that rapidly became integral to the design. In particular the cistern is open, rather than enclosed;there is no surge-con- striction at the head of the tube,two design innovations of the mid 1690s, which vari- ous makers appear to have independently achieved,and one or both of which appear to be related to the contested patent taken out in 1695 by the clock maker Daniel Quare.18 So far as contemporary accounts are con- cerned, John Patrick was the London barometer maker of the early decades of the eighteenth century. For subsequent commentators, the most influential source is the praise heaped on him by Dr John Harris FRS, author of the first English lan- guage technical encyclopedia, Lexicon Technicum, the first volume of which appeared in 1704.19 In his preface,the com- piler indicates that he had taken care to give credit to all authors from whom he had drawn material,and that for the instruments described in the volume recognition was given to the ‘Ingenious and Industrious Artificers’ who made them. Specific credit is certainly given in the various dictionary entries, but Harris uses the preface to sin- gle out a handful of key artisans - the math- ematical instrument maker John Rowley, with John Yarwell and John Marshall com- mended for telescopes, James Wilson for microscopes, Francis Hauksbee for air pumps, and ‘Mr. John Patrick, the Torricellian Operator in the Old-Bailey, who makes all Kinds of Barometers and Thermometers’.20 That Harris’praise was a reflection of Patrick’s contemporary repu- tation is clear from references prior to the publication of his influential tome. For example, in 1700 the Lancashire physician and naturalist Charles Leigh was generally complementary about the range of barom- John Patrick’s ‘Directions’ face of the mercury reservoir, to finally eters ‘invented by the said Mr. Patrick who A broadsheet relating to barometers was hanging the instrument on the wall.The is willing both to shew them to the curious noted as a ‘rough trade bill’ in 1932.14 It is nature of the instructions imply that the and supply any Person with them’.21 now in the collections of the Science handbill was provided with an instrument Museum, together with the rest of Thomas sent by carrier to a buyer in the country. John Patrick’s ‘New Account’ Court’s extensive ephemera collection.15 It The centered statement of responsibility at Patrick is associated with a series of broad- has the centered heading:‘DIRECTIONS | the end reads: ‘Weather-Glasses exactly sheets most of which indicate his meteoro- FOR FIXING THE | WEATHER-GLASS’, and made and sold by | John Patrick, over logical interests and advertise and illustrate comprises detailed instructions for setting- against Bull-Head-Court | in Jewen-Street; the range of barometers that he made.The up a simple stick-barometer - from filling near Cripplegate-Church.’This broadsheet earliest known to me is in the British the glass tube with mercury,through adjust- is difficult to date exactly,but it is certainly Library, and is in the form of a bifolium, ing the scale of the instrument at the cor- after 1686, when Patrick is presumed to printed in two columns with the verso rect height once the filled tube had been have taken his freedom in the Joiner’s 22 16 blank. The left hand column is headed: ‘A inverted with its open end under the sur- Company , and possibly as late as 1695 New Account [black letter] of the

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 13 Fig. 2 Plate from New Improvement broadsheet, the R. Newcomb Fig. 3 Re-worked plate from New Improvement broadsheet, the G. issue, pre-1702. British Library. Parker issue, 1702 or later.Science Museum, London.

Alterations of the Wind and Weather, by sheet tabulates Parker’s forecasts of wind Patrick headed:‘A New Improvement of the the Discoveries of the Portable Barometer: and weather against his own observations Quicksilver Barometer,| Made by JOHN From what Quarter the Wind will Blow of what happened, and his commentary PATRICK in Ship Court in the Old Baily, ...... ’Then follows a table giving the fore- emphatically concludes that barometer London’. On the facing page is a copper- cast of wind direction and weather on a readings cannot ‘foreshow the Weather plate showing various barometers made by daily basis for September 1700.This table is Alterations a Month or six Weeks,as he does Patrick. The text begins with a short complemented with another on the right Allege.’ He further noted that the storms description of a ‘Pendant Mercurial headed: ‘A Journal of the WIND and which hit London in September that year, Barometer;wherin the Quick-Silver Rises WEATHER, with the Rising and Falling of had not been forecast by Gustavus Parker. and Falls perpendicularly above a Foot, the Mercury in the Barometer in September Whilst refuting the implication that he instead of two Inches in the Common as it was observed by J. Patrick, Barometer endorsed astrology, Patrick rather mis- ones’.24 I have cited this publication Maker in the Old-Baily,London’.This broad- chievously noted that the storms had been because the illustration re-appears at top sheet was written as an overt challenge to a foretold by the almanac-maker George right on the front of an undated, double- Dr Gustavus Parker,who claimed to be able Parker! Space at the foot of the column two sided two-column broadsheet handbill in to use the barometer to forecast the weath- is filled with advertisements, one for the the British Library collections, headed: A er up to six or more weeks ahead. Parker optical instrument maker John Marshall, New Improvement of the Quicksilver had designed and made a portable instru- and the other for ‘The Lithontriptick Barometer,| made by JOHN PATRICK in ment, but was unwilling to divulge his Elexir being a present Remedy for the Ship-Court in the Old-Baily,London.’On the design secrets without due reward. He Intolerable Pains of the Wind-Colick, Gravel reverse, beneath a rule is the centered demanded a subscription list of a thousand and Stone, Gout, Rheumatisms and all imprint: ‘Printed by Rich. Newcomb,in people paying half a guinea down, promis- Running Pains’.There is an imprint line at Sword and Buckler Court on Ludgate- ing delivery in three months,and subject to the foot:‘Printed and Sold by John Nut,near Hill’.25 This sheet was mentioned briefly payment of a further half guinea by each Stationers-Hall. Price one Penny’. and merely as a curiosity by Middleton.26 subscriber.He claimed his instrument to be The illustration (Fig. 2) has been repro- ‘as easily portable in a manner as a Knife John Patrick’s ‘New Improvement’ duced by Goodison.27 As with the almanac and Fork, or some Ink-Horns, and as secure George Parker’s almanac for 1701 carries a advertisement,the text begins with a short to be carried anywhere.’23 Patrick’s broad- double-page-spread advertisement for John description of a newly improved pendant

14 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) barometer, but there is space to describe are in collections of the Science Museum29, notes, is included in ‘Portable Barometers various other barometer designs that are distinguished by a change in the title, a which are now in Use,and which are made Patrick made.The right hand column of text minor re-working of the engraved plate, a by Mr. John Patrick,Torricellian Operator on the front,ends:‘The Figure of each Glass new paragraph of text, and new imprint in the Old Baily.With very great Exactness is above. These and all other sorts of lines.The title of the earlier re-printing (Fig. and Neatness’.32 So Harris provides the Portable Barometers and Thermometers,are 3) reads: ‘A New Improvement of the readily accessible and dated contemporary Made and Sold by John Patrick, at his Quicksilver Barometer, being Made | source for later 18th century attributions to House aforesaid;and also by John Marshall, Portable, by JOHN PATRICK, in Ship-Court Patrick. The Newcomb printing of ‘New at the Archimedes and Golden Spectacles in the Old-Baily London.’The imprint, set Improvement’ would appear to pre-date in Ludgate street: And at most eminent beneath a rule runs across both columns of Patrick’s invention of the screw-cistern, Watchmakers in London.’John Marshall’s text on the reverse, reads:‘London, Printed whilst the edition which includes it could role as a retailer of Patrick’s barometers is by G.Parker,in Salisbury-Court Fleetstreet.’ be as early as late 1702 or early 1703.33 not mentioned in other versions of this The key textual change, is indicated by the handbill,though from time to time the well- The other Science Museum issue of the phrase ‘being made portable’ in the title.A broadsheet, which also includes reference known optical instrument maker did totally new paragraph (Fig. 4) appears on include ‘weather glasses’ among the goods to the screw cistern, has the imprint at the the back of the sheet, headed:‘Directions foot of the right hand column of text on the that he advertised for sale.28 This broad- for Ordering the Portable | Barometer by sheet was certainly printed before the end reverse: ‘London, Printed by E.Powell in Letting the Quicksilver | down or Screwing Black-Fryars.’Both issues re-use the copper of 1702. On close inspection it is clear that it up, for the safe Con-| veying of it from the copper plate of the Parker almanac plate,though it has been slightly re-worked one place to another.’ Both Middleton and (Fig.3).On either side of the winged figure advertisement has been re-engraved,though Goodison have discussed the introduction the original layout is retained. What is of Mercury that tops the combined diago- of the screw cistern as one of the most nal barometer, looking glass and ther- strange is not that the numbering on the important viable solutions to making the illustrations is quite independent of the list mometer, has been added the phrase: barometer portable.The former,whose dis- ‘Weather Glasses of | all Sorts for Sea | and of improved barometers printed on the cussion of the evidence is slight, implies back of the sheet,but that the labeling is so Land’.Furthermore,the space on either side without supporting evidence that it was of that instrument has been filled by a wrong as to defy rational explanation.As 30 integral to Quare’s 1695 patent. thumb-nail sketch of a hydrometer,with the Goodison has noted, Figure 1 is not a pen- Goodison, who has made a close study of dant barometer, but a pillar barometer. caption ‘A pruf Glass to Show ye Waight of over 40 instruments made by Quare, con- Liqueds’, shoe-horned in at right-angles to Figure 3 is not a Marine Barometer, but a structed in a working life that continued wall mounted cistern-tube instrument, the rest of the text. Presumably it was to until 1724, is quite sure that Quare did not retain a degree of symmetry that illustration whilst figure 4 is a cased thermometer and invent the screw cistern, though he cer- not the ‘New Barometer with a and caption appear both to left and right of tainly installed it on later instruments, and the central looking glass. Thermometer from a Span to any length,fit- he or others retro-fitted it when making ted for Travelling:’ of the caption. Stranger adaptions to his earlier instruments. Despite the misleadingly captioned illus- still,Patrick re-used this plate,retaining the Goodison discusses various strands of evi- tration, John Patrick appears to have totally misleading labeling in two further dence and concludes that the screw cistern retained a stock of ‘New Improvements’for printings of the ‘New Improvement’broad- was first used c. 1702-3, but is unsure who some years.The Powell issue in the Science sheet. invented it.He expresses some surprise that Museum is endorsed in ink on the reverse Two later printings,copies of both of which it does not appear in the entry ‘Barometer’ side ‘Octr.27. 1718 Mr Patrick gave me this in Harris’ Lexicon Paper.’A justification for continuing to dis- Technicum of tribute the handbill,could be the ‘Rules and 1704, which other- Observations for Foreknowing the Weather wise draws heavily by the various Rising and Falling of the on John Patrick,and Weather Glass or Barometer’, which fill is disinclined to rely most of the reverse of the sheet.To the new on two late 18th purchaser of a barometer, it was certainly century attributions useful to have the accumulated weather to Patrick.31 Alas, lore of earlier observers and to be given Goodison missed general advice on interpreting instrumen- Harris’ dictionary tal readings: ‘The Rising of the Mercury entry under the presages fair Weather,and its Falling foul,as heading ‘Portable rain,Snow,high Winds and Storms’,and the Barometer’ which more specific prognostication: ‘In Fair after discussing Weather when the Mercury Falls much,and Boyle’s syphon-tube continues for two or three days before the instrument, men- Rain comes,then expect a great deal of Wet tions ‘an Invention and high Winds’. Even those who did not to screw up the purchase Patrick’s instruments had access Mercury quite up to this accumulated meteorological experi- to the Sealed end of ence, for it was reprinted by Harris in his the Tube, by which encyclopedia34, and by George Parker in means it will not one of his almanacs.35 For the record,I note swag up and down that little of Patrick’s weather lore is original in the Carriage and - most of it is taken from that included in so by its great the Warner,Wynne/Warner ‘Aeroscopium’ Weight endanger broadsheet printed two decades earlier. In the breaking of the this context, it is worth noting that this Fig. 4 The screw cistern as described in Patrick’s New Improvement Tube’. This design early broadsheet statement of weather lore broadsheet, the G. Parker issue, Science Museum, London. innovation, Harris for England also predates Edmund Halley’s

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 15 are cleanly cut, so that potential evidence for or against a binding stub,is not present; however there are signs of an old fold mark towards the left hand end of the print, sug- gesting the possibility of the sheet being an illustration either to a dedicated letterpress leaflet or as an advertisement within a print- ed work. Typically of items in the Banks Collection the item is on the mount to which the collector stuck it, though in the past it has been removed for the addition of a conservation backing. However, there is now no chance of seeing either a water- mark in the paper (which might help dat- ing) or evidence of letterpress offset on the reverse of the sheet, which might confirm an associated letterpress text.

Conclusions In various widely read annual almanacs John Patrick certainly advertised that he adjusted, made and sold weather glasses - by which he meant both barometers and thermometers.41 I do not claim to have made a sufficiently thorough search to be able to say whether or not he re-used the New Improvement plate in such advertise- ments, or whether the plate discussed immediately above might have appeared in such a context.The latter would certainly have made an impressive piece of graphic advertising, and the higher quality of the draughtsmanship together with the greatly Fig. 5 John Patrick’s barometers - an undated illustration of the range of his wares - no date improved coherence of the design would - say 1715 +/ -5 - now bereft of any accompanying letterpress. British Museum. indicate Patrick’s awareness of an increas- ing sophistication within the target cus- geographically more widely based summa- instrument. It opens up the possibility that tomer group.The text of New Improvement ry,published in May 1686.36 country house archives may yet disclose is cleverly written to appeal to a range of copies of presently unrecorded early eigh- audiences.The knowing savant is assured The re-worked plate of the ‘New teenth century barometer instruction that Patrick’s thermometers performed and Improvement’ broadsheet appears as an sheets.All such ephemera can re-pay close are graduated to a scale found adequate in extra-illustration at the front of the British reading - for example the Powell printing, service by reputable practitioners such as Library copy of the 1708 issue of Richard which like the earlier Newcomb version ‘Dr.Edm.Halley,Fellow of the Royal Society Neve’s Baroscopologia. This is a highly includes a list of the various instruments in his late Southern Voyage:and another by derivative book, drawing heavily on the Patrick sold, has an additional item ‘A Capt. Will. Johnson to Greenland a Whale- treatment of barometers written by the Fishing to the North’.The inquiring natural 37 Vertical Barometer, the Mercury moving a clockmaker John Smith in 1688. The illus- hand about, like a Clock’. So, at least for a philosopher has his interest roused by men- tration is not called for in the text, which period, and contrary to Goodison’s asser- tion of a phenomenon seen when trans- does not mention either Patrick’s name,nor tion, Patrick was offering for sale instru- porting the pendant barometer in a dark any of the many advances in barometer ments made to Robert Hooke’s wheel room:‘Flashes of Lightning from the top of design that occurred in the twenty years fol- barometer design.38 the Quicksilver,to the top of the Tube in the lowing the publication of Smith’s book. It Vacuum:Which noble discovery requires could have been inserted by an early owner A ‘Lost’ John Patrick Illustrated the Solution of the most profound or seller as an ‘extra’ illustration, or by Catalogue? Naturalist.’And as if aware that sceptics Patrick as an advertisement of his wares. might doubt the observation, it is given Sir Nicholas Goodison discusses and repro- greater credence by Patrick adding author- duces an engraving that illustrates a dozen Other ‘Lost’ Patrick Barometer itatively:‘This Curiousity has been Examin’d weather glasses ‘Made by IOHN PATRICK Instruction Sheets? and prov’d by several Persons of Quality of in Ship Court in the Old Bayly. London.’39 the ROYAL SOCIETY,who thought it highly In terminating his discussion of the various Technically this engraving (Fig. 5) is of a to deserve the enquiry of the most Curious.’ barometers and thermometers, Patrick’s higher class than that in the ‘New Halley and the Royal Society are again ‘New Inventions’assured readers that all of Improvement’ broadsheet. It is also consid- bracketed together in an attempt to per- the instruments ‘are so contriv’d, that they erably larger - the plate mark is 253mm suade the ‘Skillful Sailor’ that Patrick’s may be safely sent to any Place compleatly wide x 240mm high, with a ruled border marine barometer will forecast storms at fixed. And Printed Instructions are given 249.5mm x 236mm.The instruments are sea, whilst the ‘Country Gentleman, but with every Glass,[my emphasis] to explain serially numbered and correctly captioned. more especially Farmers’ are told that any their Uses to the meanest Capacity.’This However,the provenance of this item - part barometer will assist in ‘electing Times, phrase suggests that Patrick’s pre-1700 of the Banks Collection of trade cards in the when to Sow or Reap’.Yet the summary of ‘Directions’ broadsheet is the single sur- British Museum40, means that if there ever weather lore and the general tenor of the vivor of a whole range of instructional was any associated letterpress, it is no text, suggests that as with the periodical leaflets provided for the buyer of each longer extant. Both left and right margins

