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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1442 



■wrote in English treatises on Arithmetie, Alge- 

 bra, Geometry and Astronomy which were the 

 most widely used of sixteenth century English 

 text-books on mathematics. The titles were 

 intended to be attractive: The Grounde of 

 Artes, the Whetstone of Witte, The Pathwaie 

 to Knowledge, and The Castle of Knowledge. 

 The last mentioned is the astronomical work, 

 published in London in 1556, and contains a 

 section on pages 35-60, "The Seconde treatise 

 of the Castle of Knowledge wherein is taughte 

 the makinge of the materiall sphere, as well in 

 sounde or massy forme, as also in ryng forme 

 with hoopes." Recorde discusses the mounting 

 of such spheres as well as the use of them. 



An earlier Englishman who deserves passing 

 mention is William Batecombe or Badecumbe 

 who is reputed to have written about 1420 two 

 works evidently on spheres : De Spheera 

 Solida and De Sphsera Concava fabrica et usu. 

 The former of these works is reported by Bale 

 to have been in the library of Robert Recorde. 



Another sixteenth century writer who de- 

 serves mention is Er. Baroccius whose Cosmo- 

 grafia published at Venice in 1585 contains 

 material on globes and a passage (p. 227-228) 

 "vsi sumus globo terrestri, quem Gaspar 

 Vopelius Mathematicus anno 1553 ab ortu 

 Christi construxit." No glolbe of this date by 

 Vopel is known; while Stevenson, following 

 Fiorini, ascribes an armillary sphere to one 

 Giovanni Maria Baroccius, it might equally 

 well be due to this astronomer. 



The bibliographical list is unsatisfactory in 

 several points. The items are not included in 

 the final index; many items relate to works 

 not cited in the text, and the title as given fre- 

 quently does not indicate why the work should 

 be included; many treatises and discussions of 

 globes widely used and easily accessible in 

 New York are not included. 



As an illustration of a title which does not 

 indicate the reason for its inclusion, take the 

 Cosmografia of Peter Smit. The 1720 edition 

 which is available to me here includes in the 

 title the phrase "Als mede het maken van de 

 Hemelsche en Aardsche Globe," but this is left 

 out in the bibliography. 



A work on the globe which went through 

 three editions iby 1661 is Pien-e Bouvdin's 



Traite de I'usage du globe terrestre, included 

 in his Le Cours de Mathematique (Bibl. Chem. 

 Math., 2 vols. 1921). Such a work should be 

 included. 



Of English discussions of globes Sotheran's 

 recent catalogue mentions two that are anony- 

 mous : The antiquity and excellency of globes, 

 26 pp., 1652, and Treatise of the Descriptive 

 Use of both Globes, 1718. I have an anony- 

 mous treatise in German, Einleitung zur 

 Erkent. und Gebrauch der Erd und Himmels- 

 Kugeln, Niirnberg, 1767, which mentions Lowiz 

 and also a Professor Hasen in Wittenberg as 

 designers of the Homann globes. 



In view of the distinguished author's con- 

 nection with the Hispanic Society the refer- 

 ences to Spanish works treating globes are sur- 

 prisingly limited in number. Among Spanish 

 treatises on the subject which apparently en- 

 joyed wide popularity in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury may be mentioned Thomas Vicente Tosea's 

 discussion. This appeared in the eighth vol- 

 ume (out of nine volumes) in the third edition 

 of Tosea's Compendio Mathematico published 

 at Valencia in 1757; it is in the geography, 

 Libro IV, pp. 157-184, under the title, "De la 

 fabrica y uso del Globo Geographico, y de todo 

 genero de Mapas." The writer treats the 

 making both of gores and of moulds. 



A similar and contemporary German work 

 which went through numerous editions was 

 Johann Christian Wolff's Elem. Math. Uni- 

 versa?. The edition published in five folio vol- 

 umes in Verona, 1746-1751, contains De Globi 

 terrestri artificialis constructione et usu, in 

 Vol. IV and De Globo coelesti artiflc, in Vol. 

 Ill, with discussion of gores. 



No uncertainty need be entertained as to the 

 date when Lalande made his celestial globe 

 (II, p. 182), as in his Astronomie, Paris, 1792, 

 Vol. I, p. 247, Lalande says : " J'ai publie un 

 nouveau globe celeste en 1775." On pages 

 616-617 of Vol. Ill Lalande discusses the man- 

 ufacture of globes. But more interesting is 

 the price list of globes in 1791 which he gives 

 in Vol. I, pp. Is-lxiLi. The celestial and terres- 

 trial mounted, etc., of Robert of Vaugandy, 

 the two for 300 livres in size 17% ponces; the 

 one foot size, corrected by Messier, the two 

 for 80 livres ; 10 inch at 15 livres each. The 



