NOTES

Terrestrial Globe of George Adams, 1782.

Fig. 130. Terrestrial Globe of George Adams, 1782.

In addition to the above, a pair of Adams globes may be found in the Osservatorio Astronomico of Naples and a pair in the Biblioteca Classense of Ravenna. A copy of the terrestrial may be found in the Seminario Vescovile of Padua. A copy of the terrestrial dated 1785 may be found in the Biblioteca Real of Madrid, agreeing in general with the preceding except in the mounting. The author and date legend appears in a neat cartouch in the North Pacific, reading: “Britanniarum Rigi Augustissimo Georgio Tertio Scientiarum Cultori pariter et praefidio Globum hunc Terrestrem. Omnes hactenus exploratios terrarum tractus. Ad Observationes Navigantium Itinerantium et Astronomorum recentiores, accuratissime descriptos exhibentem Grati animi et pietatis monumentum D. D. Q. Omni cultu et officio devinctissimus. G. Adams. Londini apud G. Adams artificem regium in vico (?) Fleet Street, 1785.”

The American Geographical Society possesses a pair of the Adams globes, the gift of Mrs. Thomas F. Byrnes, dated1797, and made by “Dudley Adams Globe Maker to the King, Inst. Maker to his Majesty & Optician to H. R. H. the Prince of Wales. No. 60 Fleet Street, London.” They are in a fair state of preservation, the celestial, however, being somewhat damaged through attempts to turn the sphere, which does not move freely on its axis within the meridian and the horizon circle. These are mounted on a high tripod base and are movable right or left, just as they are movable for elevation or depression of the pole in the usual manner. It does not appear that additions or corrections were made for this issue.

Nathaniel Hill of London, active as a map engraver about the middle of the eighteenth century, likewise turned his attention to the construction of globes.175Those of his make now known, however, are very small, consequently they present but meager geographical details. Like certain productions of James Ferguson, the Hill globes might be referred to as pocket globes.

The New York Public Library possesses a fine example of his work (Fig.130a), bearing the title and author legend placed in the North Pacific, “A New Terrestrial Globe by Nath. Hill 1754.” This globe has a diameter of 7 cm. It is furnished with a graduated meridian circle, surmounted at the north pole with an hour circle and pointer. The graduation is somewhat unusual, beginning as it does with 0 degrees at either pole and marked by tens on the right half of the circle through 90 degrees or to the equator, and with 90 degrees at either pole and marked by tens on the left to 0 degrees at the equator. The horizon circle of wood has represented on its surface the names of the zodiacal constellations, the names of the months, and the thirty-two compass directions, and rests upon a base of four branching arms or quadrants, which in turn are supported by three widely spreading feet, this base being fashioned and carved in the Chippendale style. The sphere is covered with the usual twelve gores truncated in latitude both north and south at about 68degrees and has the polar spaces covered by circular discs. The entire piece, including the map, is remarkably well preserved. The Pacific is called “The Great South Sea,” while just off the coast of “S. America” we read “Pacific Sea.” Between “N. America” and “Asia” is a great open sea, Alaska being omitted. We find such names given as “Florida,” “Virginia,” “Carolina,” “Maryla”: the Missouri River is called the “Long R.” The meridian on which the graduation in latitude is represented is 150 degrees west, passing through the Pacific slightly to the west of California. In “S. America” there are numerous regional names given, including “Brazil,” “Peru,” “Terra firma,” “Chili.” In the East Indies we find “New Holland,” “New Zeeland,” neither with completed coast line. An attached card tells us that this globe was “Presented to the New York Public Library by Mrs. Henry Draper, Oct. 9, 1908.”

There likewise may be found in the British Museum a copy, presumably of this same globe, dated 1754, and a copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, signed and dated. This Paris copy is furnished with a cover opening along the line of the equator and having on its inner surface a representation of the celestial sphere which is neither signed nor dated, but which is in a good state of preservation.

Terrestrial Globe of Nathaniel Hill, 1754.

Fig. 130a. Terrestrial Globe of Nathaniel Hill, 1754.