16 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) advertising,it is neither the student of mete- the original appears with Plot’s note on the blank three months of the previous year. orology nor the inquisitive natural philoso- reverse of the bifolium. 25. British Library,press mark: 538.k.33 pher who are the primary audience; rather 7. National Library of Scotland Department of 26. Middleton (note 1), pp.112, 120. Manuscripts, Yester Papers, MSS 14401-827. I that the real target readership are the 27. Goodison (note 2), p.47. acquired a photocopy of this item in the early 1970s, monied leisured classes,willing and able to 28. See Marshall’s advertisement in J.Houghton, A buy the barometer as a luxury consumer when prior to processing the broadsheet had the Accession Number 4862, Box 106, F.3b.This exten- collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and nd durable, something else to decorate the sive archive has now been fully sorted and cata- Trade 2 series, No.144, 2 May 1695- repeated nos walls of their homes, and providing an logued, but the broadsheet does not appear in the 145,149, 152-4.Also that in W.Andrews, News from opportunity for conversations on that finding index to the papers, so cannot presently be the Stars, or an ephemeris for the year 1698 perennially English talking point,the weath- speedily located! (London 1698), sig C8r - the text of which also appears in an undated Marshall handbill, Calvert er.The Uffenbach brothers,visiting London 8.Middleton,(note1) p.82,reprinting and discussing (note 15), item 256. in 1710, made their way to ‘an optico and the passage in R. North, The Life of the Right weather-glass maker, Patrick, to the left of Honourable Francis North, Baron of Guilford 29. Calvert (note 15), item 294. the Old Bailey’ and examined a whole vari- (London, 1742), p.295. 30. Middleton (note 1), pp.151-2. ety of stock. It is significant that only one 9. Goodison (note 2), pp.30-33. 31. Goodison (note 2), pp.42-6, 199, 206, 210. barometer is of sufficient interest to them 10.J.D.Forbes,‘Notice respecting Father Secchi’s stat- 32. Harris (note 20), art:‘Portable Barometer’. for the price to be recorded,an instrument ical barometer’,Proceedings of the Royal Society of 33.Though Lexicon Technicum was not published ‘that was bent [i.e. a diagonal barometer] Edinburgh, 3 (1857), p.481. until June 1704 (see London Gazette,no.4030,22-26 and fastened into a mirror-frame.The curve 11. North (note 8), p.293. June1704),it was being set in type and printed well is intended to make the degrees appear larg- 12.W.E.K.Middleton,‘A Footnote to the History of prior to that date.The article ‘Portable Barometer’is er.This kind costs fifteen guineas.’42 In the the Barometer’, Notes and Records of the Royal printed in gathering 5Z, and likely to have been New Improvement broadsheet the diago- Society of London, 20 (1965), p.150. See also H.W. printed in late 1702 or early 1703,when Harris was busy touting for subscriptions to assist in financing nal barometer with thermometer set Robinson and W.Adams, eds, The Diary of Robert Hooke (London, 1935), p.374 . the production of the volume - see London Gazette, around the frame of a mirror is at the centre nos 3883, 3890, 3905, 3908 Feb. 1-4 to April 22-26, 13. D.J. Bryden,‘Sir Samuel Morland’s Acount of the of the illustration. The text makes quite 1703.London Gazette no.3956,7-11 Oct.1703 notes Balance Barometer, 1678’, Annals of Science, 32 clear why and who should be purchasing the publication running behind schedule (1975), pp.361-4. such a piece; ‘whereby Gentlemen and 34. Harris (note 20), art:‘Barometer’. Ladies at the same time they Dress them- 14. R.S. Clay and T.H. Court, The History of the Microscope (London, 1932), p.251. 35. G. Parker, The Royal Speculum for the Year of selves,may accommodate their Habit to the our Lord 1705 (London, 1705), sig.B3r-v. Weather, a Performance not only Curious, 15.H.R.Calvert,Scientific Trade Cards in the Science Museum Collection (London, 1971), item 295. 36.E.Halley,‘A discourse of the rule of the decrease but also Profitable and Pleasant.’For John of the height of the mercury in the Barometer’, 16. M.A. Crawforth, ‘Instrument Makers in the Patrick, sales of barometers for the salon Philosophical Transactions no.181, 16 (1688), London Guilds’, Annals of Science, 44 (1987), were likely to have been more frequent and pp.110-111. pp.363-4 is to be preferred to Goodison (note 2), more rewarding than sales to the savant. p.197. Middleton, (note 1), p.151, records Patrick’s 37. R. Neve, Baroscopologia, or a discourse of the Jewen Street address added in manuscript to a front- baroscope (London, 1705).The plate is bound as Notes and References paper in the British Library copy of J. Smith, A com- frontispiece to the British Library copy of the 1708 1.W.E.K.Middleton, The History of the Barometer pleat discourse of the nature, use and right man- re-issue (Press mark 538.a.29). It is mentioned in (Baltimore, 1964). agement of that wonderful instrument the baro- E.G.R. Taylor, The Mathematical Practioners of Tudor and Stuart England, (Cambridge, 1954), p. 2. N. Goodison, English Barometers, 1680-1860: A scope, or quick=silver weather=glass (London, 1688); press mark: 537.a.34. 423 as if bibliographically integral. For Smith see History of Domestic Barometers and their makers note 16. (London,1969).In subsequent notes I have cited the 17. See the advertisement in London Gazette 38. Goodison (note 2), p.47. enlarged 2nd edition (Woodbridge, 1977). no.3054, 14-18 February 1695. 3.The quotation is a translation from Torricelli’s let- 18. British Patent 342, 2 August 1695.Typical of the 39. Goodison (note 2), p.48 - with the ruled border ter to M.Ricci, printed and discussed by Middleton period,there is no specification.Goodison (note 2), cropped. (note 1), p.23 et seq. pp.43-6 discusses this patent,which was challenged 40. British Museum, Department of Prints and 4. R.T.Gunther, Early Science in Oxford,Vol. 12: Dr by the Clockmakers’ Company, to whom John Drawings, Banks 105.35 - (formerly Y5-308). Plot and the correspondence of the Philosophical Patrick providing expert assistance. 41. In addition to those cited above, see G. Parker, Society of Oxford, (Oxford, 1939), p.304.Wing ref- 19.E.Bradshaw,‘John Harris,Lexicon Technicum’,in The Royal Speculum for .... 1706 (London, 1706), erences refer to D.Wing, A Short Title Catalogue of F.S.Kafker, ed., Notable Encyclopedias of the 17th Sig.D4v. G. Parker, Parker’s Ephemeris for ..... 1707 Books Printed in England ...1641-1700 (2nd,revised and 18th Centuries - Studies on Voltaire and the (London, 1707), Sig.E4v. The Ladies Diary or the edn, New York, 1972-1998.) 18th century, 194 (1981), pp.107-21. Womens Almanack, (London, 1708). Sig.C4v. 5. R.J. Howarth,‘Fitting Geomagnetic Fields before 20. J. Harris, Lexicon Technicum, or an universal 42.London in 1710, from the travels of Zacharius the Invention of the Least Squares: I. Henry Bond’s dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1704), Conrad von Uffenbach, translated & edited,W.H. prediction s (1636, 1668), of the change in magnet- sig.b1r. Quarrell & M. Mare, (London, 1934), p.145. ic declination in London’, Annals of Science, 59 21. C. Leigh, The Natural History of Lancashire, Correction in Part 1 (2002),p.398,note 42,cites recent literature on the Cheshire, and the Peak in Derbyshire (Oxford, early history of graphical methods, and notes 1700),pp.[171-17].Halley’s account of Patrick’s new In the previous Part, the end notes 14 and Warner’s Weather Journal as the earliest known barometers given to the Royal Society, (Journal 15 were identical. Note 15 should have commercial production of printed graph paper.The Book, 27 November 1700) would have been heard read: W.O[ughtred], The Solution of all squared paper produced by London instrument- by members present, but was not published. Sphærical Triangles (Oxford,1651),tp.I am maker Henry Sutton in 1654 for the use of those 22. British Library,press mark: 537.1.23 (3). indebted to Dr Gloria Clifton for suggesting undertaking the survey of Ireland, the ‘Down’ sur- this source for the statement given without vey,organized by Sir William Petty (whose existence 23. G. Parker, An account of a portable barometer was recorded in 1851 - see J.E. Burnett and A.D. with reasons and rules for the use of it (London citation of source by Taylor (note 1) p.251, Morrison-Low, Vulgar and Mechanick -the scientif- [1700]), pp.2, 103-4.The imprint gives the publica- that Hayes’ first premises were in Birchin ic instrument trade in Ireland 1650-1921 tion date as ‘MDCXCX’,which bibliographers almost Lane, off Cornhill. (Edinburgh and Dublin, 1989), p.13, and the refer- universally interpret as an error for MDCC.The text, ences there cited) does not seem to have been con- en passant,refers to the author’s weather diary kept Author’s address: sidered in this context. from December 1696 to June 1699. 11 Pensham Hill 6. Trinity College Cambridge Ms R4.45, fol.146. 24.G.Parker,A double ephemeris for the year 1701 Pershore WR10 3HA Reproduced by Gunther (note 4), pp.302-3. Note ... (London 1701), sig. 1v- 2r.Almanacs for a particu- e-mail: djbryden@fish.co.uk that the line drawing printed in the margin of p.303 lar year were normally published in the last two or is Gunther’s rendition of Warner’s sketch, which in

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 17 The Cross-Staff Ten Years Later An Update with Recently Found Examples Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns

Ten years ago The Cross-Staff. History and Development of a Navigational Instrument (Zutphen, 1994) was pub- lished,a catalogue raisoné of the 95 cross- staffs known at that time. A decade later there are several reasons to update the con- tents. Some publications were missed in 1994, and research on staffs and their mak- ers has continued.The 34 cross-staffs found in the past ten years provide new insight, and by listing them they are registered for future reference. The publications that escaped my attention are mentioned in the first paragraph.After that, new information on cross-staffs and their makers, including some new names, are presented. Both paragraphs are based on recent literature, archival research, and on the newly found examples of the instru- ment.Changes in the 1994 checklist, includ- ing the relocation of several items,are given in the following paragraph.The new exam- Fig. 1 Cartouche of a chart by Johannes van Keulen.To the right of the sitting seaman ples are chronologically listed in the a cross-staff placed upright with two vanes is visible, tied together by two strings. appendix, although, for the sake of space, Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam. the descriptions are less comprehensive than those of 1994. however,without mentioning Van Keulen’s ter,because I have seen that. It’s a segment name or the staff’s date. He compared it with single scales (for altitude only) on all In the 1994 checklist the cross-staffs were with the description in a French naviga- four sides, and I do not doubt its dating or numbered 1 to 95.To distinguish between tional manual from 1643,however,without authenticity. Single scales, the maximum those and the newly found examples,here- mentioning that there were significant mod- accuracy of 30 minutes of arc, and the 12 after the numbers of the first checklist are ifications to the instrument after that date. mm width, are consistent with staffs from preceded by 1994, while the new ones are The forward and backward observations are this period. However, scales on four sides preceded by 2004. dealt with by Michéa in separate para- are not, and therefore this instrument graphs,but the short bibliography indicates implies that the four sides of staffs were in Literature that the author only used printed sources use over 40 years earlier than I had The 1994 bibliography was supposed to older than the described staff. assumed.Confirmation of this can be got as include all relevant publications on the more early cross-staffs are found, and also cross-staff, but unfortunately some were The most important contribution after 1994 by looking for examples with four vanes in missed.The reference to the application of was by Allan Mills,who provided a method illustrations, pre-dating the 1650s. transversals to cross-staff divisions in the to calculate the lengths of the vanes of sixteenth century, perhaps on a Radius cross-staffs, of which the eye end has been The no. 2004.10 Swedish staff has a num- Astronomicus, was overseen1, as was sawn off.6 ber of new features, which justified a sepa- Christiaan Huygens’ 1662 comment on the rate article.10 It was found,complete and in practical use of the nautical cross-staff and New Evidence Found on Cross-staffs fairly good condition, in the wreck of the the mirror staff.2 The article by John Roche In contemporary literature and on surviv- Swedish warship Kronan, which sank in on the cross-staff as a surveying instrument ing cross-staffs,scales with complementary the Baltic in 1676.This cross-staff is the first should have been included, even though it graduations for altitude and zenith distance with ‘spoon-shaped’ vanes, a feature so far was not a nautical instrument.3 Allan were not found before the 1630s,and scales known only from seventeenth-century oil Chapman wrote The Cross-Staff (Wadham on all four sides of the staff not before the paintings and cartouches of charts.11 Found College, Oxford, 1976), a brochure to 1650s.7 However,staff no.2004.05 (see the with the instrument were two separate accompany reconstructions of cross-staffs appendix below) with the given date ‘16th wooden horizon vanes, which can slide made by him.These were used for his own century’, has complementary scales on all along the staff and have a slit, through practical investigations, as well as for sale, four sides.8 This staff has the symbols * and which the horizon can be observed accu- but so far I have not come across one of stamped at the beginning of the scales, rately.These were used with the backward Chapman’s reconstructions. In 1982 indicating altitude (Pole star) and zenith dis- observation of the sun.They show some Michael Richey reported on attempts to tance (the sun) respectively.These symbols resemblance to the vane that is kept at assess the accuracy of cross-staff observa- were also found on staffs by the Dutch mak- Longleat House which, however, does not tions at sea, by the late P.G. Morris, whose ers Pietersz.and Sort,of the 1670s (1994.6, have the slit (1994.18). Another unique work remained uncompleted and unpub- 7 & 9),and on a staff from Kronan from the aspect of the Kronan staff is a small,wood- lished.4 Unfortunately Richey does not state same period (see below).That could indi- en-framed coloured glass to protect the eye were Morris’s work is kept. cate that the no. 2004.05 may not be quite during the forward observation.Unlike the as old as Jiménez and his co-authors make it known coloured glasses, it cannot be fixed Hubert Michéa wrote an article on the out to be.9 But, I don’t want to jump to a to the staff but must be held by the observ- cross-staff, based on the 1776 example by conclusion before having inspected the er or a helper. This kind was not seen Johannes van Keulen in Amsterdam, in the instrument myself. before,but the existence of such a glass was Musée de la Marine in Paris (1994.77).5 The suggested by Huygens in his comment in author described that staff in some detail, Staff no.2004.06 of 1606 is a different mat- 1662, mentioned above.

