390 Dr. Lhotsky on the Complete 



Kastner, &c. ; but besides laudatory commendations on his 

 undertaking, they could not afford any substantial aid. Con- 

 sequently Murr sent the catalogue of the MSS. to St. Peters- 

 burg, and solicited Euler for his intercession. On the re- 

 commendation of the latter and other savants, they were pur- 

 chased in 1774 for the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy. 

 The academicians Euler, Krafft, and Lexell received orders 

 to peruse the MSS. and to select those worthy of publication. 

 Lexell began the revision of a nearly completed work of Kep- 

 ler's, on the motion of the moon, entitled Hipparchus; but 

 there it ended, and neither the work nor the promised com- 

 pletion ever saw the light. These MSS. have ever since re- 

 posed, as Prof. Krafft writes, " an ornament of the Peters- 

 burg Library," — useless, unknown. Prof. Frisch took great 

 pains to obtain these MSS. Introduced by Baron de Regen- 

 dorff, Russian Minister at Stutgardt, and Prof. Schelling, he 

 addressed himself to the imperial government, and received 

 the assurance that the use of them would be granted to him ; 

 and from the known scientific munificence of the Petersburg 

 cabinet, it is to be hoped that his further request for the loan 

 of the MSS. will be shortly granted. 



As to the plan on which the works are to be edited, Prof. 

 Frisch makes the following statement: — The original text 

 will remain unchanged, except where palpable error has 

 crept in, as it is intended that Kepler shall appear throughout 

 in his truest form. The notes will be as few and concise as 

 possible, in order not to increase the bulk of the work ; they 

 will treat either on historical points, or explain difficult pas- 

 sages. As most of the works of Kepler are in Latin, the 

 adoption of that language for the notes has been deemed ex- 

 pedient. The introduction which will precede; the whole is to 

 contain a survey of the condition of mathematical and natural 

 science in the century preceding the life of Kepler, and to 

 this will be attached his biography, mostly relating to his sci- 

 entific labours. But as it is possible that some of the MSS. 

 at St. Petersburg may contain materials for the elucidation of 

 this subject, the compiling of it will be deferred until it shall 

 be ascertained whether permission will be granted for the use 

 of them. 



The works will, as far as possible, be printed in the order 

 in which Kepler composed and published them. But those 

 relating to chronology will be put together, and those con- 

 sisting mostly of numerals, as the Ephemerides, the Rudol- 

 phine Tables, and the work on Logarithms, will form the last 

 part of the collection. Prof. Frisch concludes his programme 

 by calling upon all friends of science to aid him in an under- 