Fiorini refers to certain pairs of globes being apparently copies of the work of Gian Francesco Costa without credit being noted. These globes, inferior in the matter of engraving to the work of Costa, were issued as the work of Innocente Alessandri and Pietro Scaltaglia.176The terrestrial globe bears the inscription, “Nova et accurata descrizione del Globo Terracqueo dirizzato sopra le più recenti Osservazioni del SigrDelisle e degli ultimi viaggiatori. Per uso dell’ Accademia Veneta. Composto da Innocente Alessandri e Pietro Scaltaglia incisori in rame. L’ anno 1784. Matteo Viani in Campo S. Bartolamio. Venezia.” “New and accurate description of the Terrestrial globe based on the mostrecent observations of Sr. Delisle and the latest explorers. For the use of the Venetian Academy. Composed by Innocente Alessandri and Pietro Scaltaglia, copper engravers. In the year 1784. Mattio Viani in Campo S. Bartolamio. Venice.” A legend very similar to that on the terrestrial globe appears on the celestial, reading, “Globo celeste nel quale sono accuratamente descritte le stelle fisse col loro preciso numero e Magnitudini secondo il Catalogo Brittanico del SigrFlamstadio. Per uso dell’ Accademia Veneta. Composto da Innocente Alessandri e Pietro Scaltaglia incisori in Rame. L’anno 1784. Matteo Viani in Campo S. Bartolamio. Venezia.” “Celestial Globe in which is accurately described the fixed stars with their precise number and magnitude according to the British Calendar of Sr. Flamsteed. For the use of the Venetian Academy. Composed by Innocente Alessandri and Pietro Scaltaglia copper engravers. In the year 1784. Matteo Viani in Campo S. Bartolamio. Venice.” A copy of the terrestrial globe belongs to the Biblioteca Comunale of Cagli, likewise one may be found in the office of the Eredità Bottrigari of Bologna. Copies of the celestial may be found in the Museo Astronomico of Rome, in the Seminario Vescovile of Brescia, in the Tipolitografia Roberto of Bassano. Somewhat later it appears that the bookdealer Viani reissued the terrestrial globe, undated, perhaps with the thought of bringing them to date, that they might not be crowded out of the market by the recently constructed globes by Giovanni Maria Cassini. The inscription on this globe reads, “Nova et accurata descrizione del Globo Terracqueo dirizzato sopra le più recenti Osservazioni del Sigrdell’ Isle e degli ultimi viaggiatori e del Cap. Cook negli ultimi suoi viaggi. In Venaappo Mattio Viani in Campo S. Bartolomeo.” “New and accurate description of the Terrestrial globe based on the most recent observations of Sr. Delisle and on the records of the most recent navigators and of Captain Cook in his last voyages. In Venice by Mattio Viani in Campo S. Bartolomeo.” Copiesof this issue may be found in the Museo Astronomico of Rome, in the library of the artist Giuseppe Bortognoni of Bologna, in the library of Sr. Fenaroli of Brescia, in the Biblioteca Vescovile of Rimini, and in the Tipolitografia Roberto of Bassano.

Among the geographers of this period who were contributing to French leadership may be named Charles Francis Delamarche (1740-1817). He was a native of Paris, in which city, under the patronage of King Louis XV, he carried on his activities as map and globe maker, conducting at the same time a shop for their distribution. He seems to have patterned his globe work largely after that of Gilles and Didier Robert de Vaugondy, giving to his completed products practically the same dimensions and mounting. His earliest examples bear the date 1785, of which only one copy, a celestial globe, has been located, this now belonging to the Osservatorio Meteorico of Venice. In the year 1791, he constructed a pair of globes each having a diameter of about 18 cm., only the terrestrial being dated, and in the same year he issued his treatise which doubtless was intended to serve as an explanatory text for these globes, at the same time advertising and popularizing his productions.177Examples of this issue may be found in the Biblioteca di Brera of Milan, and in the Liceo Carlo Alberto of Novara. A copy of the terrestrial may be found in the Istituto Nautico of Palermo, and a copy of the celestial in the Convento dei Frati della Missione of Chieri. It could not have been long after this issue of 1791 that he undertook the construction of a terrestrial globe about 31 cm. in diameter, a copy of which may be found in the Istituto di Fisico of the University of Siena.