18 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) In 1994 three cross-staffs were found to be to the statement. Presumably Van Keulen date 167[?] (side 1), and the initials ‘I [?]’ stored in boxes (nos.28,66 & 70).Although distinguished between the basic work on (side 2).The beginnings of the graduations early, these boxes were probably not con- the staff, including sawing, polishing and on side 4 are marked with a stamped * and temporary to the instruments. So the ques- drawing the base lines,and the actual appli- , discussed above, and known from sev- tion remained as to how the staff and vanes cation of the graduation.This was possibly eral Dutch staffs from the same period. were kept together at sea.A possible answer done by a second person, perhaps by Van to this is seen in a chart published by cross- Keulen himself, or by an accomplished The no. 1994.15 of 1699, by Abraham Tade staff maker Johannes van Keulen (c. 1654- employee like Appingedam, of whom we (Fig. 2) with one original vane, was fitted 1715). It shows how the staff and vanes know that he became an independent with three additional modern ones. It was were tied together by strings (Fig. 1). maker.14 This method of working would sold by its private owner to Antiquairs probably be typical for workshops with Grijpma & Van Hoogen in Groningen, and New Evidence About Cross-staff more than one employee, and where large by them to Hyland Granby Antiques, Hyannisport,Massachusetts.Its present loca- Makers numbers of instruments were produced. tion is not known to me. A few years ago I had the opportunity to re- The statement provides some new names examine the badly-worn 1666 staff of makers,and gives information on others. The 1706 staff by Van Keulen (1994.23) was (1994.4), inscribed ‘I.I. Kaes h [or b]…’. I auctioned at Sotheby’s,London,and fetched Although a common name, it is likely that 19 now believe that this instrument was made Claas Jansz.is the same person as the name- £ 20.400. Its present location is not by Jacob Jansz. Kaaskamer from sake who was an independent cross-staff known to me. 12 Amsterdam. The dates fit and the initials maker when he became a citizen of The no. 1994.33 staff by Van Keulen, dated are the same.He could have spelt his name Amsterdam in 1723.15 Also it could well be 1717, was offered for sale by Antiquairs both Kaaskamer and Kaeskamer,and I mis- that Frederik Geerloff was the maker of the Grijpma & Van Hoogen.20 Its present loca- read the ‘k’for an ‘h [or b]’.It did not help staff inscribed *F*G*, and dated 1714 tion is not known to me. that, when I was examining the staff the (1994.30). first time in the late 1970s,I was unaware of Cross-staff no. 1994.39 can be dated more a maker named Kaaskamer. My assumption that mathematical instru- accurately since Christian Ahlström identi- ment and cross-staff maker Johan Sort (c. fied the ‘Alvsnabben wreck’ as being of the Gerard van Keulen (1678-1726), cross-staff 1641-after 1688) was the manufacturer of German galliot Concordia, lost in 1754.21 maker,chart and atlas maker,and publisher two known cross-staffs (1994.7 & 9) has of navigational manuals,ran the Van Keulen proved to be correct.A wine gauge dated Cross-staff no. 1994.41 is now in the family business in Amsterdam,at the begin- 1681, in private ownership in the Dutch Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago ning of the eighteenth century. Because of town of Bunschoten, was recently shown (inv.no.Atwood 1901).The maximum accu- the firm’s extensive assortment, it seems to me.It has the same monogram as on the racy found on this instrument was omitted obvious that he employed personnel, but cross-staffs, and in addition it is and signed in 1994; it is 10 minutes of arc. there was no evidence to support this.We ‘J * Sort’.We now also know that, in 1684, As recorded in 1994, the no. 49, by Van now know that he not only employed spe- Sort lived ‘At the Sign of the Steersman’, on Keulen belongs to The Lake St. Louis cial cross-staff makers, but also that some the Oude Waal in Amsterdam, not far from Historical Society. With the rest of the of these later established themselves as 16 the Bantammerstraat. Society’s collection it is on loan to The independent craftsmen. Besides being a prolific chart and cross-staff Stewart Museum in Montreal, Canada. In May 1717 Van Keulen requested four of maker, Jochem Hasebroek (1682- The 1752 staff by Jochem Hasebroek, no. his employees to draw up a formal state- 17 1756) also made wine gauges and back- 1994.61, was a loan from a private individ- ment on a conflict about a payment.13Three staffs. The collection of the Museum ual to the Noordelijk Scheepvaartmuseum were cross-staff makers, and named Boerhaave at Leiden contains a signed but in Groningen. In 1994 the owner sold it to Meijndert van Houten, Sacharias Vincent not-dated gauge in four sections, made of a private collector in Germany, and four and Claes Jansz., and they had worked for ebony and inlaid with brass (inv.no.10689). years later it was purchased by its present Van Keulen for some years.The fourth per- The National Survey Board in Sweden owns owner, the Deutsches Schiffartsmuseum in son was a bookbinder.The cross-staff mak- a back-staff signed ‘Jochem Hasebroek Bremerhaven. It has been fitted with four ers stated that for each staff they ‘sawed, 18 1737’. modern vanes. polished and lined’ (presumably applying the lines along the four sides of the staff,on The only known staff by Gerrit Hasebroek which the divisions are stamped), they Changes in the 1994 Checklist (1994.70) is now on permanent loan to the never received more than 2 stuivers (pen- This paragraph includes known changes in Fries Scheepvaart Museum at Sneek,The nies) and 8 cents per staff.This was cor- the 1994 checklist,including the relocation Netherlands.22 roborated by Evert Appingedam of some of the instruments. (Apegendam), who had worked for Van The copy of the presumably lost no. Keulen until 1715, and who declared that The wreck of Kronan yielded another part 1994.73 staff is still at Zurich Observatory, he found this payment fair. It was, howev- of cross-staff no. 1994.5. It is the eye-end inv.no.KGS-185-0.Unfortunately I have not er, disputed by one Cornelis Plinius, anoth- with a length of 199 mm,and a width of 13 had the opportunity to view this instru- er cross-staff maker who worked by 13 mm.This segment includes part of a ment. for Van Keulen.Appingedam, who apparently was brought in as an independent witness, stuck to his statement, whereupon Plinius, and Frederik Geerloff,yet another cross- staff maker, left Van Keulen’s ser- vice, leaving behind a number of staffs. This shows that Van Keulen employed several craftsmen, but Fig.2 Signature of Abraham Tade, on the only known cross-staff (1699) by this maker (1994.15). there is another interesting aspect Present location not known.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 19 2004.02 Not known (Dutch) ≤ c. 1593 Segment of the eye-end of a staff (191 mm;15 x 15 mm), and two vanes (316 & 482 mm), inv.no.14778B & 14885 (Fig.4).Traces of grad- uation visible on three sides (no side numbers found). From the same shipwreck as the pre- vious and next staff. Present location: Nederlands Instituut voor Scheeps- en onderwaterArcheologie (NISA), Lelystad,The Netherlands, inv.no. 14910. 2004.03 Not known (Dutch) ≤ c.1593 Segment of the eye-end of a staff (123 mm;14 Fig. 3 Signature of F. Gufter, on the only known cross-staff (1707) by this maker x 14 mm).Traces of graduation visible on one (2004.16). Private collection Humshaugh, England. of the sides (no side numbers found). From the same shipwreck as the two previous staffs. Finally it can be noted that the cross-staff (maritime) archaeology was responsible for Present location: Nederlands Instituut voor belonging to the Spanish Naval Ministry, a large number of the found staffs.This time Scheeps- en onderwaterArcheologie (NISA), exhibited at South Kensington in 187423, no less than 12 of the instruments came Lelystad,The Netherlands, inv.no. 11002. was probably no. 1994.76, and not the from shipwrecks or were dug up on land. ≤ instrument listed below (no. 2004.05), as 2004.04 Not known (Dutch) 1596 It is rewarding to know that the publication apparently only the former originally Part of a vane.Found on Nova Zemlya,and left belonged to the Spanish Navy. of The Cross-Staff has led to an increase in the awareness of this simple and once pop- there by Dutch winterers in 1597. It does not belong to the cross-staff found there earlier Conclusion and Recommendation ular navigational instrument.There is,how- 27 ever, also a shadow side. Since 1994 own- (1994.1). Much was learnt about cross-staffs and their ers have continued to add modern vanes to Present location:Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,inv. makers since 1994.It is significant that four existing staffs, and as far as known to me I no. NM 7749-2. sides of the staff were employed for scales have recorded them in this article.These 2004.05 Not known (Spanish) 16th century far earlier than assumed up to now. But, additions, often accurate and in style with besides the two instruments in question - the staff,should continue to be recorded in Staff only (980 mm, width not stated), 28 of which the Madrid-one needs further print because in due time it may be hard to inscribed: *DE*, with parts of two vanes. research - all the newly found examples distinguish copies from originals.This hap- Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on confirm the conclusions of 1994, such as pened to the owner of no. 2004.33, who all four sides, accuracy not stated.The begin- on graduation, accuracy, length and width. wrote to me to say that he believed at least nings of the graduations are marked respec- The staff from Kronan has shown that the on of the vanes that came with the staff was tively * and , known from the 1670s shape of vanes known only from oil-paint- original.If it was an original vane it does not onward (1994.6, 7 & 9). ings and charts did in fact exist. belong to this staff, as none was present Present location: Royal Academy of Mathematics and the Imperial College in the It was found that the Van Keulen workshop when I saw the instrument at Grijpma & National Museum of Science and Technology employed several cross-staff makers, some Van Hoogen, very shortly after they pur- of Madrid, inv.no. 85-4-477. of which made a half-product. Johan Sort chased it from a private individual, in the has now definitely been identified as the late 1990s. Since then Grijpma has con- 2004.06 Not known (Dutch?) 1606 maker of two known cross-staffs and a firmed that no vane was present.Even more gauge,and it was found that Hasebroek also worrying is the fact that the cross-staff itself Segment of the eye-end of a staff (313 mm;12 made back-staves. New names of makers was given the same, presumably fictitious, x 12 mm;ebony) inscribed:E.R. [or] R.E.[and] were found too. In England one F.Gufter instrument number 6 or 9 as the modern *1*6*0*6* (side 1). Dutch provenance. turned up (2004.16) (Fig. 3). New names vanes.This shows how important registra- Graduated for altitude only, on all four sides, from the Netherlands are Meijndert van tion is and will be in the future, because it maximum found accuracy 30 minutes of arc. Houten, Sacharias Vincent, Claes Jansz., is safe to assume that on the basis of the Present location: Tesseract Early Scientific Cornelis Plinius and Frederik Geerloff, number of cross-staffs found since 1994, Instruments, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY,USA. although some of these may not have more will turn up in private collections, 2004.07 Not known (Dutch) after c. 1630 worked as independent craftsmen.Antonij shipwrecks, and in museum collections. Gunter’s name was known in 1994, and Segment of the eye-end of a staff (212 mm;11 x 11 mm; ebony). Graduated for altitude and thanks to maritime archaeology there is Appendix now also a staff known by him (2004.23).It zenith distance on three sides (no side num- bers found), maximum found accuracy 30 was also due to maritime archaeology that Cross-staffs found since 1994 25 the unique Kronan staff was found. minutes of arc.There are carved marks on of 2004.01 Not known (Dutch) ≤ c. 1593 the sides,for secondary use of the instrument. Although more French, English, German, Segment of the eye-end of a staff (263 mm;15 Found in a ditch near the North-Holland vil- Spanish, and Swedish staffs have been x 15 mm).Graduated for altitude only,on three lage of Zuiderwoude in 1974, amongst mate- found in the past decade, Dutch-made sides (no side numbers found), maximum rial that can be dated between c. 1580-1720. examples remain predominant.Of the ‘new’ found accuracy 1 degree of arc. Found in the Present location: Private owner, Den Helder, staffs at least 25 (c. 75 %) is Dutch, and wreck of a Dutch ship that sunk off the The Netherlands. another two are probably from that coun- Friesian island of Texel in the early 1590s.26 try.Adding to this the knowledge that some 2004.08 Not known (Dutch) 1653 The wreck also yielded the two next staffs, turned up in collections in Denmark, and two vanes. Staff only (1015 mm; 12 x 12 mm; ebony), Germany and Russia, it can be said that my Present location: Nederlands Instituut voor inscribed: *AC* [and] *1653*. From the wreck hypothesis that Dutch cross-staff makers Scheeps- en onderwaterArcheologie (NISA), of the VOC-ship Lelie, sunk in 1654 near the also served a large part of the foreign mar- Lelystad,The Netherlands, inv.no. 14778A. Dutch island of Texel.It was suggested that the ket, remains unchallenged.24 Like in 1994

20 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) initials stand for Abraham Cabeliau, who pub- x 13 mm;ebony),inscribed:*H*P* [and] *1686* among them the captains Jacob Heerkes lished a book on mathematics, in Amsterdam (side 1).Graduated for altitude and zenith dis- Haitsma († 1776) and Frans Jansen Pank (1745- in 1617.29 There is,however,no evidence that tance visible on two sides (no side numbers 1806). Cabeliau was a cross-staff maker,and the dates found),maximum found accuracy 10 minutes Present location: Cultuur-historisch Museum seem too far apart to apply to the same per- of arc. Sorgdrager,Hollum,Ameland,The Netherlands, son. Present location: Private owner, Enkhuizen, inv.no. SGE 2041. Present location: Private owner, Texel, The The Netherlands. 2004.18 Johannes van Keulen, Netherlands. 2004.14 Not known (probably Dutch) Amsterdam 1711 2004.09 Not known (Dutch) c. 1653 c. 1700 Staff only, in two parts (385 & 480 mm; 15 x Staff only,from the same shipwreck as the pre- Staff only (820 mm; 16 x 16 mm; ebony), 15 mm; ebony), inscribed: *J*v*K* [and] vious staff.Reported in a newspaper article in inscribed:*HD* (side 1).Graduated on all four *171[1]* (side 1). Graduated for altitude and 1998, but not heard of since.30 sides.The sequence of the side numbers is 4, zenith distance on all four sides, maximum Present location: Not known. 3, 2 & 1, found on four other staffs (1994.10, found accuracy 5 minutes of arc.Excavated in 11, 12 and 41). HD could stand for Hendrik 1994 from a probably Dutch shipwreck off 2004.10 Not known (Swedish?) 1661 Doncker of Amsterdam, although the only Saint-Quay-Portrieux, on the north coast of Staff (1013 mm; 14 x 14 mm; undefined known staff by him is signed with his full Brittany.34 wood), inscribed: 166[1] [and] [?I]D (side1), name (1994.14).There are carved marks on Present location: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, four ‘spoon-shaped’vanes,of 692,519,296,and side 1, for secondary use of the instrument. Saint Brieuc, France, inv.no. 001-15-1&2. Present location: Private owner, West- 153 mm length, and two horizon vanes. 2004.19 Not known (Dutch) 1719 Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on Terschelling,The Netherlands. Staff only (675 mm; 17 x 17 mm; ebony), all four sides, maximum found accuracy 30 2004.15 Not known (French) c 1700 minutes of arc. One hand-held shade (red inscribed: *1719* [and] *JH* [or] *SB* (side 1) glass) in a wooden frame, and one brass aper- Staff only (980 mm; 13 x 13 mm; ebony). [and] *Cornelis van Groot Davelaar* (side 2). ture disc.The vanes are made from two parts Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on (glued and riveted) and lack clamping screws. all four sides (no side numbers found), maxi- all four sides, maximum found accuracy 10 From the wreck of Kronan,sunk in the Baltic mum found accuracy 10 minutes of arc.From minutes of arc. Owner Cornelis has not been off Oland, in 1676.31 a shipwreck,presumably a French corsair,lost identified,Davelaar is probably the name of an Present location: Kalmar Lans Museum, near Saint Malo around 1700.33 Half of the estate in Friesland.The provenance of the staff Kalmar, Sweden, inv. no. KLM 11592:17-20 & staff, including the eye-end, is badly eroded; appears to be Friesian. 50 KR. the other half is in good condition. Present location: Private owner, Leeuwarden, Present location:Departement des Recherches The Netherlands. 2004.11 Not known (French?) 1670 Archeologiques Subaquatiques et Sub-Marines, 2004.20 Johannes van Keulen, St. Malo, France, inv.no. Nat. 1064. Exhibited at the Louvre in 1936 together with Amsterdam 1720 no. 2004.21.At the time it was on loan from 2004.16 F. Gufter, England 1707 the Musée de la Marine in Paris.x32 Staff only (735 mm; 16 x 16 mm; ebony), Present location: Not known. Segment of the eye-end of a staff (370 mm;13 inscribed: *J*v*K* (side 1) [and] *1720* (side ≤ x 13 mm; probably ebony), inscribed: *1707* 2). Graduated for altitude and zenith distance 2004.12 Not known (Swedish?) 1675 [and] *F*Gvfter* (side 1). Graduated for alti- on all four sides, maximum found accuracy 2 Segment of a staff (139 mm; 13 x 13 mm; tude and zenith distance on all four sides,max- minutes of arc.There are carved marks on side ebony).Graduation for altitude and zenith dis- imum found accuracy 10 minutes of arc. 2,for secondary use of the instrument.The dis- tance visible on two sides, illegible on the Present location: Private owner, Humshaugh, tance between the marks corresponds with other sides (no sides numbers found), maxi- United Kingdom. Danish alen,feet and inches.This suggests the staff has been in Danish ownership for a long mum found accuracy 10 minutes of arc.Found 2004.17 Johannes Loots, Amsterdam time. with a brass aperture disc (inv.no.12091.36). 1710 From the wreck of Kronan sunk 1676, but Present location: Stenomuseum, Arhus, sailed the previous year. Staff only (710 mm; 14 x 14 mm; ebony; no Denmark, inv.no. 339008. instrument number visible), inscribed 1710 Present location: Kalmar Lans Museum, 2004.21 Not known (French?) 1720 Kalmar, Sweden, inv.no. KLM 8171 KR. [and] *J*Loots (side 1). Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on all four sides.There are Exhibited at the Louvre in 1936,together with 2004.13 Hendrik Pietersz, Amsterdam carved marks for secondary use of the instru- no. 2004.11.At the time it was on loan from 1686 ment. Donated to the museum in 2004, by an the Musée de la Marine in Paris.35 Segment of the eye-end of a staff (247 mm;13 Ameland family with seafaring ancestry, Present location: Not known.

Fig. 4 One of the decoratively carved vanes of a Dutch cross-staff, ≤ c. 1593 (2004.02). Nederlands Instituut voor Scheeps- en onderwaterArcheologie, Lelystad.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 21 J*v*K [and] 1760 (no side numbers stat- ed); four (probably original) vanes (733, 382, 156, 75 mm) and a bone horizon vane.xl Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on all four sides, maximum found accuracy 5 minutes of arc.Belonged to the Naval Academy of St. Petersburg until 1925. Present location: Naval Museum, St Petersburg,Russian Federation,inv.no. 9145. 2004.29 Johannes van Keulen, Amsterdam 1760 Staff only (770 mm; 19 x 19 mm; ebony),inscribed:*J*v*K* (side 1) [and] *1760* (side 2). Present location: Private owner, Zuurdijk,The Netherlands. 2004.30 Johannes van Keulen, Amsterdam 1774 Staff only (745? mm; 19? x 19? mm; ebony; instrument no. 12), inscribed: J*v*K (side 1) [and] 1774 (side 2). Fig.5 The flat eye-end of a cross-staff by Gerard Hulst van Keulen, 1792 (2004.32).The circle Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on visible around the stamped-in 6 (or 9) is the circumference of the filled-in hole. Private col- all four sides, maximum found accuracy 10 lection Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, USA. minutes of arc.With modern vanes of correct lengths, and an accurately copied brass aper- 2004.22 Johannes van Keulen, paediatrician, Professor J.H.P.Jonxis. ture disc.41 Amsterdam 1729 Present location: ‘Anno 1666’ Kunst- en Present location: Tesseract Early Scientific Antiekhandel, Zwolle,The Netherlands. Staff only (740 mm,16 x 16 mm;ebony;instru- Instruments, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY,USA. ment no. 0), inscribed: J*v*K (side 1) [and] 2004.25 Jochem Hasebroek, Amsterdam 2004.31 Johannes van Keulen, 1*7+2*9 (side 2). Graduated for altitude and 1755 Amsterdam 1778 zenith distance on all four sides, maximum Staff only, inscribed: J*Hasebroek [and] 1755. found accuracy 10 minutes of arc.There are Segment of the eye-end of a staff (488 mm;16 Graduated for altitude and zenith distance on carved marks on the staff, for secondary use x 16 mm;ebony),inscribed:J*v*K [and] 1778. all four sides. With four modern vanes. of the instrument, corresponding with There are carved marks on the staff, for sec- Auctioned by the Venduhuis van de Hende, Mecklenburg or Schleswig-Holstein feet.36This ondary use of the instrument. Found in the Groningen, 11 December 2001, lot. no. 1380, suggests it has been in German ownership for attic of a house in the village of Ballum on the and purchased by Antiquairs Grijpma & Van a long time Friesian island of Ameland,once inhabited by Hoogen, who sold it to the present owner.38 Present location: Geo Forschungs Zentrum seaman Pier Jurriens Bleeker (1826-1912). Present location: Shiffahrtsmuseum Haren an Potsdam, Germany,inv.no. 59. Present location: Reddingmuseum ‘Abraham der Emse, Germany. Fock’, Hollum, Ameland, The Netherlands, 2004.23 Antonij Gunter, Amsterdam 2004.26 Jochem Hasebroek, Amsterdam since 1991. ≤ 1735 1756 2004.32 Gerard Hulst van Keulen, Segment of the eye-end of a staff (365 mm;15 Staff only (length not stated; 18 x 18 mm; Amsterdam 1792 x 15 mm),inscribed:*A*T* Gunter* (side 1,the instrument no.3),inscribed:J*Hasebroek [and] ‘n’ is reversed).The first reported staff by this Staff only (754 mm; 17 x 17 mm; ebony), 1756. Graduated for altitude and zenith dis- maker.37 Graduated for altitude and zenith dis- inscribed: G.H.V.K.(side 1) [and] 1792 (side tance on all four sides,maximum accuracy not tance on all four sides, maximum found accu- 2). Graduated for altitude and zenith distance stated.There are carved marks on the staff,for racy 10 minutes of arc.From the wreck of the on all four sides,maximum found accuracy 10 secondary use of the instrument. VOC-ship T’Vliegend Hart, sunk in the Wester minutes of arc.There are carved marks on side Present location: Private owner, Wedel, Schelde, in 1735.This staff does not match 3, for secondary use of the instrument. Germany. with the vane found in the same wreck before Present location: Private owner,Amsterdam. (1994.46). 2004.27 Johannes van Keulen, 2004.33 Gerard Hulst van Keulen, Present location: Nederlands Instituut voor Amsterdam 1757 Amsterdam 1792 Scheeps- en onderwaterArcheologie (NISA) on loan to Zeeuws Maritiem MuZEEum,Flushing, Segment of the eye-end of a staff (316 mm;17 Staff only (754 mm; 17 x 17 mm; ebony), The Netherlands, inv.no.A.1235. x 17 mm;ebony;instrument no.23),inscribed: inscribed: G.H.V.K.(side 1) [and] 1792 (side J*v*K (side 1) [and] 1757 (side 2). Graduated 2). Graduated for altitude and zenith distance 2004.24 Johannes van Keulen, for altitude and zenith distance on all four on all four sides,maximum found accuracy 10 Amsterdam 1748 sides, maximum found accuracy 10 minutes minutes of arc. The staff was seen by the of arc.39 Staff only (730 mm;16 x 16 mm;ebony;instru- author in the late 1990s, when owned by the Present location: Tesseract Early Scientific ment no. 7), inscribed: *J*v*K* (side 1) [and] antique dealers Grijpma & Van Hoogen, who Instruments, Hastings-in-Hudson, NY,USA. *1748* (side 2). Graduated for altitude and had purchased it from a private individual in zenith distance on all four sides, maximum 2004.28 Johannes van Keulen, Groningen.The flat eye-end had a central hole, found accuracy 10 minutes of arc. Formerly Amsterdam 1760 probably drilled for keeping a suspension ring, belonging to the collection of the Groningen and no vanes were present. In January 1999 Staff (775 mm;17 x 17 mm;ebony),inscribed:

