wrote that "it almost became a harder task for me to 

 bolster up by daily opportunity and importunity the 

 failing patience of the artisan, frightened away from 

 the work already begun, than it was for me to extract 

 from the inner recesses of mathematics and astronomy, 

 without light and without a guide, the whole fabric of 

 the machine itself!'' 



In spite of Bertolla's protests, Father Borghesi pre- 

 vailed, reviving his friend's interest once more until 

 the two were deep in the project again. Months 

 passed as they worked together on the mechanism and 

 it seemed as if they lived for no other purpose. In- 

 evitably, Bertolla's health began to suffer, under- 

 mined as it was by the constant nervous tension, and 

 he eventually became ill from mental strain. He was 

 forced to spend some time in bed, and for many weeks 

 the subject of the clock was not discussed. Bertolla's 

 other work, by which he made his living, suffered and 

 it was several months before he was able to return to 

 his little shop. 



One year passed into another and the work pro- 

 gressed slowly. The first clock, which easily should 

 have been finished in less than a year, was not com- 

 pleted until after three full years had passed. However, 

 when the priest and the clockmaker put the finishing 

 touches to their great clock, the result surpassed the 

 greatest possible expectations, for it was truly a 

 masterpiece. Not only did it illustrate the ecliptic 

 phenomena of the moon, the sun and earth occurring 

 in their proper time, as well as many other things, 

 but it showed these operations as they succeeded 

 in proper order, taking place through the centuries. 



With mutual feelings of great pride, the two friends 

 surveyed the result of their three years of endeavor. 

 Bertolla realized that he had reached a point of 

 maximum achievement in his work. He probably 

 felt that now lie could relax again, that his sleep 

 would no longer be troubled by confused nightmares 

 id wheels and gears that did not mesh together, 

 liinc was to prove otherwise. 



PUBLISHED DESCRIPTION' OF THE FIRST CLOCK 



Father Borghesi soon came to the conclusion that 

 it would be desirable to have a written description 

 to explain the mechanism of the clock and its many 

 indicators. He thereupon wrote out the story of 

 how the clock was made, the reasons for embarking 

 on the enterprise, the difficulties he had encountered, 

 and the success which had crowned his and Bertolla's 

 mutual labors. Finally, he described the operation 



of the clock's mechanism and the functions of its 

 array of indicators. 



The little book was written in Latin and only a 

 few copies were printed, presumably at the priest's 

 own expense, on a handpress by Giovanni Battista 

 Monauni, printer to the Bishop in Trent. The little 

 volume was stated by contemporary writers to have 

 been published in 1 763, although no date appears on 

 the title page. The title translated is, in part, 

 The Most Recent, Perpetual Astronomical Calendar Clock, 

 Theoretical — Practical .... The work begins with 

 an introduction for the reader in which Father 

 Borghesi stated that : 



. . . the little work, which, as far as I was concerned 

 could easily have been finished in a year, was only 

 completed after about three years. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, it was so far beyond the expectations of most, 

 that not only am I able to foretell with certainty all 

 the lunar ecliptic phenomena and the solar, or rather 

 terrestrial, phenomena, carefully worked out in their 

 true periods, among many other matters exhibited by 

 the machine; but also, within a few hours, I can exhibit 

 by altogether tangible evidence to the skeptics and the 

 doubting those very same phenomena, occurring within 

 the space of many years, or even centuries, and suc- 

 ceeding one another in proper order, with their many 

 attendant circumstances. I was not much concerned 

 about the other eclipses, such as those of Mercury, 

 Venus, and the other stars wandering through the 

 zodiac, or about the other solar eclipses from the transit 

 of Mercury or Venus, since they are altogether undis- 

 cernible to the naked eye, and very few compilers of 

 ephemerides wish them to be noted, probably for the 

 same reason. 



Do not, however, expect, star-loving reader, that here 

 anything at all that you may wish can be drawn forth 

 as from its source, for to demand this would be almost 

 the same as to seek to drain as from a cup all the vast 

 knowledge of the many arithmetical sciences from the 

 narrow confines of one book. You will understand how 

 impossible that is when, through prolonged labor, you 

 have grown somewhat more mature in this kind of 

 learning. 



Wherefore, rather fully, and out of consideration for 

 you, I have decided, setting aside these prolixities, with 

 completely synoptic brevity and with all possible clarity 

 to expound for you simply the proportion of the move- 

 ments, the description of the machine, and its usage. 

 As a result, when you have progressed a little in theoreti- 

 cal mechanics, you will not only be able to reduce all 

 these things to their astronomical principles, but you may 

 find the way more smoothly laid out for you even for 

 perfecting the machine itself. And, thus, you may be 



40 



l:l III TIN 240: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