We know that like his contemporary, Fortin, he also constructed armillary spheres, one example of which it has been possible to locate. Fiorini thus refers to it, his citation being given in free translation.178It is a Copernican sphere, that is, having a representation of the sun placed at the commoncenter of the armillae instead of a representation of the earth as in the Ptolemaic sphere. It may be found in the palace of Sr. Scaramucci in S. Maria a Monte in the province of Florence. Attached to a base of wood about 20 cm. in height is an iron rod 35 cm. long. This rod passes through the several rings, about which they can be revolved, each being in its movement independent of the others. The first circle about the central sun represents the orbit of Mercury, and has written upon it “Éloigné du Soleil 8537, incliné 7 degr., fait sa révolution en 87 jours, 23 heures, 50 m.” The second represents the orbit of Venus, having written upon it the distance 15928½ diameters of the earth, inclination 3 degrees and 22 minutes; it completes its revolution in 2224 days 16 hours and 41 minutes. In a space much larger than that which separates the other circles, there is the orbit of the earth, upon which is written that this planet passes over the ecliptic in 365 days 5 hours and 49 minutes, and that it is 22000 diameters distant from the sun. This ring representing the orbit of the earth is opened for the insertion of a representation of the moon, adjusted to revolve on an adjusted pivot. Armillae have been provided representing the orbits of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn with statements concerning their respective distances from the sun and their respective periods of revolution. The outer and larger armillae represent the colures, the ecliptic, and the horizon, and on the last the inscription, “À Paris chez Delamarche Géog. Rue du Foin Saint Jacques au Collège de MreGervais.”

In the year 1793 Vincenzo Rosa, a little-known Italian cosmographer, constructed two terrestrial globes, the maps of which being in manuscript. The spheres are of papier-mâché covered with a light coating of plaster. Each of these globes has a diameter of about 100 cm. An inscription in Italian reads, “Vincenzo Rosa fece nel 1793 n. 24. La geografia è quasi tutta delle carte di Robert del Vaugondy e di De-la-Marche.” “Made by Vincent Rosa in the year 1793 n. 24. The geographical information is almost entirely fromthe maps of Robert de Vaugondy and of Delamarche.” One copy may be found in the Biblioteca Universitario of Pavia, and the other in the Liceo Foscolo of the same city. Fiorini notes that the “n. 24.” of the first is given as “n. 21.” in the second.179

The last important globe maker of the eighteenth century in Italy was Giovanni Maria Cassini (fl. 1790), an engraver, and a geographer of distinction, to the truth of which statement his excellent work gives testimony. As evidence of his interest in the matter of globe construction we have the introduction to his ‘Nuovo atlante geografico universale...,’ wherein he gives carefully devised rulesfor the construction of globe gores, and in addition we still find a number of his completed globes, particularly in Italian museums and libraries. These globes (Fig.131), dated, the terrestrial 1790, and the celestial 1792, have each a diameter of about 35 cm., each covering map being composed of twelve gores cut at latitude 80 degrees both north and south, the polar space having the usual circular disc covering. Each is furnished with a brass meridian circle within which the sphere may be revolved, an hour circle, a horizon circle, on the surface of which are the usual concentric circles with the names of the several zodiacal constellations, the names of the months, and the principal directions. The terrestrial globe has an author and date legend reading, “Globo terrestre delineato sulle ultime osservazioni con i viaggi e nuove scoperte del Cap. Cook inglese. In Rome.”

Terrestrial Globe of Giovanni Maria Cassini, 1790.

Fig. 131. Terrestrial Globe of Giovanni Maria Cassini, 1790.

In The Hispanic Society’s collection is a terrestrial globe (Fig.132), being a solid wooden ball 21 cm. in diameter, over which has been pasted the gore map composed of twelve sections, each cut at the parallel of 70 degrees both north and south, the polar space being covered with circular discs each forty degrees in diameter. It is neither signed nor dated but is clearly of German origin, since practically all geographical names and legends are in the German language. The title, placed within a circle to the west of Australia,“Neu Holland,” reads “Die Erde nach den neusten Entdeckungen und besten Charten entworfen.” Its date cannot be far from 1800, perhaps a little later, seeing that it assigns the name “Nord Amerikanischer Staat” to the region east of the Mississippi River, except to “Florida” which extends westward to this river. We find but one actual date given, this referring to the discovery of a small group of the “Gesellschafts Inseln,” reading “Inseln welche die Spanier entdekt haben sollen 1773.” It is constructed to revolve within a graduated meridian circle of brass and an octagonal horizon of wood, on which are indicated in picture the twelve signs of the zodiac, the calendar, and the thirty-two winds or directions, the whole resting on four plain supports of wood strengthened below by light crossbars.