22 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) the staff was offered for sale by Hyland Granby 4. Michael Richey,‘From the Bermudas to Lizard’. Instrument Society, No. 73 (2002), p. 13. Antiques, Hyannisport, Massachusetts. In May Journal of the Royal Institute of Navigation, 35-2 24. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 44. (1982), pp. 274-284, see pp.282-283. of that year the present owner sent me pho- 25.Not included are replica’s of cross-staffs,such as tographs of the staff,now with vanes with the 5. Hubert Michéa, ‘Reconstitution et usage d’un a copy auctioned in 1997,Catalogus van nautische instrument no.6 or 9.It was also clearly visible bâton de Jacob’.In:Jean-Pierre Bois,ed.,Défense des voorwerpen. (Public auction A. Mak BV,Dordrecht, that the hole in the flat eye-end had been filled côtes et cartographie historique. (Paris, 2002), 20 April 1997), lot no.38. pp.225-231. in and that a 6 or 9 was stamped in its centre 26. NISA Jaarboek, 1 (1994) pp.11-16 and Gerrit Fig. 5).As there were no original vanes with 6. Allan Mills,‘The ‘eye-error’of the Cross-Staff.With Leeflang,‘Poolshoogte nemen met de jacobsstaf’.De a Method for Calculating the Original Dimensions this staff, the number must be fictitious. Telegraaf, 31 december 1994. of Modified or Missing Parts’. Bulletin of the 27.J.Braat,et al,Behouden uit het Behouden Huys. Present location: Private owner, Jenkintown, Scientific Instrument Society,No.48 (1996),pp.15- Catalogus van de voorwerpen van de Pennsylvania, USA. 18. Barentsexpeditie (1596), gevonden op Nova 2004.34 Hendrik Noordijk, Amsterdam 7. W.F.J.Mörzer Bruyns,The Cross-Staff.History and Zembla. De Rijksmuseumcollectie aangevuld met 1804 Development of a Navigational Instrument. Russische en Noorse vondsten (Amsterdam, 1998), (Zutphen, 1994), p. 29. p.160. Staff only (737 mm;10 x 10 mm;ebony;instru- 8. Josefa Jiménez, Manuela Martinez & Ampora 28. See note 8. Sebastian,‘The Royal Academy of Mathematics and ment no. 78), inscribed: H:N.o[...] Amst:1804 29. Harry Mulder, ‘Texel koestert scheep- the Imperial College in the National Museum of (side 1).Graduated for altitude and zenith dis- vaartverleden’. De Telegraaf, 5 February 2000. tance on all four sides, maximum found accu- Science and Technology in Madrid.’Nuncius.Annali di storia della scienza, 10 (1995), pp.179-192.The 30. NN,‘Scheepsschatten bedreigd door zandwin- racy 10 minutes or arc.With modern vanes of ning’. Trouw, 29 January 1998. correct lengths. Sold by Antiek Eglantier, Radius Astronomius by Arsenius of 1563 is described on pp. 183-184. 31. See note 10. Amsterdam, 1999. th 32.Exposition des Instruments et Outils d’Autrefois Present location: The Mariners’ Museum, 9. No reason is given for dating the instrument ‘16 century’.The article was written before The Cross- Mars-Avril 1936. Musée des Arts Décoratif, Palais Newport News, Virginia, USA, inv. no. Staff was published, so that this book could not be de Louvre (Paris, 1936), no. 277, p.36 1999.11.01 used to date the instrument. 33. Michel L’Hour & Elisabeth Veyrat, Un corsair Acknowledgements 10. Lars Einarsson & Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns,‘A sous la mer.Les épaves de la Natière, Archéologie Cross-staff from the Wreck of the Kronan (1676)’. sous-marine à Saint-Malo,Vol.4 (Saint-Malo,2003), I should like to thank the following persons The International Journal of Nautical pp.54 & 122. for their help. In Belgium: Mr Jacques Van Archaeology, 32-1 (2003), pp. 53-60. 34. Nolwenn Herry, Enquête sur un naufrage en Damme,Temse;in Canada:Mr.Jean-Francois 11. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 22. baie de Saint Briec.Memoires de maîtrise d’Histoire- Gauvin, formerly The Stewart Museum, 12. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 92. Patrimoine (2001-2002)( Université de Bretagne Montreal; in Denmark: Mr Ivan Tafteberg- Sud), pp. 32-34. 13.Municipal Archives,Amsterdam:Notarieel Archief Jakobsen, Stenomuseum,Arhus; in France: inv. no. 7307. I am grateful to Mr. Peter van Iterson 35.Exposition des Instruments et Outils d’Autrefois Miss Nolwenn Herry, Musée d’Art et of the Municipal Archives for drawing my attention Mars-Avril 1936. Musée des Arts Décoratif, Palais d’Histoire,Saint-Brieuc;in The Netherlands: to this document. de Louvre (Paris, 1936), no.277bis, p.36. Mr Harry de Bles, Marinemuseum, Den 14. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 89. Further 36. H.-G. Körber, ‘Katalog der Hellmannschen Helder, Mr Pieter Jan Borsch,Ameland, Mr research has shown that Apingedam (c. 1687- † Sammlung von Sonnenuhren und Kompassen des Albert Flonk,West-Terschelling,Dr Rob van before 1736) married Anna v.d.Horst in 1716,who in 16.Bis 19.Jahrhunderts im Geomagnetischen Institut Gent, Utrecht University, Mrs Sybrich ter 1736 lived on the Herengracht. Municipal Archives, Potsdam’. Jahrbuch 1962 des Adolf-Schmidt- Kuile,Bussum,Mrs Vibeke Roeper,Haarlem, Amsterdam:Notarieel Archief inv.no.552-393 & 578- Observatoriums für Erdmagnetismus in Niemegk (Berlin, 1964), p.167. Mr Albert Veldkamp,Flushing and Mr A.Vos, 322. Amsterdam; in Spain: Dr Victor Guijarro, 15. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 92. 37. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 90. National Museum of Science and 16.Municipal Archives,Amsterdam:Notarieel Archief 38.The Museum in Haren has not responded to my Technology,Madrid;in the United Kingdom: inv. no. 4495-229 and P.C.J. van der Krogt, written request for additional information.The staff, Advertenties voor kaarten, atlassen globes e.d. in with its modern vanes, was illustrated in colour, in Dr Gloria Clifton, National Maritime the Ostfriesische Ferien-Zeitung.Frühjahr 2003,p.2, Museum Greenwich, London and Dr Allan Amsterdamse kranten 1621-1811. Utrecht, 1985, p.18, no.11. a local newspaper for tourists. It is incorrectly Mills, Leicester; in the United States: Dr described as ‘…the only surviving complete Jacob’s 17. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, p. 91. David Coffeen,Hastings-on-Hudson,NY and staff, manufactured in 1625’. 18.Message on rete maillist,6th May 1998 from Olav Dr Peter Ifland, Cincinnati, Ohio. 39.Tesseract.Early Scientific Instruments. Catalogue Amelin, senior curator Nobel Museum, Stockholm, Seventy,Fall, 2001 (no.17). Notes and References Sweden. 40. Maritime Schätze aus St. Petersburg. 19. Sotheby’s Instruments of Science and 1. Henry C.King,The History of the telescope (New Schiffahrtsinstrumente aus der Sammlungen des Technology (Olympia, London, 28 May 2003), lot York, 1955), p.18. Zentralen Kriegsmarinemuseums, 16.-20. no.106. Seven months later it was offered for sail 2. Christiaan Huygens,Oeuvres complètes, Traveaux Jahrhunderte. Not-dated (1999?) catalogue of an again, see Sotheby’s Instruments of Science and Astronomiques Divers de 1658 à 1666,Vol.15 (The exhibition held in Hamburg,Germany.The cross-staff Technology (Olympia London,16 December 2003), Hague, 1925), pp.558-561. Huygens comments on (object no.2) is erroneously identified as English or lot. no. 24, with an estimate of between £ 12,000- the limitations of the cross-staff when measuring Russian,and the vanes as nineteenth-century repro- 15,000.This time it was not sold. very high and very low altitudes, confirming the ductions. Dr. Peter Ifland examined this instrument opinion of his contemporaries on this aspect, dealt 20. Illustrated sale catalogue B.C.M. Grijpma, G.W. for me, and stated that the vanes are original. Grijpma-van Hoogen antiquairs (September, with in The Cross-Staff. 41.Tesseract.Early Scientific Instruments. Catalogue 1994). This instrument was subsequently sold to 3. John Roche, ‘The Cross-staff as a Surveying Sixty-seven, Summer, 2000 (no.28). Hyland Granby Antiques. Instrument in England 1500-1640’.In:Sarah Tyacke, ed., English Map-Making 1500-1650. (London, 21. Christian Ahlström, Looking for Leads. 1983),pp.107-110.In 1981 Roche published an arti- Shipwrecks of the Past Revealed by Contemporary cle on the Radius Astronomicus in England, in Documents and the Archaeological Record Annals of Science, included in The Cross-Staff bib- (Helsinki, 1997), pp.146-150. Author’s address liography.Another publication in which the use of 22. Jaarverslag van de directeur van de Stichting Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum the Radius Astronomicus is mentioned is Allan Het Fries Scheepvaart Museum en Oudheidkamer, Kattenburgerplein 1 NL-1018 KK Chapman, ed., The Preface to John Flamsteed’s Jaarboek 1998, pp. 30-31, inv.no. 1998-001. Amsterdam Historia Coelestis Britannica or British Catalogue 23. Peter de Clercq,‘The Special Loan Collection of [email protected] of the Heavens (1725). Maritime Monographs and Scientific Apparatus,South Kensington,1876 Part 2. Reports,52 (National Maritime Museum Greenwich, The Historical Instruments’. Bulletin Scientific 1982).

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 23 Market Place: Talk by Jeremy Collins

Fig.3 A fine and rare 19th-century heliostat, Fig. 4 A unique 17th-century French signed ‘A Prazmowski’. Estimate: £4,000- graphometer compendium, signed ‘MARETZ 6,000. A AIX’, in a gold-tooled leather-covered case. Estimate: £8,000-12,000. value collections of objects, to the finest forum for the buying and selling of antique th Fig. 1 Jeremy Collins with a 17 -century scientific instruments in the world. Simms (£14,000-16,000); an exceptional gilt-brass Ptolemaic armillary sphere, and possibly unique 17th-century graphome- signed and dated ‘Antonius Costa Christie’s are proud to welcome Mr Collins ter (Fig. 4), signed ‘MARETZ A AIX’ (£8,000- Mirandulanus Fecit; 1677’. Sold at Christie’s back to their rooms on the evening of 12,000); a very rare mid 18th-century delin- South Kensington on 8th April 1998 for Tuesday 6th April for an illustrated gallery eator by George Adams,Snr (£5,000-8,000); £269,961. talk entitled ‘Those That Seek Shall Find’. a 108cm. Celestial globe by Coronelli, as The talk will cover details of various of the well as original uncoloured gores for the many fine Renaissance instruments that Mr same (£80,000-120,000 and £20,000-25,000 Christie’s sale of Exceptional Scientific and Collins has sourced and sold through respectively); an exceptionally fine 5in. Engineering Works of Art will take place on th Christie’s rooms over the years, with the gauge model of a Britannia locomotive, Thursday 8 April.This annual extravagan- often extraordinary tales behind their dis- modelled by J.Airton (£10,000-12,000); an za of the finest in models, scientific instru- covery,from a polyhedral dial being used as exceptionally rare original Ding-Sayers ments and aids to the study of science and a table lamp, to the bag of old bits of metal prize-winning model flyer (Fig. 5) of circa engineering was inaugurated in 1997 by which turned out to be the Murad II armil- 1912 (£4,000-6,000); and two historically Jeremy Collins. Mr Collins (Fig. 1) came lary sphere. important Wright brothers ‘bent-end’ pro- from Philip’s to head up the Scientific pellors from a Short-Wright flyer (£20,000- Instruments department at Christie’s from The talk will begin at 6.30 pm and there 25,000). 1984 until his (semi-)retirement in 2001, will be opportunity before and after to view building the sales from small,relatively low- Lots from Thursday’s sale;highlights include Further details are available from Tom rare microscopes by Clark and Brander (Fig. Newth, at [email protected] or 020 2) (estimated at £4,000-6,000 and £28,000- 7752 3147. Catalogues will be available 32,000 respectively); a very rare heliostat from the middle of March from 020 7389 (Fig. 3) by Prazmowski (£4,000-6,000); a 2820, and Lots will be available to view on model McNaught compound condensing the internet at the same time side lever rotative beam engine by Tony via http://www.christies.com/ Walshaw (£8,500-10,000); an unusually www.christies.com. large transit theodolite by Troughton & Tom Newth

Fig.2 A fine 18th-century German compound box-type microscope, signed ‘G.F.Brander fecit Aug.,Vind’, c.1775.Estimate: £28,000-35,000. Fig. 5 An historic Ding-Sayers prize-winning model ‘flyer’ of c. 1912. Estimate: £4,000- 6,000.

24 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Scientific Instruments as Indispensable Resources in Portuguese Navigation Teaching in the Late 18th Century Isabel Malaquias and Emília Vaz Gomes

Abstract all aspects of these modern instruments vations the class was organized in small Mathematical and astronomical instruments was of central concern in Portuguese Navy groups that practiced with the quadrant, have been developed all through the 18th Academies. quintant, sextant, glass artificial horizon or century,from the simple angles measuring the quicksilver one, the pendulum clock 7 instruments to reflecting ones. Some struc- Introduction and theodolite. They learned how to use tural modifications have led to a better Eighteenth-century navigational needs these instruments correctly,including their degree of precision and handling, con- required scientific solutions to improve the adjustments. tributing to improved navigation all over determination of longitudes and latitudes. The practical classes of Navigation were the world.The spread of scientific instru- As a consequence, it led to the develop- enhanced with the establishment of the ments related to navigation acquired nation- ment of Astronomy and related instruments Royal Navy Observatory, in 1798. Both 1 al importance and so the navigation schools useful to navigators. By the end of that academies sent their students to those class- 2 reached a prominent role. Pilot candidates century,astronomers had two methods to es.They were trained by one of the four were taught and examined at the determine longitude, and instrument mak- observatory’s assistants.The practical train- Portuguese Royal Navy Academy since its ers had perfected the mathematical instru- ing took place several times a week with its establishment in 1779. Its students learned ments suitable for marine observations. It contents established by the director of the about the instruments’ constituent parts, became important to transmit those inno- Observatory and the Navigation teachers 3 their handling, and the best way of observ- vations to pilots ,and consequently naviga- (Appendix 3). In general that agreement ing. This was the kind of knowledge tors’instruction became institutionalized by was easy as the director was also one of the required in pilot’s examination. Navy offi- establishing special schools and textbooks. Navigation teachers. cers received the same academic education It became important to convince pilots of after the establishment of the Midshipmen the advantage of the new instruments and The Observatory classes followed a specif- Academy (Fig. 1) in 1782.After 1798, stu- to teach how to handle them correctly. ic order as stated by its statutes: dents of both academies had practical Every country was aware of the importance The so-called course of practical Lessons should lessons at the Navy Observatory. These of a modern Navy mainly because of marine begin with the explanation of all the Observatory academies played an important role in trade and defence. Portugal depended on Astronomical and Marine Instruments,[...].Then spreading the idea that the only way to th we should pass to exercise each student:1st tak- its maritime traffic all through the 18 and improve navigation was using the newest th ing the Stars altitudes,with the Quadrant,or with 19 centuries.In the beginning of that cen- navigation instruments.Therefore,teaching the theodolite, with the reflecting instruments, tury,maritime defence was a matter of the by degree or fractions.8 highest importance especially due to French invasions. Pilot’s instruction and The exercises followed that order: examination acquired special attention with the creation of the Royal Navy Academy in Taking in account that during the first five 1779 and also of the Midshipmen Academy months of the year the observatory students only in 1782. had to exercise themselves in the description of the astronomical and marine instruments,in their The Royal Navy Academy prepared pilots explanations, their applications in the under- for both military and commercial purpos- standing of their vernierix, in the stars arrange- es.4 Boys of 14 or younger were admitted ments, in the globe or in the sky,and so on, and if they had received previously primary in the last month of classes it will only exist in the observatory the repetition of some calcula- education. Students began their studies tions or examinations of disciplines that do not learning some mathematics followed by require a fixed day…10 navigational subjects.5 The teachers of Navigation were in charge of all the king- There still exist some records made by the dom’s pilots’ examinations. director of the Observatory of those prac- The Navy created the Midshipmen tical classes (from 1801 till 1808).The prac- Academy in 1782 to prepare the Royal Fleet tical course usually started in the third officers.The only accepted students were week of October, after the students’ regis- from the nobility and were aged between tration. 14 and 18.Those students were obliged to After analysing the class reports we can learn Navigation after a two-years identify some patterns: Mathematical course. In general,and progressively all over the year,the Navigation classes in both academies prac- students were taught: how to handle the instru- ticed together after the establishment of a ments; to determine angular distances, such as specific Observatory for the Navy,in 1798. stars altitudes and distances between the moon and other stars; to calculate magnetic variation, Practical Teaching: Learning about magnetic declination, latitude and longitude. Instruments and Using Them The study of the instruments followed the order: The teaching of navigation had a strong quadrant,octant,sextant,reflecting circle,reflect- practical element since the beginning of the ing horizon, azimuthal compass and pendulum Navy academies. clock. By the end of the year students exercised with all these instruments to prepare for their Fig.1 Litographyof a Portugese Midshipman The statutes of the Midshipmen Academy examinations.In one of the surviving reports the (1798). From Arquivo Histórico-Secção obliged students to practice astronomical teacher explains why the classes had started with Fotográfica, Caixa 902, Ficha 92, Biblioteca observations for at least during one hour the quadrant:‘because it is the simplest instru- Central da Marinha-Arquivo Central. and a half per day.6 To make those obser- ment and the easiest to study’(November 1805).

