Dr. Moll on the Invention of Telescopes. 331 



down, and an open space now occupies the place where the 

 telescope was invented. 



Some of the witnesses, whose evidence is given in Borel's 

 book, are in favour of Lippershey, and some in that of Zacha- 

 rias. We must now carefully sift that evidence, and com- 

 pare it with what Borel says on the subject, in a letter to 

 Pierre Borel. 



The first witness who occurs on the list is John Willems, a 

 steward or beadle. He is seventy years of age, in 1655, and 

 knew Lapprey personally when he made spectacles. Afterwards 

 he made telescopes (tubos longos), which he did about fifty 

 years, when Lapprey offered the first telescope to Prince Mau- 

 rice, as he (the witness) heard at the time. 



This witness brings the invention down to 1605, but he does 

 not appear to have had a very clear recollection of the exact 

 time of the invention. 



The second witness is Edwold Kien. He is a messenger, 

 aged sixty-seven ; says that the man who made the telescopes was 

 John Laprey, of Wesel ; that he began making telescopes about 

 1610, and died in October 1619. He (the witness) married 

 the daughter of this Laprey. Laprey offered to Prince Mau- 

 rice and to the States some of his telescopes, for which he got 

 a reward, and a privilege for three years. He adds, that the 

 sign of the house where Laprey lived was a telescope. 



From a comparison of dates, it is obvious that this witness is 

 mistaken, and that Lippershey made telescopes, and offered 

 them to the States long before 1610. 



The third witness is a blacksmith of the name of Abraham 

 Junius, aged, in 1655, seventy- seven. He says, that the name 

 of the man who first made telescopes in this town was Hans, 

 i. e. John, but that he did not observe the surname ; that this 

 man was commonly called John the spectacle-maker; that 

 about forty-five or forty-six years ago this John made the first 

 long telescopes (conspillia longa) ; that the witness knew him 

 long ago, before he made spectacles, when he was a bricklayer ; 

 he assisted at the funeral of John ; he knows, and heard very 

 often that John made long tubes (tubos longos) and telescopes 

 for the use of Prince Maurice. 



This witness brings the invention to 1609 or 1610, and very 

 little is to be concluded from his evidence. 