Anonymous Terrestrial Globe, ca. 1800.

Fig. 132. Anonymous Terrestrial Globe, ca. 1800.

The map is one well drawn for the period, and the engraving of the several names and legends has been most skilfully done. Regional names are numerous, but there has not been an overcrowding of the map with minute details. On the west coast of North America, for example, we find such names as “Norfolk,” “Neu Cornwallis,” “Neu Hanover,” “Neu Georgia,” “Neu Albion,” “Neu Navarre,” “Mexico oder Neu Spanien.” Central America with the West Indies is called “Mittel America oder West Indien.” In South America we find “Neu Granada,” “Peru,” “Chili,” “Brasilien,” but “Prasilisches Meer.” Certain localities are especially distinguished by the addition of color, as the coast of Australia except the southern coast, which is marked with a dotted line. Many of the East Indian islands and the islands of the Indian Ocean are outlined in color, as also the coast of “Vorder Indien,” and “Hinter Indien,” the coast of “Arabien,” and certain other sections. The geography of the interior of Africa is not as well represented as on many an earlier map, a fact particularly noticeable with reference to the Nile River. The prime meridian is made to pass through Cape Verde, to the west of which, stretchingpractically along its entire length, we read “Der Amerikanische Ocean.”

Among the globe makers of the eighteenth century whose work carries us over into the nineteenth may be named William Cary (1759-1825).180At first associated with Ramsden, a renowned mechanic, he established himself in an independent business in London in the year 1790. He is reputed to have constructed the first transit circle made in England, which circle had a diameter of two feet and was provided with a reading microscope. One of his circles of the above date, 41 cm. in diameter, is reported as belonging to the Observatory of Zürich. In addition to the altitude, azimuth, sextant, reflecting and refracting telescopic, and microscopic instruments made by him, he interested himself in the construction of terrestrial and celestial globes. Those examples of his to which reference may here be made do not appear to be of the highest order, perhaps due to the fact that he was primarily an instrument maker and not a geographer or an astronomer. Further, the majority of his globes which have been located bear dates subsequent to the year 1800, and therefore do not properly call for reference here.

In the private library of Sr. Vittorio Bianchini of Macerata four of the Cary globes may be found, three celestial and one terrestrial dated 1799. A celestial globe of the same date may be found in the Osservatorio Astronomico of Rome, but its companion, a terrestrial globe, bears the date 1815. Extant Cary globes of the early nineteenth century may be considered numerous.

160Nouvelle biographie générale, “Robert de Vaugondy, Gilles,” “Robert de Vaugondy, Didier,” with references to their works.

161Sanson was the author of numerous maps and atlases. His works areextensively referred to by Phillips in his List of Geographical Atlases. See also list of his works in Britannica, “Sanson, Nicolas.”

162These are referred to in the preface of a work titled ‘Usages des Globes céleste et terrestre, faits par ordre du Roi, par le S. Robert de Vaugondy, fils.’ Paris, 1751.

163See work referred to in preceding note.

164Cited by Fiorini, Sfere terrestri e celesti, p. 417, n. 2.

165Fiorini, op. cit., p. 419.

166Fiorini, op. cit., p. 421.

167John Flamsteed (1646-1719) was the first astronomer royal, author of ‘Atlas Coelestis’ and other works treating of astronomical subjects. The figures of the several constellations appearing in this atlas were drawn by James Thornhill. Artistically they are not equal to those appearing in Hevelius’ Prodromus astronomiae.

168Akerman, A. Globes céleste et terrestre de vingt-deux pouces. Upsala, 1766.

169Poppe. Ausfürliche Geschichte der Anwendung aller krummen Linien in mechanischen Künsten und in der Architektur. Nürnberg, 1882. p. 65.

170Letter and information from the Librarian dated Jan. 14, 1914.

171Reference to his publications in Nouvelle biographie, “Bonne, Rigobert.”