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 25 The knowledge of a specific instrument followed the order: its construction, usefulness and how - Two quintants, £15.4.6 each, like it is in the receipt from the artists Wrigh [sic] to handle it. & Gregory… ...... 30: 9: - - One Sextant made by Troughton ...... 12:12: - In all reports there was also a concern with - One Octant made by the same Gregory & Wrigh [sic]xvi ...... 14: 3: 6 recording the maximum and minimum temper- - Two Circular instruments, with 12 & 17 inches radius, made by Troughton ...... 32:11: - atures as well as with maximum and minimum - One Astrolabe made by Nairnexvii...... 32:11: - pressures. - One English Quadrant ...... 10: 6 Some of the observations were led by the - One crosstaff ...... 6: 6 teachers, like the ‘Observations of Sirius - One Dollond Artificial horizon ...... 2: 5: 2 - Another one with level and glass ...... 1:16: - passing through the vertical wire,and com- - Another one more exact, with a quicksilver surface ...... 2: 2: - ing out from the theodolite eye-glass’,made rd - Another one,handier, in two pocket boxes on 3 March 1791.The students only assist- and at the same time more exact than the previous ones ...... 1: 8: - ed in others, as in the case of the observa- (…) tions of eclipses of the Jupiter moons (as - One Theodolite […] of the best quality,made by Adams ...... 40:19: - happened in February, March and April (…) 1803). - One plain-table, by the same ...... 12:10: 6 - One level, by the same ...... 7:17: 6 The instrumental precision was also an - One artificial magnet, by the same...... 3:13: 6 important subject dealt with as we can con- - One natural magnet, sold by the same ...... 5: 5: - clude from one of the reports: ‘it was (…) explained to them [the students] the con- - One achromatic telescope, by Dollond, to make ordinary observations ...... 18:18: - 18 19 struction and uses of both the quadrant and - One astronomical clock that was inserted in the telescope box, by Brockbancx ...... 52:10: - the octant, as well as the way of counting the minutes in these instruments,using the vations.It was the most perfect instrument According to the Midshipmen Academy vernier’ (January 1805). by the end of that century.14 Diary,in 1785,students possessed an octant, The knowledge of how to perform on all sextant, quintant and a quadrant for prac- The Navy instructed their students not only tice.In October 1786,Magalhães15 ordered the instruments as taught in the Academies with the most common instruments but was a condition for passing the pilot’s two reflecting circles and two quintants, also with the most up to date.As we saw one sextant, one octant, an English quad- examination in which the candidates were previously,the pilot students learned to han- asked about the practical handling of some rant, and some older instruments like a dle the quadrant,the octant,the sextant and cross-staff. It was explicitly said that the reflecting instruments and how to make the reflecting circle. For land observations corrections.11 reflecting circles were intended to observe they also needed to handle complementary angular distances at sea.There exist in the Besides the practical teaching held in the instruments like the artificial horizon and Navy Archive an invoice showing the instru- Observatory,the students made an instruc- the pendulum clock.They also needed to ments that were brought from London and tion voyage aboard a vessel, usually at the know how to use a compass and to calcu- their prices: end of their courses.12 late the magnetic declination. The circular instruments referred in this What Kind of Instruments Did the Academies Possess? Reflecting instruments became the most advanta- geous ones during 18th cen- tury.The observations made with these instruments were not influenced by the vessel’s movement and gave better precision. Navigators mostly used the octant to find latitude, although seamen used it normally for altitude mea- surements. It was a work- day instrument. It could also possess a special set- ting to find longitude by lunar distances, but this process had some practical difficulties. The sextant was a more precise instru- ment, but it was also more expensive, so it never took the place of the octant (Fig. 2).13The reflecting circle emerged by the middle of th 18 century and allowed to document could have been reflecting raise the precision and reduce Fig.2 Octant by Gregory and Wright (270 mm radius – 1300 (20’) nonius – 30’’.From Arquivos do Património errors by repeating the obser- and Fotográfico do Museu de Marinha – IN-II-12 & 28115/585.

26 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) ones20.We can see that the Midshipmen to Brazil with the Midshipmen Academy practised with them.From the Observatory Academy was concerned with the accura- and the Royal Family on 27th November inventory of August 1801 we know that one cy and easiness of handling the instru- 1807.Others followed the same destination reflecting circle in working order was sent ments. in the years 1809,1811 and 1815,although to South America.The director possessed at the Observatory always kept some instru- least one reflecting circle, which was used Although this manuscript does not have a ments for the Navigation classes. One doc- in the partidista examination mentioned date, it was almost certainly written after ument dated November 1824,belonging to above. From 1807 on, several instruments the order of 1786 and before 1789.There the Navy Archive, states that after the 1811 were sent to Brazil and in 1809, the exists an inventory dated 1789,offering the departure, the Observatory only kept two Observatory inventory doesn’t mention any existence of ‘one octant of a new invention, achromatic telescopes,one clock pendulum of these circles. two sextants,two quintants of a new inven- and two metal sextants. In 1807 and 1808 tion, one English quadrant, 4 artificial hori- the French also took some instruments It is known that the Navigation teacher of 21 zons, and one crosstaff…’. According to from the Observatory27. After 1821, the the Midshipmen Academy constructed and another manuscript of the same period Observatory started the acquisition of new possessed his own reflecting circle, as he more instruments came to this Academy, instruments, although with some financial wrote an article on the subject in the and in the class of the reflecting instru- difficulty. Memoirs of Lisbon Royal Academy of ments we find an octant. Sciences. Some reflecting circles should The Observatory inventories specified have gone to Brazil and the Observatory After 1789 the Royal Navy Academy made some instruments that could only be used director asked for one in 1824 and again an inventory with the instruments needed for teaching and that did not have enough in1825, namely a Borda’s. The 1831 for its classes (Appendix 2). From it we precision to be used by astronomers.28 Observatory inventory states the existence note: From those documents we can infer that of a Borda reflecting circle, specifically for An accurate 96º-divided quadrant the students did not handle the most practice by students. In that period (1807- expensive instruments:they usually handled 1831) students could only have practised A reflecting circle that could bear a good tele- those made of wood and some of the brass with the octant and the sextant. scope, and whose limb divisions should be ones. For instance, the inventory of August made exact and easy to count on a silver scale. We have learned that during the first three 1801, that still exists in the Navy Archive, th This document has a quotation from Adams’ we learn that there existed five sextants but decades of the 19 century,the instruments catalogue for 1789. the students only used one. used for students’ education were of the same kind as those in the Royal Navy We also have some clues about the kind of Both Navy Academies had always made an Observatory. instruments used in the Academy in 1798 effort to possess up to date instruments.By as they are specified in a candidate’s exam- the end of 18th century they owned brass From the documents studied we can con- ination report for the post of ‘partidista’22, octants, a modern instrument at the time. clude that students would have practiced made by the first director of the That instrument also possessed a vernier, a with updated instruments,like the sextant, Observatory.The candidate was a bachelor common feature with these instruments octant and reflecting circle, not forgetting in Mathematics who had graduated from after 1770. The Observatory students the old ones,like the quintant and the quad- Coimbra University, and the director says learned to correct for errors, an important rant. Major importance was given to the about him: advantage of the octant. In his report of sextant and octant in its updated form.The February 1807, the teacher also reported pilot’s practical examination did not include I found him sufficiently exercised in those that the circle, at least during the first three that students had learned to correct the th are the familiar ones,like the octant and the sex- decades of 19 century,because this instru- tant; in the quadrant however and in the reflect- octant with its telescope settling, an improved characteristic from the earliest ment was not very common,but that exam- ing circle he was not well acquainted because ination included the other types of reflect- these were not instruments we can find fre- instruments that only possessed pinhole ing instruments. Besides the not so com- quently.23 sights.29 mon use of the reflecting circle and sextant The earliest records of the Observatory give Concerning sextants there only existed in marine tasks, Navy students learned all us some idea of the practical classes that brass ones, and the students trained specif- about these instruments and practised with were performed. Since the first reception ically with the telescope setting of this them.This was an ‘elite’education that gave th of instruments it was possible to have class- device.By the beginning of the 19 century importance to accuracy, both in instru- es with a pendulum clock, quadrant, sex- all the instruments were with telescopic ments and observational methods, as well tant,two achromatic glasses,two azimuthal sights.30 as of the best and updated instruments. compasses, one marine compass, two field compasses and an artificial horizon. In the The sextant was very much used in the Observatory, there also existed two Portuguese Navy Observatory classes,even Througton circles and two others from more so than the octant, as far as we can Acknowledgement Ramsden.The sextant is described as made tell from the class reports dated 1801 to The authors wish to thank Comte António of brass, and that of improved 1809.We see that in those classes students Estácio dos Reis for his comments and sup- form.24Several instruments had come from used to take altitudes with the sextant and port. England in 1799 to the Observatory, such after that they became practiced with the as an achromatic telescope, a barometer instrument, to find the angle between the 25 sun and the moon or other stars to deter- and thermometer and two hygrometers . Appendices It is difficult to track all the instrument mine longitude. This could seem quite astonishing as Bennett states that the sex- movements at the Observatory because at Appendix 1 that time it was functioning as a Navy-ware- tant ‘was essentially a precision instrument 31 First Instructions for the house. About the instrument makers we for measuring lunar distances’ ,and it was Astronomical Practice at the know from the 1803 inventory that the sex- more usual for seamen to find latitudes with tants were from J.M.Pedrozo26 and Gregory the octant. Midshipmen Academy I- To be intended for Lieutenants and Wright and the wooden octant from Adams. There existed few reflecting circles in the rd th Observatorym during the first dyears of 19 Midshipmen that had already studied the 3 Some of the Observatory instruments went 32 century, and the students also would have section of Bezout’s Navigation Treatise so

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 27 that they start in the practice of the Appendix 2 - Inventory of the Most Outra d.ª Azimuthal, das melhores que se cos- Nautical Astronomy,i.e,in those procedures Necessary Instruments to be used in tumam construir. that have a frequent use in Navigation,like: st nd the Royal Navy Academy Hum barometro com o seu Thermometro 1 to take the sun’s altitude at any time, 2 Cylindrico conforme o Catalogo de M.r Adams. rd A portable quadrant of 18 to 24 inches to take the meridian altitude of the sun, 3 radius, that should be good, well divided, p. 15. to take corresponding altitudes before and th th and that also possesses the 96 division34; after noon,4 to take the azimuth,5 to take Hum Telescopio de 3? pes de comprimento and that in all other things should be con- conforme o Citado Catalogo pag. 4 que seja o the declination of the magnetic needle by th structed with the best exactness. mais completo em todo o genero de aparelhos. the azimuth, 6 to take the declination of th the magnetic needle by the amplitude, 7 One reflecting circle of 6 to 7 inches radius Outro d.º de 30 polgadas como diversas ocu- to take the distance between the sun and that could possess a good telescope; and lares tanto para os objetos celestes como para os th the moon to calculate the longitude, 8 to whose divisions are engraved in a silver cir- terrestres. Conforme o Citado Catalogo. pag. 4. know some constellations so that one can cle on the same metal circle in order to be Um Pequeno Instrumento de Equassão;dos men- make the necessary calculations to find the more precise and easy to note. cionados no referido Catalogo a pag. 7. longitude as it is done by the sun. One Theodolite,from the best ones,whose Uma Plancheta ordinaria. II- The most part of the observations will be telescope should show the objects in its O Catalogo de M.r Adams que citamos; é o que done after noon, and at night. When the natural position; and whose radius should o d.º Adams imprimio em francos no ano de class has to take corresponding altitudes be somewhat bigger than the usual instru- 1789. (before and after noon), the observation ments of this kind; so that its graduations made after noon should be made at one could be more precise and at the same time Appendix 3 - Meeting on the Contents hour that do not delay the summer more distinct. of the Observatory Course Academy schedule. It should follow the Copy of the Meeting of 16 October 1799 same schedule as in winter. Another common one. One common sextant. On the 16th October 1799, the Observatory III-Lieutenants and Midshipmen who were director (that teaches Navigation in the Royal destined to make the observations should One marine compass. Navy Academy) had a meeting with the divide themselves into 3 groups, each of Navigation teacher at the Midshipmen Academy, An azimuthal compass, from the best that are for settling the order that should be adopted in which will receive its lesson, every day, all commonly constructed. through a day, or part of it; the first group the contents description of the mathematical course of the third year, that was taught in both will start on Monday,the second on Tuesday One Barometer, with its cylindrical thermome- ter, like the one in Adams’Catalogue, p. 15. academies,for a better agreement with the prac- and so on. tical observatory exercises,as established by the IV- Whenever the observations were made One 3? foot Telescope, like the above cited cata- Observatory Statutes,Article IX. It was agreed logue, p. 4, that should be the most fulfilled firstly to explain spherical trigonometry,followed in the morning, the Mathematics teacher instrument of all kind. by the explanation of Earth’s shape and its move- should ensure that these were made before ment in its own orbit, and the main circles, that Another 30 inches one with several eyeglasses, the Academy classes or during the half an had been imagined to determine the position of both for heavenly objects and terrestrial ones. hour break time. its parts: after this, the useful knowledge of Like it is in the cited Catalogue p. 4. Astronomy to Navigators should be studied, The original text: One small equation instrument like those men- which is placed in the second section of the I - Para q’os TT.d’M.,e GG.MM.q’tiverem já estu- tioned in the cited Catalogue, p. 7. Navigation treatise, followed by the practice of dado a Terceira Secção do Tratado de Navegação that knowledge for sailing, which is in the third One common drawing table. d’Bezout se principiem a instruir na Pratica da Section of the same Treatise, from its beginning Astronomia Nautica isto hé naquellas operações The cited Catalogue from Mr.Adams is the one until §239, leaving each teacher free to choose q’ tem hum frequente uso na Navegação, como: that was printed in French money for the year the method to explain the remaining contents. 1.º Tomar a altura do Sol a qualquer hora. 2.º 1789. =Royal Navy Observatory the 16th October 1799 Tomar a altura Meridiana do Sol.3.º Tomar alturas = Pedro de Mendonça de Moura. = Manoel do correspondentes antes,e depois do meyo dia.4.º The original text: Espirito Santo Limpo = Eusebio Dias Azedo, Achar o Azimuth. 5.º Achar a Declinação da Navigation teacher at the Royal Midshipmen Relassão dos Instrumentos mais necessarios para Agulha pelo Azimuth. 6.º Achar a Declinação da Academy uso do Observatorio da Academia Real da Agulha pela amplitude. 7.º Tomar a Distancia do Marinha. From the Navy General Archive, Box 713, Sol á Lua,para o Calculo da Longetude.8.º O con- Document 15.11.1806. hecimento de algumas Constelações para por Hum Quadrante portatil de 18 ate 24 polegadas meyo dellas se fazerem os sobreditos calculos da de raio, que seja bom, bem dividido, e que tenha The original text: mesma sorte que pelo Sol. tambem a devizão de 96; e que em tudo seja o mais exactam.te construido. Cópia do Encontro de 16 de Outubro de 1799 II - Pela mayor parte se farão as ditas observações depois do meyo dia, e á noite, porém quando se Hum Circulo de Reflexão de 6 ou 7 pollegadas Aos 16 de Outubro de 1799 teve conferencia o tomarem Alturas correspondentes, sempre será de raio admitir huma boa Luneta; e cuja devizão Director do Observatorio (que rege a cadeira de do modo q’a q’se tomar depois do meyo dia não para ser mais exacta e facil de notar seja marca- Navegação da Academia Real da Marinha) com o obrigue a antecipar a hora d’Academia no Verão, da em um circulo de prata imbutido no mesmo Lente de Navegação da Academia dos Guardas mas melitando o mesmo no Inverno. Circulo de metal. marinhas,para ambos convirem na ordem que se devia seguir na explicação das materias do III - Os TT d’M, e GG.MM destinados ás Hum Theodolito dos melhores cuja Luneta Terceiro Anno do Curso Mathematico que se Observações, repartir-se-hão em três partes, e mostre os objetos na sua posição natural; e cujo ensinava nas mencionadas academias, para mel- cada huma dará, cada dia, a sua lição, seja todo o raio seja alguma coisa maior que os ordinarios; hor se combinarem com os exercicios praticos dia, ou parte delle; principiando a primeira para que a sua graduação possa ser mais exacta e do observatorio,na forma que determina o Artigo devizão na segunda feira, seguindo-se na terça ficar ao mesmo tempo mais distinta. IX dos Estatutos do mesmo Observatorio. = feira a segunda;e na quarta feira a Tercera,etc.[...] Convierão em que se explicasse primeiro a Outro dito ordinario. Trigonometria Espherica,que se seguisse a expli- IV - Sempre que as observações se fizerem de cação da Figura da Terra,a do movimento della á manhaã ficará o Lente de Matematica que sejão Hum Sextante ordinario. roda de si mesma, e a dos principaes circulos, feitas ou antes de se principiar a Academia,ou na Uma agulha de marear. que se tem imaginado para se determinar a meya hora de descanso.33 posição das suas partes: que se passasse depois

