With one glance at this au ou i an quii kly 



answer these questions: What houi the sun sho 

 moon, any fixed star, the head and tail ol thi 

 Is the sea swelling with periodic heat [a) high tide?] 

 or is it dril.nrd [low tide], or quiescent? How many 



days is it from mean new moi i lull moon? By how 



many signs and degrees is the moon distant from the 

 sun. and from iis nodes? What sign of the zodi 

 the sun occupy, the moon, the head and tail of the 

 dragon? Is the sun or the moon, in apogee or perigee, 

 ascending or descending.' What is the apparent speed 

 of the sun and of the moon? What is the apparent 

 magnitude of the solar and lunar diameter, and oi the 

 horizontal parallax of the umbra and penumbra of the 

 earth? What is the latitude ol the moon? Is it north or 

 south? Dues the moon hide [occult eclipse] any of the 

 fixed stars from the earth dwellers, and which of these 

 d.,es it obscure? Is there a true new oi lull moon? [s 

 the sun iii eclipse anywhere on earth? What is the 

 magnitude, and the duration of this eclipse, with respei I 



to the whole earth? Can il be seen in the ninth or in the 

 south? Is the moon in eelipse? Total or partial? 

 Of what magnitude, etc.? What limb of the moon is 

 obscured? How many years have passed from a given 

 epoch? Is this year a leap year, or a common year- 

 first, second, or third alter leap year? What is the 

 currenl month of the year, and what day of the month 

 and of the week? Which of the planets is dominant.' 

 What days of the year do the various feasts fall on, and 

 the movable feasts during the ecclesiastical year? And 

 many other similar questions, which I pass over hen- for 

 the sake of brevity. 



Besides, this device can be so arranged for any time 

 whatsoever, past or future, and for the longitude of any 

 region, and can be so manipulated by hand, that within 

 the space of a very short time there can be provided in 

 their proper order, the various orbits of the luminous 

 bodies, their alternating eclipses, as main as have taken 

 place through the course of main years, or even from the 

 beginning of the world; or those that will be seen as long 

 as the world itself shall last, with all their attendant 

 circumstances (year, month, dav. duration, magnitude, 

 etc.) Ml these can be seen with great satisfaction of 

 curiosity and of learning, and hence with great pleasure 

 ill. In the meanwhile, the tittle bells continually 

 play, at their proper, respective times. So that, all 

 ition aside, a thousand years pass, in the sight 

 of this clock, as one t}.\\\ 



I am aware of your complaints, O star-loving reader — 

 that my description is too meager and too succinct. 

 Lay the blame for this on those cans, hateful both to 

 me and to you, more pressing, which forbid me and 

 deprive you of a methodical explanation of the work. 



I ill. CLOC K MOVEMENT 



Father Borgh i specified that the entire met h inism 

 jiial in weight to a seventh part of a Centenarii 

 Germanic hundredweight. This is prob- 

 ably the Austrian centner which is equivalent to 

 l_'i.li)l a pounds, rherefore, the clock mechanism 

 weighs approximately 17. 6 pou 



1 he i lot k operated foi ■< hun and more at 



a single winding, to lather Borghesi, ami 



by me i ndulum with a leaden bob weighing 



bo Viennese pounds, attached at a height ol 5 feet 



Father Borghesi stated the weight of the pendulum to 



•I 60 I inensium, but the Viennese libra does 



not appear among the weights of the Austrian Empire. 

 However, using the average libra, an ancient Roman 

 unit of weight equal to 0.7221 pound, it may 1»- as- 

 sumed that the chiving weight should be approxi- 

 mately 1~> pounds. 



Father Borghesi, however, does not venture to pro- 

 vide any description whatsoever of the movement ol 

 his second clock in his book. lie gave the following 

 reasons : 



But beyond this, I entirely omit [a description of] the 

 further apparatus of the very main wheels, etc., inside 

 the clock which carry on lis funi tionS, lesl I bee,,;, 



verbose foi some persons. [o explain more thoroughly 



the internal labyrinth of the entire mechanism, from 

 which the movement ol the circles or heavens, etc., are 

 derived, would seem to entangle in too many complicated 

 perplexities .... rherefore, that I might not delay 

 longer, and perhaps to no purpose. I have thought it 

 better lo leave the whole work to the proportionate 



calculus of the arithmeticians and the technical skill of 

 mechanics. If they have any desire to construct a similar 

 mechanism, they will follow the aforesaid motions of 

 the heavens, etc., not only by one means alone but by 

 many, more swiftly through thoughtful study than by 

 any amount of instruction. 



1 or w hoever is well versed in the theory of calculus and 

 sets to work at any given project, will discover any 



desired motion hv a thousand and more ways, by one or 

 another gearing of wheels; which an industrious mechanic 

 will carry out in actuality and without too much diffi- 

 culty. Nor is there any reason for anyone to be dis- 

 couraged, so long as he is not disgusted by the amount of 

 labor for there is nothing truer than the old saving 

 "The favorable gods grant everything to the assiduous 

 laborer." 



Nay, further, even this little work itself can be im- 

 proved on and surpassed by new inventions. Otherwise 

 that other old adage, almost as old as the world, would 



PAPER Y^\ THE BORGHESI ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK 



49 