172Nouvelle biographie, “Lalande, Joseph Jerome.” This is an excellent article with references to his numerous publications. His ‘Bibliographie astronomique,’ Paris, 1803, has been of particular value in the preparation of this work. See also Nouveaux globes, céleste et terrestre, d’un pied de diamètre par M. De la Lande et M. Bonne, avec l’explication en une brochure in-12. Paris, 1775. Lalande, op. cit., refers to a work titled ‘Usage du Planétaire ou sphère mouvante de Copernic, qui se trove chez Fortin, ingénieur-mécanicien du Roi.’ Paris, 1773. Fortin issued a French edition of Flamsteed’s Atlas under the title ‘Atlas céleste de Flamsteed approuvé par l’Académie Royale des Sciences. Seconde édition par M. J. Fortin Ingénieur-Mécanicien du Roi et de la Famille Royale pour les Globes et les Sphères.’ Paris, 1776.

173Nouvelle biographie, “Messier, Charles,” with a very long list of his publications.

174Adams, G. A treatise describing and explaining the construction and the use of new celestial and terrestrial globes, designed to illustrate in the most easy manner the phenomena of the earth and heavens, with a great variety of astronomical and geographical problems. London, 1766; A treatise on the construction of globes. London, 1769; Geometrical and geographical essays, containing a description of mathematical instruments. London, 1791; Astronomical and geographical essays. London, 1795.

175We find that Nathl. Hill engraved the title-page and maps in an atlas by Lewis Morris. Plans and Harbours, etc. London, 1748.

176Fiorini, op. cit., p. 439.

177Delamarche, C. F. Les usages de la Sphère et des Globes céleste et terrestre. Paris, 1791.

178Fiorini, op. cit., p. 432.

179Fiorini, op. cit., p. 441.

180Dictionary of National Biography, “Cary, William”; Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie, pp. 562, 563.

General problems to be met.—Development from the simple armilla to the complex sphere.—The references of Ptolemy, Leontius Mechanicus, Alfonso.—Behaim’s leadership in practical globe making.—Materials employed.—Experiments in map projection.—The beginning and rapid development of globe-gore construction.—Various examples of early gore maps.—Equatorial polar and ecliptic polar mountings.—Special features of celestial globe maps.—Globe mountings.—Varying sizes of globes.—The uses of globes.—Moon globes and planetariums.

INthis concluding chapter it is not proposed to consider in detail the technical features of globe construction, as these features have presented themselves in the long period which has been under review; the rather to give, somewhat in the nature of a summary, a general word as to the development of the simple armilla of the ancients, “in continued succession, receiving ripeness and perfection” in such celestial spheres as were those of Mohammed ben Helal, of Tycho, of Hondius, or of Blaeu; into the terrestrial spheres of Schöner, of Mercator, of Greuter, or of Coronelli.

We have seen that during these years there were problems mechanical, mathematical, and artistic continually arising, in the solution of which talent of a high order was often exhibited; problems having to do with the kind of material to be employed, with the shaping and the graduation of therings or circles, with the construction of the supporting bases which entered into the completed product, with the engraving of the map on the surface of the metal sphere, or with the designing and the engraving of the plates for the printing of the map to be used in covering the prepared ball, and the fitting of the same to its curved surface.

The principal astronomical instrument employed by such ancient astronomers as Eudoxus, Timocharis, and Hipparchus appears to have been at first but a single metal ring, perhaps of brass. At any rate their instruments must have been exceedingly simple, perhaps the simplest form of the astrolabe (Fig.133), yet they sufficed as aids in the solution of such astronomical problems as suggested themselves in that early day. The addition of a second ring to thesimple instrument gave further aid to the observer in his efforts to determine the declination and the right ascension of any of the heavenly bodies. These rings came to be considered, the first as a celestial meridian circle, the second as a celestial horizon circle, and in the passing years others were added to represent the ecliptic, the colures, the tropics, the polar circles, and the orbits of the several planets, until we have the fully developed armillary sphere of a Vopel or a Santucci.181

Astrolabe.

Fig. 133. Astrolabe.

Relative to globes proper in antiquity, it will have been noted that in general there is an element of uncertainty as to their exact character, which speaks out in the numerous allusions to them. None has survived to our day save the Atlante Farnese. This globe of marble is not so mounted as to permit its revolution, resting as it does upon the shoulders of the mythical Atlas, yet in its representation of the figures of the several constellations, then recognized by astronomers, it differs practically but little from the celestial globes, that is, solid spheres, constructed a millennium and a half later.182We cannot, however, draw the conclusion from this one example that such globes were generally looked upon as practical instruments for use in astronomical studies, yet there clearly were those who did so regard them.