28 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) aos conhecimentos de Astronomia uteis aos tified the sextant mirrors and calculated the true Portugal’, Anais do Clube Militar Naval, 117 Navegantes, que se convem na segunda secção hour.Two midshipmen had used the quintant and a (1988), pp. 615-618, 629. do Compendio de navegação,e ultimamente aos mirror artificial horizon to calculate the true time, uzos,que estes conhecimentos tem na Pilotagem, measuring the altitude of the sun, in July 1789. 20. Reis, op. cit. (note 17), p. 621. e que se comprehendem na Terceira Secção do During the same month another student calculated 21. Reis, ibid., pp. 627- 628. mesmo Compendio, desde o principio delle até the latitude observing the meridian altitude of the ao §239 exclusivamente, ficando ao arbitrio de moon and used the quintant and the quicksilver arti- 22. Partidista – Advanced student who worked at cada hum dos Lentes o explicar as materias ficial horizon. In October of that year still another the Observatory receiving some money, the par- restantes como bem lhes parecer.= Observatório student used the sextant to calculate the latitude and tido. He could have exercises with the most com- Real da Marinha 16 de Outubro de 1799 = Pedro observed the meridian altitude of the moon in a mir- plex instruments and was guided by one of the de Mendonça de Moura. = Manoel do Espirito ror artificial horizon. Observatory’s assistants.A partidista should be pre- Santo Limpo Director do Observatorio Real da In April 1791 several midshipmen used the quadrant ferred in ascending to the job of assistant in the Marinha = Eusebio Dias Azedo Lente de and the pendulum clock to determine the true hour. same Observatory. Navegação da Real Academia dos Guardas On the same day, a student used the theodolite to 23. From a quotation of the Observatory director, Marinhas.= calculate the pendulum clock delay,and two others Manuel do Espírito Santo Limpo, cited in Tancredo Arquivo Geral da Marinha, Caixa 713, docu- measured the altitudes with a sextant. de Morais, op. cit. (note 10), pp. 174 –175. mento de 15.11.1806 These registrations are in a Midshipmen Academy daily-book and in manuscripts from the Navy 24.Hugo de Carvalho Castelo Branco,‘O passado,o General Archive. presente e o futuro do sextante’,Os primeiros cem anos da Escola Naval (1845-1945) (Lisbon,1945), 8. Statutes of the Royal Navy Observatory, Navy p. 370. Notes and References General Archive, Box 713, with no date. 1.‘Comme dans toutes les questions relatives à la 9.An important problem was to read the smallest 25.Tancredo de Morais, op. cit. (note 10), p. 177. navigation,le XVIIIe siècle fut ici encore marqué par fraction of a scale. The Portuguese Pedro Nunes 26. José Maria Pedrozo was a Portuguese appren- de nouvelles tentatives pour doter les marins de (1502-1577) proposed a solution for it that became tice at Jesse Ramsden’s workshop.There exists a bons instruments propes à la mesure des hauteurs’. known as Nonius. Later on Clavius and Pierre photo of this sextant in A. Estácio dos Reis, op. cit. F.Marguet, Histoire générale de la Navigation du Vernier developed this solution into a more ade- (note 9), p.126. XVe au XXe siècle (Société d’Éditions quate one. – António Estácio dos Reis, Measuring Géographiques,Maritimes et Coloniales,Paris,1931), Stars (CTT Correios de Portugal S.A.,1997).idem,‘O 27. A. Estácio Reis, ‘Instrumentos Náuticos em p. 114. Nónio de Pedro Nunes’, Oceanos, No. 38 Portugal’, Anais do Clube Militar Naval, 117 2.‘The development of Navigational techniques in (Abril/Junho 1999), p. 66-80. (1998), pp.27-50, p. 35, 48. the eighteenth century culminated in a solution – 10.Minister’s note on the exercises made by the mid- 28.‘There exists one more quintant, one sextant, or,rather,two solutions – to the longitude problem, shipmen at the Observatory, dated 15th July 1800, and the history of the instruments of the period is Tancredo de Morais,‘Observatório Real da Marinha and one brass octant, that belong to the Royal bound up with this story,even if they were eventu- (1798-1807)’, Discursos e Comunicações apresen- Midshipmen Academy that are useful only for stu- ally applied to other purposes, such as improving tadas ao Congresso da História da Actividade dents’exercise in handling those instruments.There latitude determination.[…] The two longitude meth- Científica Portuguesa (VIII) Congresso, vol. XII, also exists one wooden octant that belongs to the ods – lunar distance and chronometer – attracted Tomo 1. º, 1940, p. 179. Midshipmen Academy too that cannot have other utility.There are two more artificial horizons for liq- different sets of supporters and clientele’. J. A. 11.There exists a handwritten report of a pilots’ Bennett, The Divided Circle – A History of uids that need to be restored.There still exist two examination in the Navy General Archive, Box 713, achromatic telescopes with two and a half feet focal Instruments for Astronomy Navigation and Document 08.02.1799.The pilot to be examined was Surveying (Oxford, 1987), p. 130. distance that belong to the Midshipmen Academy asked about: taking the altitude of the sun with the too, which are useless for astronomical observa- 3.‘Les astronomes et les artistes avaient donc résolu quadrant, recognizing the stars of the Globe, han- tions.There exists one more reflecting circle, with- le problème de la longitude. La contribution des dling the magnetic needles,taking the altitude of the out a complete set of glasses, as they have been astronomes, en particulier, était immense. […] Il sun with the sextant and the artificial horizon, how changed to another one made by Lieutenant-com- restait à engager les marins à mettre en pratique ce rectify the sextant and how to make use of its mander Jose Maria Dantas’. que d’autres avaient inventé, et il y avait là un très vernier. grand obstacle à surmonter’,F.Marguet,op.cit. (note 12.After 1799 the instruction voyage became to be 29. J.A. Bennett, op. cit. (note 2) , p. 133. 1), p. 248. made at the end of the course. Until 1796, 30. F.Marguet, op. cit. (note 1), p. 209. In 1799 Borda says:‘il est temps que les marins Midshipmen Academy students made their trips dur- cessent de regarder les sciences mathématiques et ing summer holidays, and from 1796 to 1799 they 31. J.A. Bennett, op. cit. (note 2), p. 136. physiques comme inutiles à la pratique de la navi- had been performed in an intermediate year gation et à ses progrès” car “pour l’art sublime de between the first and the second one. 32. Étienne Bezout’s Navigation Treatise was the most successfull compendium for pilots’instruction conduire le vaisseau et d’assigner à chaque instant sa 13. J.A. Bennett, op. cit. (note 2), p. 133-137. position, tous les efforts de la pratique et sa conti- from 18th century till the first decades of 19th cen- 14. F.Marguet, op cit. (note 1), p. 212. nuité n’ont jamais rien produit et ne pouvaient rien tury. produire’,de sorte que ‘tout doit porter les marins à 15. João Jacinto de Magalhães (1722-1790), better 33.Conde de S.Vicente,Registo Diário da Academia cultiver les sciences et à les honorer’,F.Marguet,op. known as J. H. de Magellan after his settling in dos Guardas Marinhas, Biblioteca Nacional, cod. cit. (note 1), p. 250. London. See I.M.Malaquias, M.F.Thomaz,‘Scientific Communication in the XVIIIth Century: the Case of 68329. 4.However, the course on mathematics and physics John Hyacinth de Magellan, Physis, (1994),Nuova gave students access to other jobs,either military or 31 34.The dividing of a quadrant was not a simple Serie, Fasc. 3, Firenze, pp. 817-834. th civil ones, like engineering. thing in 18 century as there was not a geometri- 16.It is misspelled as it should be Gregory & Wright 5. For those who intended to pursue a commercial cal method for doing it. George Graham and also (Henry & Gabriel) that worked in the period 1782- path there was only needed one year of mathemat- Magalhães proposed that the process should be 1790 – Gloria Clifton,Directory of British Scientific ical preparation in that Academy.On the other hand made using a 96 division and a conversion table as Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London:Zwemmer, the military course implied two mathematical years 90/96=0,9373º. J. H. de Magellan, Description des 1995), p. 120 & 305. of preparation.The first disciplines were ‘Arithmetic, octants et sextants anglois ou quarts de cercle de Geometry,Trigonometry and fundamental Algebra’, 17.We are indebted to A.Estácio dos Reis for getting reflection (Paris, 1775). the second one were ‘Complex Algebra, Calculus, our attention to this astrolabe. It seems that it was Mechanics and Phoronomy’and the third disciplines similar to the one which still exists in the Museo were ‘Elements of Astronomy and Navigation Naval in Madrid (NMM52), probably both sent by Authors’ address: Theory’. Magalhães – Alan Stimson, The Mariner’s Astrolabe Departamento de Física, (Utrecht: HES Publishers,1988), p.152-154. 6. From the Law Letter of 1st April 1796. – Universidade de Aveiro, Midshipmen Academy Statutes. 18. John Brockbank worked in the period 1769- 3810-193 Aveiro 1794, Gloria Clifton, op. cit. (note 16), p. 38. 7. In July 1786 we know about one midshipman’s Portugal practical class of astronomical observations.He rec- 19. A. Estácio Reis, ‘Instrumentos Náuticos em imalaquias@fis.ua.pt egomes@fis.ua.pt

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 29 Book Reviews

Opinions expressed by reviewers are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or the Society

Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: ment – or convention.The physical impli- found time to conceptualize thought exper- Empires of Time cation of the conventional view of simul- iments:it was above all ‘a site of training – a Peter Galison taneity of time occurred when, beginning rigorous school for thinking machines’ (p. New York and London: W.W. Norton & in 1900, Poincaré applied it to Hendrik 243). Einstein was indeed surrounded by Company, 2003 Lorentz’s fictional ‘local time’,a mathemat- time machines,whether sighting city-clocks 389 pp., illustrations. ical artifice designed to ensure that the laws (Kramgasse) while going to work or assess- ISBN 0-393-02001-0 of electricity and magnetism remain identi- ing electrocoordinated patent proposals. Price $23.95 cal whether an object is sitting still or mov- And before making Einstein’s appointment ing in the ether.If local time was for Lorentz permanent, his superior wanted to make This book is a wide-ranging,compelling and but a mathematical convenience, Poincaré sure he had ‘fully mastered machine tech- provocative essay on time, namely the phi- physically interpreted it in terms of clock nology;judging by his course of studies,he losophy,technology and physics of coordi- coordination, realizing that Lorentz’s equa- is a physicist’ (p. 245). From his technical nated time. Its ultimate objective: to re- tion was equivalent to the action of two training at Zurich’s Eidgenössische examine the intellectual,technical and cul- observers synchronizing clocks while mov- Technische Hochschule to his theoretical tural emergence of Albert Einstein’s theo- ing in the ether – ‘the telegrapher’s con- and ‘hands-on’ study of gyrocompasses, ry of special relativity. Peter Galison’s train vention now set in an etherial wind’. (p. Einstein was early in his career immersed of thought is built around the now-familiar 210) Simultaneity of time in connection in machines. Even the style of his celebrat- notion of simultaneity of time, or the fact with the determination of longitude’s ed 1905 paper looks less idiosyncratic that two clocks are said to be synchronized modus operandi,conventionalism and elec- when seen through the eyes of the patent if and only if the time it took for the syn- trodynamics of moving bodies are undivid- world.In short,everything indicates that at chronizing signal to travel the distance from able:‘It is our loss that we have dessicated least early in his career Einstein ‘was think- the initial clock to the clock being syn- [sic] this remarkable moment, split it into ing through machines … [He] constructed chronized is taken into account (p.21).This fragments,and scattered them over the dis- his abstract relativity machine out of a mate- simple – almost straightforward – procedu- connected academic departments of phi- rial world of synchronized clocks’ (pp. 256 ral definition of time,pregnant with moder- losophy, physics, and metrology. Poincaré and 293). struggled to hold that modern and mod- nity and destroyer of the old Newtonian This long summary was necessary to concept of absolute time, originates in a ernizing world together – to fix it, uphold it, defend it’ (p. 310). emphasize the chief contention of the multifaceted combination of cultural, sci- book: special relativity is a sophisticated entific, technological, political and military Correspondingly, Einstein’s world – as the ‘theory machine’, one that possesses roots interests introduced in the late-nineteenth- 1905 special relativity paper famously illus- not only in the mind of individuals but century Western Hemisphere. Contrary to trates – was much influenced by clocks and in the entire spectrum of technological traditional scholarship, Galison shows that trains.Trains, as it is well known, were a applications of clock coordination as well. Einstein and Henri Poincaré were surfing major factor in Prussia’s victory over France Although the cultural impact of clock coor- on – and not transcending – this cultural in 1870-71. For the military, most promi- dination comes out most powerfully from and material tidal wave, owing to their nently for General Fieldmarshal Count Galison’s narrative the reader must bear in respective affiliation with the Bern Patent Helmuth Carl Bernhard von Moltke, the mind that ‘the modern technology of time Office and the Paris Bureau of Longitude. reigning disunity of time in train schedul- was not external to [Einstein and From Poincaré’s perspective it was natural ing was an unremitting nightmare for gen- Poincaré’s] scientific life – not a ‘context’ to mix the material and the abstract – Ecole erals who were war gaming and chore- that from some mythical ‘outside’ shaped, Polytechnique’s ‘factory stamp’ as he liked ographing the transport of millions of influenced, or distorted thought’ (p. 308). to say –, hence to report on mining acci- German troops.What von Moltke proposed This ‘bottom-up’(positivism) point of view dents as well as to study the stability and was the adoption of standard time for the is as inappropriate as the ‘top-down’ fate of the Solar System.As a technique,time entire Reich: Einheitszeit (unity of time) (antipositivism) one,the standard interpre- coordination became a practical,day-to-day was the key to future military success.Yet tation of special relativity as a product of procedure in fixing longitudes as France time unification was a matter beyond the purely theoretical Gedankenexperimenten. strove to secure its oversea Empire.For the purely military; it concerned all strata of Galison proposes instead another image to Bureau of Longitude, electric signals criss- society.As Albert Favarver pointed out,with enlighten the historically significant intel- crossing the ocean floor in submarine ever faster trains traveling between lectual, technical, and cultural crossroad cables and the terra firma in telegraph lines European countries every second counts: reach by the concept of simultaneity of improved the determination of the exact ‘The public will only gain security when time (the Place de la Simultanéité),an image shape of the Earth and the drawing of accu- every single clock indicates unanimity at comparable to the anthropology-derived rate maps, but moreover set the stage for the same time at the same instant’ (p. 225). ‘trading zone’ put forward in his previous the battle over the establishment of a prime Einstein was not concerned at all with elec- opus (Image and Logic:A Material Culture meridian (Greenwich). Similarly to the trocoordinated clocks when Switzerland of Microphysics [Chicago, 1997], chap. 9). Convention of the Metre – creating the achieved time unification in 1890. He was Critical opalescence,this singular light pro- international metric standards – the loca- soon, however, beginning to ponder the duced by all colors of the spectrum and tion of a prime meridian is by definition a nature of electromagnetic radiation. So resulting from the physical phase state convention, in this case a highly practical much so actually that before landing to the where a liquid and a gas are no longer sta- and political one;it has however absolutely Bern Patent Office in 1902, the ether was ble and wildly flash back and forth between no quantitative effect on the determination gone and the speed of light was a universal the two phases,helps us understand what is of time and longitude. Convention of time constant;simultaneity of time was the only going on.Time coordination,or simultaneity coordination and simultaneity grew to be missing piece of the theory.The problem of time, is the singular light ensuing from Poincaré’s chief example of his conven- was solved during Einstein’s stretch at the the wild fluctuations of the abstract and the tionalism, a philosophical stance vis-à-vis patent office.As it turned out, this techno- concrete, neither one of them in a stable the free choice of scientific laws and prin- logical site was far more than a job oppor- phase but rather at all times ‘in between’. ciples ultimately fixed by broad agree- tunity, where the philosopher-scientist Culture, technology and physics coalesce

30 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) in the critical opalescence of time coordi- 1700, and summarizes the state of nation to give Einstein’s special theory of navigation in the Dutch Republic, relativity. England and France. The second chapter concentrates on the devel- The regular readers of the Bulletin will opment of navigational techniques probably ask what is the relevance of this in the eighteenth century: the book to their field since there are virtually determination of latitude and lon- no exhaustive descriptions of instruments gitude, and the development and (whether clocks,Wheatstone bridges, tele- construction of the octant,sextant graph keys, astronomical or surveying and reflecting circle. The third instruments,etc.).I would like nonetheless chapter deals with the introduc- to offer Galison’s account as a powerful tion of the octant in the Dutch heuristic model to further integrate materi- Republic.The next chapter deals al culture into the history of science. For with Pieter Holm and has already this reason scholars studying scientific been discussed above. As have instruments and technology are unques- chapters five and six that deal with tionably in a position to make some of the the construction and marketing of most original contributions in the coming the octant and the back-staff.This years. But only when critical opalescence information is based on the between history of science and history of manuscript sources already men- scientific instruments will be attained, will tioned and on surviving instru- scholarship shine under a new light.What ments listed in appendices. this book tells us,in a nutshell,is that there are moments in history where ‘We find The author concludes from this metaphysics in machines, and machines in wealth of documentary detail and metaphysics’ (p. 328). surviving instruments that the Dutch Republic was foremost in Jean-François Gauvin, Harvard University Fig. 1 The house in Amsterdam in which Pieter the introduction of the octant, Holm had his nautical school from 1766 until his while in France its introduction death ten years later.The house no longer survives. began as a ‘scientific spin-off’. Schip Recht door Zee. De octant in de According to the author there is no Republiek in de achttiende eeuw Musschenbroek to manufacture it. Jan’s quantitative evidence of W.F.J. Mörzer Bruyns brother,Peter,who was elected a Fellow of widespread use of the octants by British Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van the Royal Society in 1734, may also have and French navigators from the 1730s until Wetenschappen been involved in this venture.The earliest the 1750s, from which he concludes that Werken uitgegeven door de Commissie mention of the use of an octant on a Dutch the octant spread more rapidly in the Dutch voor Zeegeschiedenis, XX ship was in 1737.This ship belonged to the Republic than in France and England. He Amsterdan 2003 Amsterdam Admiralty, and soon thereafter pinpoints this as being in part due to the 259 pages, illustrated the octant started to be introduced in both early acceptance of the VOC of octants on ISBN 90-6984—383-8 naval and merchant ships, and manuals on their ships.Finally,the author states that the Price 39.00 Euros its use were published for Dutch seamen. position of Dutch octant makers remained One of the biggest customers for octants unchallenged until the 1780s, when most This is the doctoral thesis of Willem Mörzer was the Dutch East-India Company (VOC). of them had become less active or had Bruyns published by the Commission of They purchased their first octants from Van retired from the business, leaving the mar- Maritime History of the Royal Netherlands Musschenbroek in 1741, and they formal- ket open to British-made octants and sex- Academy of Arts and Sciences. The title was ized the supply of octants to their ships in tants. I find the latter argument especially the name of the nautical school in 1748.Luckily,the VOC’s archives have been weak,for if the market remained healthy in Amsterdam (Fig. 1) established by Pieter preserved in the National Archives in The Holland, I cannot understand why a Holm, a Swedish seaman who settled in Hague, and this was one of the author’s younger generation of Dutch makers should Amsterdam in the 1720s, and who rather prime sources (in chapters five and six) for not have taken up the challenge,or perhaps cleverly combined teaching navigation with the diffusion of the octant in the Dutch they could not compete against cheap selling navigational instruments in his shop Republic. British imports. Furthermore, there is no real logical connection between the annexed to the school.The thesis deals with The other major source,especially for ships the introduction,diffusion and manufacture author’s two statements that ‘There is no not belonging to the VOC, was the quantitative evidence of wide-spread use of of Hadley’s reflecting quadrant (or more manuscript ledger of the nautical school generally known as an octant),in the Dutch octants by British and French navigators in Schip Recht door Zee in Amsterdam, estab- the 1730s,40s and 50s’,and that ‘Therefore Republic.This instrument was invented in lished by Pieter Holm, and dealt with in 1731 independently by John Hadley in it can be said that the octant spread more chapter four. The school’s manuscript rapidly in the Dutch Republic’ than in the London and Thomas Godfrey in ledger,which is comprehensive for the peri- Philadelphia. other countries. It may simply be that less od between 1752 and 1774, includes 89 quantitative evidence has been found to Soon after its invention,this important nav- transactions of octants between 1748 and date in those countries. Nevertheless, the igational device was introduced in France 1770.Analysis by the author of Holm’s book author’s detailed use of the surviving doc- and the Dutch Republic. It was probably keeping shows that the octant was just as umentation is a lesson in how this should introduced in the Dutch Republic by the popular among Dutch seamen as the con- be done, and it would be well worth it for professor of mathematics at Leiden siderably cheaper back-staff.These octants an English edition to appear of this com- University,Willem Jacob ‘s Gravesande,who were made by Jacobus Kley in Rotterdam. prehensive study of an important device of would have become aware of Hadley’s The book is in Dutch with an able English eighteenth-century navigation.The illustra- invention through his contacts in London, and French summary.The first chapter is an tions and drawn figures are pertinent to the and who may well have encouraged his introduction of the art of navigation before text. local instrument maker Jan van Willem Hackmann

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 31 Conference Report: XXII Scientific Instrument Symposium The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia 30th September – 4th October 2003

Day 1: Tuesday 30th September Though delayed a few hours by Hurricane Isabel, the 2003 SIC symposium ran smoothly under the efforts of the Mariners’ Museum staff, led by Marge Shelton. Registration provided an opportunity to receive instructions, enjoy the museum’s impressive displays,and meet up with new and old friends.After a delicious box lunch, museum president John Hightower set the oratorical highwater mark by opening the Symposium with a humorous introduction, including a warm welcome to the partici- pants and a gracious thanks to the organiz- ing committee - Steven Turner, Willem Mörzer-Bruyns, and John McKnight - for their work in organizing the symposium. Hightower expressed appreciation to Mörzer-Bruyns for his research on the muse- um’s collection, and to Peter Ifland for his contributions in improving it. The first round of papers on the collection, and subsequent discussions,set the tone for one of the finest sets of presentations I have enjoyed at SIC symposia. After receiving well-earned congratulations for successful Fig. 1 Dana Freiberger, Stephen Johnston, Eugene Rudd, Klaus Staubermann, Sara defense of his doctoral thesis, Mörzer- Schechner, Gloria Clifton, Anita McConnell, Paolo Brenni, and others look Bruyns provided a thorough introduction over the restoration of the Monitor, an ironclad American Union (northern) ship to the Mariners’Museum collection,hither- involved in the first ever naval battle involving ships powered solely by steam (1862). to largely unknown to this audience. In 1995, he surveyed the more than 1100 its trade labels,linking the collection to the instruments in navigation,timekeeping,sur- These groups communicated more effec- online registry of scientific instruments,and th veying, astronomy, computing, drawing tively in the 18 century, by the end of developing an internet history of naviga- instruments, and more.This collection is which Edward Nairne came up with a tion. typical of large maritime museums, not design still used 150 years later.Even so,she noted that diverse styles were sold at the being limited to navigation but including I greatly enjoyed how Jonathan Betts pro- same time, so that one cannot easily date seafaring and seamanship, and in focusing vided grist for conversation mills with his barometers by style. Caveat emptor. on American instruments,it is similar to oth- detailed presentation on the museum’s ers, such as Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. marine chronometer collection, one of the Peter Ifland ended the session with per- Prior to the work of Mörzer-Bruyns,the col- finest in the world.In describing how in the sonal reflections on collecting.He noted his lection had never been curated nor been past five years he has taken the chronome- own interest in instruments based on bad open to visitors. Our conference packet ters apart and looked at every piece of each ideas,pointing out that examining such fail- included a nice summary on this collection instrument, Betts displayed their beauty, ures is instructive for our understanding of by Mörzer-Bruyns, a checklist by Mörzer- artistry, fragility, and function; then, and in instruments and practice. He encouraged Bruyns and Jeanne Willoz-Egnor on its the hands-on session on Thursday,we expe- the disposition of a private collection via a marine chronometers, and another on its rienced the passion of the art of designing donation to a museum, where it could be marine barometers by Anita McConnell and and working with chronometers.He noted kept intact and made available for research, Patrick Marney. that these chronometers have been thor- education, and public viewing. oughly catalogued, and requested being We are indebted to Mörzer-Bruyns for his informed ([email protected]) if anyone After these introductory papers focused on efforts in raising awareness of the collec- knew of a chronometer not listed on the the collections at the Mariners’Museum,the tion,and for bringing the symposium to the International Chronometer index. meeting moved on to parallel sessions,one hitherto unknown treasures in it. Ready of which dealt with chemical instruments. access to the museum’s database and the Anita McConnell outlined the museum’s Many collections around the world carry staff’s willingness to retrieve items in stor- meteorological collection, which she mathematical and chemical models, but lit- age or on display provided us with unfet- described as impressive in quality and com- tle is known about how they were actually tered access to the collection. Mörzer- pleteness. Her well-illustrated talk revealed used.Trienke van der Spek opened this ses- Bruyns noted that the museum continues a fascinating array of efforts to create a sion with a stimulating discussion about the to add to its holdings, including Ifland’s barometer useful for predicting stormy chemical models of the Dutch chemist J.H important recent donation of 220 altitude- weather at sea, a task that initially chal- van’t Hoff (1852-1911),one of the founders measuring and navigation instruments. lenged natural philosophers who proposed of physical chemistry. He made a series of Mörzer-Bruyns pointed out that the muse- shapes no glassmaker could make, glass- cardboard models during his work on the um has funding for scholarly research and makers who lacked experience at sea, and spatial structure of organic compounds. many projects left undone,such as produc- sailors who scorned both kinds of efforts Were they didactic models or were they ing publications,conserving and publishing but who could not make their own devices. used for scientific ends, for learning new

32 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) things about compounds and possibly pre- dicting outcomes? Digging into both textu- al and material evidence, van der Spek described how van’t Hoff used one set of models as exploratory scientific instru- ments;other models that he sent to friends abroad were used as didactic or ‘public rela- tions’ tools. Richard Paselk gave a talk on the history of the chemical refractometer.Paselk followed its evolution from its origins in the late nineteenth century,past World War Two.The talk was rich in insights into each instru- ment,and the small but significant changes made to improve design and performance. The lecture was beautifully illustrated by a wide variety of refractometers,enabling one to visualize these changes. Paselk has been creating a museum of scientific instruments at Humboldt University in Northern California.It is one of the few museums that specializes in twentieth century chemical apparatus.One can find more on his refrac- tomers at his museum site, http://www.humboldt.edu/~scimus/Refrac Exhibit/Index.html. Fig. 2 Willem Mörzer-Bruyns enjoys a cake in honor of his well-deserved doctoral In the parallel session on mathematical degree. instruments, Stephen Johnston discussed preliminary findings relating to a fascinat- ing 17th-century manuscript originally David Rieger, and one, led by Curtiss overview of the different types of logs for belonging to a shipwright, John Wells, but Peterson, of the conservation efforts relat- registering distance at sea with a particular now kept in the Pepys Collection at ing to components of the Monitor (Fig. 1), emphasis on models suggested to the Board Magdalene College, Cambridge. Johnston an ironclad Union ship involved in 1862 in of Longitude,some of which led to the com- showed how it illustrates the world of prac- the first naval battle involving ships pow- mercial models of Massey and Walker in the tical mathematics in early modern England, ered solely by steam.Although the wreck 19th century. was discovered in 1973,only recently have including how personal contacts sustained Jim Bennett afterwards persuasively the London mathematical community,how parts been recovered; their conservation prompted much interest and conversation. attacked the thesis that the back-staff was its members actively investigated practical replaced by the octant as the principal lat- mathematics, how mathematical ideas We returned to the museum lobby for the opening reception and a delightful light buf- itude finding instrument because the latter evolved, and how they were incorporated was a superior instrument. His analyses into instruments. Continued study would, fet, after which we concluded a busy and stimulating day. showed that this was far from clear he suggested, shed useful light on the real- between 1730 and 1750 when it took place ities of practical mathematics at that time. Marv Bolt and that the different designs in fact reflect- Michael Korey expressed a similar hope ed the ambitions of mathematicians as well stemming from his investigation of Platonic Day 2: Wednesday 1st October as instrument makers. Gloria Clifton also bodies displayed on sectors. He described addressed the octant in the last talk in the different ways that texts and sectors por- Day 2 of the conference presented yet session.The independent invention of the trayed Platonic solids,but that a basic ques- another glorious day with sunshine. Such octant in the 1730s by various people is tion remains unanswered: why did (many weather conditions we were informed are well known and agreed upon.While Cotter but not all) sectors feature Platonic solids, normal after a hurricane. Another bonus argued that it became popular very quickly, and why did they do so in different ways? was that all the mosquitoes seemed to have Randier asserts that it only supplanted the Korey argued that when further investiga- been blown to Timbuktu.The first session back-staff by the end of the 18th century. tion provides us with a better grasp of the at 8:30 - yes you read right 8:30 - was Gloria used various indicators such as trade practical or iconic use of Platonic solids,we arranged by Randall Brooks and was con- cards to argue that the octant attracted would more fully understand the use and cerned with instruments of navigation. immediate interest but that it only started function of the sector in the early 17th cen- Steve Turner managed to keep me awake at to become a standard instrument 10-15 tury. In the day’s last talk, Thomas such an early hour by presenting a very years later. Greenslade provided an engaging presen- interesting and lucid paper.Alexis Rochon’s micrometer used Icelandic double refrac- The second session of the day,organized by tation of the diverse and fascinating tech- Willem Mörzer Bruyns, Ph.D. (Fig. 2), was niques used throughout the 19th century tive crystal for finding distance at sea. Presented to the French Academy in 1777 entitled Instruments of Iconography.Robert and later to demonstrate oscillations and Hicks’paper was on George Waymouth and waves. the micrometer gained widespread use in France whilst hardly being used in England. his paper navigational instruments. In After we broke tradition by taking the Steve had intended to use the micrometer between the East India Company’s two group photo at the beginning rather than as an example of technological transfer,but explorations of North America, where he at the conclusion of the symposium, we the case turned out to be much more com- was captain on the ships,Waymouth wrote split into two groups. Each took two well- plicated, and correspondingly intriguing. The Jewell of Artes (1604).The rather ency- guided tours, one of the museum, led by clopedic book includes 90 illustrations of Eric Lindgren afterwards gave a systematic geometrical navigational instruments.Hicks

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 33 gave an overview of these and argued that Waymouth for patriotic reasons didn’t reveal the details of design in some cases. This was followed by two analyses of pic- tures:A.D.Morrison-Low analyzed a picture of Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk from the viewpoint of Enlightenment Scotland and Tim Huisman analyzed several Dutch 18th-century family paintings which feature microscopes, as it turned out, as icons of education.Both lectures demonstrated very well how instruments were used to illus- trate knowledge and social standing. The afternoon was spent in the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (called Jefferson Lab to visitors and JLab if you work there).We were picked up by lux- ury coaches with smart-looking drivers and most effective air conditioners.Thus nearly cooled down to the same temperature as the superconducting magnets at the labo- ratory we were presented with a very per- Fig. 3 Fred Dylla provided an insightful tour of the Thomas Jefferson National sonal and enthusiastic lecture by Fred Dylla Accelerator Facility. (Fig.3),the Chief Technology Officer at the facility,entitled ‘From Spark in a Vacuum to innovative experiments with letting stu- Day 3: Thursday 2nd October Sparking the Vacuum’. dents remake or refurbish instruments as a Thursday provided a full day of papers with The laboratory is a basic research laborato- teaching tool in history of science. Reconstructions of various instruments in the morning sessions devoted to instru- ry built to probe the nucleus of the atom to ments of astronomy and the afternoon par- learn more about the quark structure of the Utrecht University Museum not only helped the students to gain an understand- titioned into sessions on instruments of matter by means of a continuous electron education and instruments of technology. beam accelerator.The lab is managed by a ing of the objects but also sparked consid- erable museum visitor interest. Klaus even James Caplan began with a discussion of consortium of 59 universities under con- Tycho Brahe’s non-telescopic instruments, tract to the Department of Energy and oth- dared to suggest that objects up for deac- cessioning could be used in the same way. and particularly his peg and slit designs ers. The lab was envisioned in 1976, the which were later utilized by Hevelius. construction of the accelerator began in Elizabeth Cavicchi thereafter outlined her Hevelius was criticized by Hooke over the 1987, and the first physics experiments arduous experiments on trying to replicate th accuracy of his instruments as compared to were conducted in 1994. The laboratory 19 -century induction coils, which illus- a telescopic sight on matters of resolution, represents a $600 million investment with trated the instrument makers’ hard work. claiming that the human eye could not an annual operating budget of approxi- James C.Morris then gave an account of his resolve better than one-arc minute. In this mately $70 million. work for the Discovery Channel, when he matter, Hevelius’ point of view was con- The essential part of the facility is located was asked to replicate a series of Alexander firmed by Edmund Halley who asserted that underground and uses more energy than a Graham Bell’s metal detectors used to he could realize sub-arc minute observa- small town.The accelerator uses supercon- locate the assassin’s bullet in President tions.As a way to better understand this sit- ducting radio-frequency technology to drive Garfield in 1881. Instead of making hollow uation,Caplan replicated a peg and slit sight electrons to higher and higher energies, props as requested,he replicated a working arrangement with a length of two metres smashes them into target materials and model.The experiments managed to inter- for observations of Polaris and found that records the resulting subatomic particles. est the filmmakers and the result was a two metres seemed to be a practical limit In 2000 the facility could boast a beam of more accurate insight into the instruments for how well the eye can see between the 6 GeV and a 2001 design was underway to used.The paper sparked a rather vivid dis- entry and exit sights. Based on this work, upgrade energy of accelerator to 12 GeV, cussion on the evils of televised science Caplan felt Tycho’s sight design ‘could have thus being amongst the most advanced labs explanations - especially with reference to been improved more, but then the tele- of its kind. the Longitude film - and the problems of scope came along’. Furthermore, he indi- trying to lead the media on the right path. cated his ability to achieve 15-arc second Beside the pure research the lab also works measurements with his replicated instru- on applied research. Using the same super- Finally Ryan Tweney discussed his new dis- covery of a nearly complete set of speci- ment,a result that seems to support Tycho’s conducting electron-accelerating technolo- work. gy developed for the accelerator, Jefferson mens used by Faraday in his 1856 research Lab and industry have constructed a laser on gold films, i.e. mostly gold deposits on Andrea Gualandi, the next speaker, dis- of unprecedented power and versatility microscope slides. Tweney had recon- cussed how Italian astronomer Eustachio called a free electron laser. Amongst the structed some of Faraday’s procedures for Manfredi worked to confirm James most exciting applications we witnessed making gold colloids, solutions and gold Bradley’s 1728 theory concerning stellar were the production of carbon nano tubes films.The attempt to reconstruct some of motions.Instruments used by Manfredi still - a material of unprecedented strength this tacit knowledge not only revealed the exist today at the Bologna Museo della which currently attracts strong interest difficulties of his experiments but Tweney Specola including a 10-foot semicircle,quad- from NASA. also argued that it demonstrated that rants,an eye-piece micrometer,and a clock, Faraday’s experiments were not a mere and Gualandi discussed their accuracy as it Back in the world we know, Alison empirical exploration of phenomena,but in related to Manfredi’s program of observa- Morrison-Low had organized a session on fact a theoretically-driven exploration. tion. He also pointed out the difficult cul- replicas. Klaus Staubermann outlined his Jan Tapdrup tural space that Manfredi operated in where

34 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) it would be awkward to speak of the Earth Wolfschmidt,was one of the first examples (such as softening of bones) and lacked actually moving. of an automated analysis of observations. indicators for pressure or temperature to later activities,when this apparatus became Optical glass was the next topic as Eugene After a lunch taken by many symposium influential for the U.S. government regard- Rudd followed with a report on the strik- attendees outside in the grounds of the ing steam boiler safety during the 1830s.In ing similarities between glass coming from museum,the session on instruments of edu- the 1840s, Zoller pointed out that this the Dollonds in England and Fraunhofer in cation got underway with John McKnight device received great refinements from Germany.Rudd’s discussion concerned the of the College of William and Mary talking th Frenchman Victor Henri Regnault to help possibility that the formula for Dollond’s about this college’s 18 -century philo- him produce data on the power of steam glass ‘somehow’ came into Fraunhofer’s sophical cabinet. Because this collection which closely matches today’s values. For hands and how this borrowed English glass was destroyed by fire in 1859,building this example, Regnault utilized an open appears crucial to our understanding of history involved work using a single sur- manometer 21 metres high to measure optical history during this period. Rudd viving packing list, student notes, and mak- pressure as he was deeply attentive to accu- requested that a database of known ing comparisons with the surviving instru- racy in looking at the science of steam. Dollond and Fraunhofer prisms be con- ment collection at Harvard since both pur- structed to help advance this research. chased their collections at the same time. Paolo Brenni moved the subject to models During questions,Paolo Brenni pointed out William and Mary replaced their collection and showed how various mechanical mod- that, while Fraunhofer may have possessed after the fire,but hid it during the Civil War els came to be developed for demonstrat- Dollond’s formula,this didn’t mean that the in a nearby mental asylum. ing electrical phenomena during the late identical glass would be produced due to 19th century. Examples included Ebert’s differences in sands and other raw materials The challenges of exhibiting instruments 1893 model of inductance (replicated at used in glass making. were addressed by Sylvie Toupin regarding Oldenburg) and Martini’s 1900 model of the instrument collection from the second order induced currents.The change The second session about instruments of Séminaire de Québec now located in the in thinking from mechanical to mathemati- astronomy opened with Françoise Le Guet Musée de la Civilization. Having over 2600 cal terms as well as the Ether Theory losing Tully describing her work on an inventory items,this cabinet is rich in its makeup with th favour would cause these models to fall of instruments in 19 -century French instruments from London and Paris makers. from use,Brenni indicated,except for didac- observatories.Covering 12 observatories in However, as preparations for a planned tic needs as seen with apparatus coming France as well as Algiers, her list included 2004 exhibit on the theme ‘Light Reveals from the hands of Kohl in the 1910s and large instruments such as the still-working the World’ proceed, the difficulties for dis- Pohl in the 1930s that only reflected meridian circle in Bordeaux and destroyed playing these instruments to the public changes in refinement.An inquiry from the but well-documented instruments.Le Guet became the focus of her talk and produced audience asked if these models had aided Tully’s talk was also accompanied by a num- lively discussions with members of the audi- in any important discoveries to which Paolo ber of remarkable photographs.During her ence. One concept proposed by Toupin replied he wasn’t sure since they were conclusion, Tully issued an invitation to involved letting the instrument function ‘in mainly a way to understand what was hap- work with this material to investigate, for action’ with Klaus Staubermann asking for pening. example,the many historic photographs in an example of this approach.Another con- which women appear,for a study of gender cept discussed was letting the object speak On a different note,David Pantalony spoke in this period linked to instruments listed for itself, which prompted Paolo Brenni to of the intersection of science and practice in the inventory. comment that ‘some instruments are too as seen in Rudolph Koenig’s Berlin work- complicated to speak’ in this way. shop regarding the making of precision tun- Steven Beare followed with a talk about a ing forks. As one of the precision instru- ‘heavily oxidized’ surveying transit instru- Closing this session was Eiji Nagata who ments of the period, they played an impor- ment purchased at auction with the tele- looked at the introduction and diffusion of tant part in helping to settle theoretical scope tube displaying, after much effort to Atwood’s Machine in Japan after the Meiji questions about the nature of sound,but lit- extend it out, the name of a London maker Restoration of 1868. He emphasized the tle is known about Koenig’s practices in (J.P. Cutts). As the instrument itself was role of imported Western textbooks which making these items. On this latter point, signed by an American maker (Hagger),hav- illustrated Atwood’s design and associated Pantalony told of his analysis of Koenig’s ing English optics posed a bit of a mystery experiments.These prompted Japanese edu- workmanship in producing these forks with and the audience enjoyed hearing Beare cators to publish their own Japanese-lan- the result that they seem to be made from speak on his effort to explain why an guage textbooks depicting this device and rough blanks of carbon steel,rapidly cooled American maker needed to import and also led early Japanese instrument makers (not quenched),rough tuned to be followed attach an English part on his transit (and like Genzou Shimadzu into making a by fine tuning which suggests Koenig had hiding this state of affairs by placing the Japanese form of this machine.This locally strong empirical skill in mastering this pro- telescope tube in a withdrawn position). produced educational material helped cess. It would be these skills that gave broaden the teaching of Western science in Koenig a voice in the controversies on the Closing out this session on astronomy was Japan using Atwood’s machines at the pri- Gudrun Wolfschmidt’s presentation about nature of sound towards the end of the mary school level until their cost made it 19th century. the instruments utilized during the German prohibitive around the early 1900s.This talk Expedition to Bolivia in the 1920s. The caused Eugene Rudd to ask about where Next, Robert Welsh exposed the secrets of expedition constructed their observatory catalogues of Shimadzu instruments could German Enigma machines by comparing in La Paz at an elevation of 3600 m and be found and Tom Greenslade to observe three-rotor and four-rotor designs and asked placed a ‘30-cm Zeiss triplet objective with the change of view towards Atwood’s if a fault in the original three-rotor version two objective prisms’ into operation to machines in Japan from being used for caused the German military to create the gather spectral and brightness data from teaching to illustrative-only purposes. four-rotor version.Using his own three-rotor stars in the Southern Sky as part of a pro- machine,Welsh explained its operation and ject started in 1906 by J.C.Kapteyn to learn The day’s concluding series of papers pointed out that a four-rotor version on dis- more about the structure of the galaxy.Data touched on the topic of instruments of play in the Mariners’Museum could be con- analysis was completed in the 1930s in technology.Paul Zoller traced out the devel- sulted for a better grasp of the fine points Potsdam and Bonn with a recording pho- opment of Papin’s digester from 1681 when related to this question of technological toelectric microphotometer device made it started out as a tool for food preparation change. by Krüss of Hamburg that, according to

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 35 In bringing a productive session to a close, ments with the Canadian Conservation of graded tuning forks banked up in Matteo Leone’s lecture on Enrico Fermi and Institute in Ottawa, provided an overview sequence.There was also a range of other his work with artificial radioactivity told of of this field over the past forty years. His impressively elaborate Koenig acoustic the path the Geiger counter followed into studies of diffraction gratings (Rittenhouse, apparatus. Italian physics research. Following its early June 2003) are good examples of how one introduction as a cosmic ray counter in can use current techniques to gain insights Chemistry and the biological sciences were 1930 by Rossi, Leone told of a recently into past practice and instrument making. organized by Ann Seeger while Peggy located lab notebook of Fermi’s that He has employed electron micrographs,for Kidwell had taken time out from sabbatical showed him designing his own Geiger example, to study aspects of historic grat- leave to show us the mathematics reserve counter in 1934. The notebook helps ings that were not visible to the makers or collection. In addition to many slide rules, explain how Fermi learned of this particu- users of the time. Brooks’s talk focused on calculating machines,drawing instruments, lar instrument and represents a significant examination of optical instruments, but he and some specially puzzling devices to chal- change for Fermi from a theoretical to more also described the potential for these tech- lenge us with, she also produced the of an experimental physicist. niques for conservators and historians of famous first software bug: sellotaped into technology. the operators’logbook of the Mark II Aiken After the paper sessions, the Mariners’ Relay Calculator (an early American com- Museum laid on a series of tours of their John Watson, a conservator of instruments puter operating at Harvard in 1945) is a library and archive areas, and arranged a at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, moth which was blamed as the culprit for hands-on object session.We were allowed ended the session with a brilliant discussion problems with the machine’s operation. into the store to inspect a wide range of about the tensions between traditional instruments and also given the opportunity restoration (striving for an ideal form of the An electrical store ranged from the sculp- to handle objects from a navigational dis- former object) and the values of ‘restoration tural forms of glass electrical insulators to play specially mounted to coincide with the conservation’.The conservator, he argued, the consumer realm of radios, with much symposium. must appreciate the objects as primary doc- electrical instrumentation in between.Our uments that store many levels of history.In guide Roger Sherman also took us down to Dana A. Freiburger short, before one strives to restore ‘form’, the bowels of the building to a shared store one must appreciate the need to preserve with material on modern physics as well as rd Day 4: Friday 3 October the historical ‘substance’.He called this ten- some larger historic items, such as Joseph Henry’s electromagnet. Friday morning’s sessions dealt with foren- sion the ‘paradox of restoration’. sic studies of instruments, covering issues After lunch, John Watson’s morning pre- Back upstairs, Eric Jentsch, Judy Chelnick that go to the heart of collections.What can sentation was complemented by a visit to and Cedric Yeh were looking after medical historians and curators gain from closely, see Colonial Williamsburg’s conservation in sciences, with extensive collections of even scientifically,examining artifacts? What practice.Rather than a visit to the town we drugs and devices from an artificial heart to is in the materials, construction, design, were treated to a series of behind-the- physiological instruments. I particularly usage that tells us about instrument making scenes tours of their extensive and well- enjoyed the psychological apparatus, and and the processes of science? How can con- equipped laboratories and library. the chance to actually see and handle servators use this information for more instruments such as the acoumeter and responsible preservation and restoration? David Pantalony olfactometer that I had previously only read about.There was also a display of stunning Allan Mills of the University of Leicester Auzoux papier mache medical models - th began with a historical discussion of an Day 5: Saturday 4 October unfortunately this was one of my last ports icon of early science, the lodestone (the While the formal part of the conference of call and I arrived too late to see them ‘guiding stone’). He then summarized how opened up and fully demonstrated. current techniques provide new informa- ended on Friday, many participants stayed tion about the nature,origins and history of on for an additional trip to Washington to In addition to the curatorial riches, the this material.He discussed,for example,the visit the National Museum of American museum’s Dibner Library was also open to intensity of magnetite compared to modern History - now rather confusingly also us.The librarian Ron Brashear had arranged magnets, and inferred from its coercive known as the Behring Centre. The main a display of rare books from the fine col- properties the probable origins of the museum building houses substantial col- lection of Bern Dibner.Among classics from observed intensities.He also described stud- lection reserves, so that curators have the the history of science and technology,there ies on historic lodestones currently in muse- comparative luxury of being only a corri- were also some more idiosyncratic and ums. Some of them hint at an‘age of forma- dor away from their stores.After the jour- entertaining choices. tion’ of 3000 years. ney from Newport News and lunch, we divided into groups and had the privilege I was particularly intrigued by Latimer Jeff Lock took us on a wonderful journey of access to these reserve areas, with cura- Clark’s 1882 treatise on the gentlemanly use into the world of colonial surveying instru- tors from two of the museum’s divisions on of transit instruments,written in the (entire- ments.His well-trained eye for construction, hand both to guide us and to let us follow ly false) expectation that such devices materials and design provided a rich view our noses. would become common everyday tools for into the maker’s workshop. Some of the timetelling. Physical sciences were hosted by Steve most subtle yet dramatic illustrations of the In such a packed afternoon some first-time individual styles of instrument makers came Turner and Deborah Warner, with astro- nomical and surveying instruments figuring visitors to NMAH were tempted to slip from the many varieties of small needles away to see the museum’s public displays and hubs.He also made similar observations prominently. Recent accessions included some intriguing but forbiddingly black-box as well as its behind-the-scenes areas.Many for the art of engraving and dividing, two of us then regrouped in the evening to issues that were informed by his own style instruments from Cold War gravity research intended for missile guidance. In round off the day and the meeting with a engraving and dividing activities, which he convivial Korean meal arranged by Steve demonstrated after his talk. his symposium paper (since published in the Bulletin) David Pantalony had talked of Turner. Randall Brooks of the National Museum of Rudolf Koenig and tuning forks,and one of Stephen Johnston Science and Technology in Ottawa,who has the highlights of Washington was sight of been carrying out forensic studies on instru- Koenig’s great tonometer - row upon row

36 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Current and Future Events Details of future events, meetings, exhibitions, etc. should be sent to the Editor.

Until 14 March 2004, Oxford, England Fair will be held at the Radisson SAS Portman 2 – 3 July 2004, Cambridge, England Hotel,Portman Square,London W1,from 10:00 Exhibition Ingenuity in Restoration England: to 16:00 hours.Nearest Underground station is SIS Annual General Meeting,lectures and visits Hooke, Morland, Papin, Petty, Wren at the Marble Arch. Admission £4. Organized by to museums. Call for papers. Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Talbot Promotions, PO Box 31525, London ‘Ingenuity’ was cultivated and celebrated in 6 - 11 September 2004, Dresden, W11 2XY. Telephone/fax: +44 (0)20 8969 Restoration England. It could appear in mate- Germany 7011. E-mail:Talbot.stuart.talk21.com rial or human form in an ingenious device or XXIII Symposium will be held in the an ingenious person as a great many designs 2 – 7 May 2004, Copenhagen, Denmark Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, of novel gadgets intrigued or amused the Germany,in 2004,and the XXIV Symposium, th SIS Annual Overseas Conference to English in the late 17 century. Enquiries to in principle in Beijing, China, in 2005. For +44 (0)1865 277280. Full programme details Copenhagen and surroundings museums and collections. If still interested please contact information consult the Commission’s web- from the Museum reception desk or at site at www.sic.iuhps.org www.mhs.ox.ac.uk Wg Cdr Geoffrey Bennett as soon as possible. 24 – 27 June 2004, Dartmouth, USA 16 – 17 October 2004, Manchester, Tuesday 6 April 2004, London, England England Mundi Subterranei. Scientific Instrument Sale preview with Gallery Talk at Christie’s, SIS weekend trip to Manchester and sur- South Kensington.See description elsewhere. Collections in the University.An International Symposium at Dartmouth College, co- roundings. 16 - 18 April 2004, Oxford, England Sponsored by the Scientific Instrument Friday, 26 November, London, England Commission and Dartmouth College,Hanover, The British Sundial Society’s international th New Hampshire (USA). For details see the 12 Annual Invitation Lecture at the Society annual conference at St Anne’s College, website:http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mundi/ of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadily, Oxford, welcomes members from the SIS to London: Dr Anita McConnell, ‘Instrument attend. If SIS members would like to attend, Makers in the New Oxford Dictionary of give a lecture or a poster session, contact National Biography’. Douglas Bateman, Secretary, British Sundial Society,4 New Wokingham Road,Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 7NR. Tel.: +44 (0)1344 Correction 772303; e-mail: Douglas.bateman@btinter- Two of the four graphs in the paper in the December issue on the Fraunhofer-Dollond con- net.com nection (p.3) were inadvertently repeated after the proofreading stage.What follows are the Saturday 17 April 2004, Harvard, graphs in their correct order. Cambridge, MA, USA Workshop Instruments and Material Culture of Early Modern Science, at the Department of History of Science, Harvard University. The workshop is structured in four sessions, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each session, based on precirculated papers, will include two participants and one com- mentator. The participants will provide short introductions to their papers (10 minutes),fol- lowed by the commentators’ remarks (15 mins) and then an open discussion (about an hour). The workshop is open to the public, and copies of the participants’ papers will be Fig. 1. Dispersion curves showing measured Fig. 3. A plot of the differences between the made available by directly emailing Jean- indices of refraction as a function of wave- data points and the fitting curve for the Francois Gauvin at [email protected] length for Fraunhofer glass No. 9 and the Fraunhofer glass No. 9 shown in from April 1. glass from the Dollond prism No.3.The lines Fig. 1. represent the results of using the Hartmann The participants are:Jim Bennett (Museum of fitting equation on the two sets of data. the History of Science,Oxford);Mario Biagioli Additional data points are explained in the (Harvard University); François Charette text. (Dibner Institute); Jean-François Gauvin (Harvard University); Michael Gorman (Arkimedia, Dublin);Anna Maerker (Cornell University); Simon Schaffer (Cambridge University); and Sara Schechner (Harvard University).The list of confirmed commenta- tors include: Peter Galison (Harvard University); Myles Jackson (Dibner Institute); and Rob Iliffe (Dibner Institute).Contact Jean- François Gauvin or Professor Mario Biagioli at [email protected] for further details.

25 April 2004, London, England Fig.2. Same as Fig.1 but for Fraunhofer glass Fig. 4. Same as Fig. 3 but for the glass types The 36th Scientific & Medical Instrument No. 13 and the Dollond prism No. 1. in Fig. 2.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) 37 From Morse to Marconi: An auction of instruments, books and manuscripts, ephemera and photographs relating to the 19th century information highway.

3 June 2004 Montpelier Street, Knightsbridge, London

Illustrated: A rare and early Cooke & Wheatstone ABC telegraph receiver, circa 1840

For further information regarding consigning items to this auction or for further details on the sale please contact: Jon Baddeley (instruments) +44 (0)20 7313 3149 [email protected]

David Park (books, photographs and ephemera) +44 (0)20 7468 8351 [email protected]

Catalogues: £20 (£23 UK inc p&p), (£26 Europe inc p&p), (£29 Rest of World inc p&p) Bonhams, Montpelier Street, 01666 502 200 Knightsbridge, London SW7 1HH [email protected] www.bonhams.comBulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 80 (2004) Exceptional Scientific Instruments and Engineering Works of Art

Auction Enquiries South Kensington 8 April 2004 Tom Newth 85 Old Brompton Road [email protected] London SW7 3LD Viewing +44 (0)20 7752 3147 4-8 April View catalogues including a Gallery Talk Catalogues and leave bids online by Jeremy Collins in +44 (0)20 7389 2820 at christies.com conjunction with the SIS on 6 April at 6.30pm           , ⁄    : £, - ,

Instruments of Science and Technology

Auction in London: 34-35 New Bond Street London W1A 2AA  · 15 June 2004             · Catherine Southon +44 (0)20 7293 5209 Fax: +44 (0)20 7293 5915 [email protected]    · +44 (0)20 7293 6444 or +1 541 322 4151 To sign up for email updates please visit www.sothebys.com Rogers Turner Books 23a Nelson Road, London SE10 9JB 24 Rue du Buisson Richard, 78600 Le Mesnil-le-Roi, France Tel & Fax 00 44 (0)20 8853 5271 Tél 00 33 1 39 12 11 91 : Fax 00 33 1 39 62 07 22 email [email protected]

READY NOW

Our own exact facsimilie reprint of

J. FOREST

Catalogue de Globes et d’appareils cosmographiques Paris n.d [c. 1920] Sm 4o, Paper wraps, pp 16 fully illustrated

Invaluable documentation of the whole range of Forest’s production of terrestrial and celestial globes, blackboard globes, and cosmographical demonstration apparatus.

£6, post free

INSTRUMENT BOOKS IN ALL LANGUAGES. IF WE KNOW WHAT YOU SEEK WE WILL FIND IT

Summary of Advertising Services For further information contact the Society’s Executive Officer or Jane Bigos (details on inside front cover). Jane Bigos acts as agent for all advertisements, but any services taken up will be treated as a contract with the Society.

Page rates for advertisements supplied on disc: Whole page £210 Half page £110 Quarter page £60 Eighth page £42

Other: Additional artwork at cost Classified 25p per word (minimum charge £5) Use of box number £1.50 (apply to SIS Executive officer) Flyer supplied by customer £45 Flyer supplied as artwork price on application Special mailshots - as for flyers plus postage & handling New SIS Members Wanted! charge. Persuade your friends and colleagues to join the Scientific Instrument Society.Tell them about our forty-page Bulletin There are no direct reductions for placing advertisements in which comes out four times per year, and contains well- more than one issue but page rates will qualify for a 10% researched and illustrated articles on a rebate on each set of 4 consequtive advertisement. wide range of instruments, their makers Final copy must be with Jane Bigos no later than 4 weeks and their history.Members can exchange before publication, ie end January,April, July,October.All views or advertise their wants, and there detailed arrangements to be made direct with Jane Bigos are regular advertisements from antique (01993 209224). dealers and auction houses. Payment: Invoices wil be issued by the Society immediately For details tell your friends to look after publication.Terms 30 days after date of invoice. us up on the web at www.sis.org.uk The Society is not VAT registered.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 79 (2003) Table of Contents

Appropriate material wil be referenced in Physics Abstracts

Editorial ...... 1 Cover story ...... 1 Letters to the Editor...... 2 Obituary:A Tribute to Gerry Martin 1930 – 2004 ...... 3 The Annual Invitation Lecture...... M.T.Wright 4 More Early Printed Ephemera of London Instrument Makers: Instructions and Advertising Broad Sheets Part 2: Barometer Trade Literature, c. 1680 – c. 1720 ...... D. J. Bryden 12 The Cross-Staff Ten Years Later An Update with Recently Found Examples ...... Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns 18 Market Place:Talk by Jeremy Collins ...... 24 Scientific Instruments as Indispensable Resources in Portuguese Navigation ...... Teaching in the Late 18th Century ...... Isabel Malaquias and Emília Vaz Gomes 25 Book Reviews ...... 30 Conference Report: XXII Scientific Instrument Symposium The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News,Virginia...... 32 Current and Future Events ...... 37

The Scientific Instrument Society Membership The Scientific Instrument Society (SIS) was formed in 1983 to bring together people with a specialist interest in scientific instruments, ranging from precious antiques to electronic devices only recently out of production. Collectors, the antiques trade, museum staff, professional historians and other enthusiasts will find the varied activities of the SIS suited to their tastes.The Society has an international membership. Activities Regular evening meetings are held in London, as well as occasional one-day and weekend conferences in attractive provincial locations. Speakers are usually experts in their field, but all members are welcome to give talks. Special ‘behind-the-scenes’visits to museums are a useful feature.Above all, the Society’s gatherings are enjoyable social occasions, providing opportunities to meet others with similar interests. The SIS Bulletin This is the Society’s journal, published four times a year and sent free to members. It is attractively produced and illustrated, and contains informative articles about a wide range of instruments as well as book and exhibition reviews, news of SIS activities, and meetings of related societies.There is a lively letters page, and ‘mystery objects’ are presented.Another feature is a classified advertisement column, and antique dealers and auction houses regularly take advertising space, so the collectors may find the Bulletin a means of adding to their collections. How to join The annual subscription is due on 1 January.New members receive back copies of the Bulletin for the year in which they join. Subscription rates Resident in UK Individual £40 (Student £20) Family £45 Resident elsewhere Individual £48/US$82 (Student £28/US$48) Family £53/US$90

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