Doubtless the globe or globes to which Ptolemy alludes were intended to be of practical value. He tells us they should be constructed of brass, and as before noted, he describes the use and the construction of such instruments. Like the maps he probably made, though none survives, it is not difficult, from his description, to reconstruct them. Such celestial globes as Ptolemy may have prepared were doubtless adjustable, but were not made to revolve by mechanical device such as we frequently meet with in globes of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, nor were they like the mechanical contrivance of Archimedes, clearly intended to represent the movements of the celestial bodies,and perhaps their movements relative to the earth. No description of Archimedes’ mechanism survives by means of which it could now be reproduced with anything like a satisfactory degree of certainty.

The allusions of Leontius Mechanicus, referred to in Chapter III, read like a globe maker’s instructions of the eighteenth century. He knew his Ptolemy whom he followed in the main, but he wrote as one who clearly did not sense the approaching decline of interest in the physical sciences.

And what can be said of the methods and the materials for globe making during the period of the so-called middle ages? The survivals, and these are only of the later years of the period, are of Arabic origin, which, without exception, appear to have been intended primarily for use in astronomical studies. They are either armillary spheres, or metal balls, on the surface of which are the engraved representations of the starry heavens, with the figures of the several constellations. Without a known exception these are of small size, and if furnished at all with mounting, only that of a simple character. There is reason for thinking that such astronomical instruments were made in great numbers, and that they were to be found in practically all Arabic observatories.183

The interesting allusions in King Alfonso’s ‘Libros del Saber de Astronomia,’ from which citations may be found in our Chapter IV, give us information concerning both methods and materials which might be employed in globe construction in his day. It is not there stated that the author had information concerning the actual use of the more than twenty named materials which might be chosen for their manufacture. He does, however, lead us to infer that there may have been experiments by his contemporaries in which trial was made of the fitness of the several materials named, his conclusion being that wood or brass was the most suitable.

It has previously been noted that globes appear to havebeen made now and then for use in the monastic schools, but we find no detailed description of their special character. Here and there, it is true, may be found reference to the adjustability of their parts, and to their rings which made them serviceable for furthering astronomical studies. The inference is fair that the globes of these Christian schools were armillary spheres, and were not solid or hollow balls on the surface of which the starry firmament or the earth had been depicted.

Behaim’s globe of the year 1492 seems to represent a radical departure in globe construction. His idea appears to have been novel. He employed a mould in the making of his globe ball, and over the surface of this completed ball pasted irregular strips of parchment which furnished a suitable ground for the draughting of the map with its geographical outlines and its artistic adornments in color. Behaim’s globe mounting was of the simplest character, consisting of a metal meridian circle within which the sphere could be revolved, a horizon circle of like material, the whole resting upon a tripod base. Although effort was made to establish in Nürnberg an institute wherein globe making might be taught especially, the plan seems not to have carried, and such as were later produced in this city were merely the output of the mathematical instrument maker’s shop or of the geographical establishments.

Throughout all the early years of the modern period, metal globes continued to find favor, to the making of which skilled workmen in the thriving industrial centers of Southern Germany, Southeastern France, Northern Switzerland, and Northern Italy set themselves. Brass, copper, silver, and gold were employed very frequently in their construction, the last-named metals being used in the making of globes primarily for ornamental purposes.184Globes with manuscript maps, as before noted, seemed to find especial favor in Italy, in the making of which much artistic skill was displayed. The spheres for such globeswere usually of wood either solid or hollow, of well-fashioned strips of wood, canvas covered, the whole carefully glued and braced that the spherical shape might not be affected with time. In the preparation of the sphere to receive the manuscript map, workmen proceeded much as did Behaim, pasting over its surface irregular strips of parchment or paper, adding occasionally a groundwork of paint suitable for taking the sketch of the draughtsman. As the years passed, and the engraved map found increasing favor, practically all globe balls, with exceptions as noted above, were made either of plaster shot through and through with a binding material, usually of fiber, and fashioned over a mould, or of a preparation of papier-mâché.

The increasing interest in globes and globe making manifesting itself in the early years of the sixteenth century led to the devising of methods for their more rapid construction. If the opening years of the sixteenth century witnessed a rapid expansion of geographical knowledge, none the less did they witness an improvement in the making of maps wherein this expanding knowledge could fittingly be recorded. It is interesting to note how rapidly change was made from one method of map draughting to another in the search for a projection which might prove itself to be altogether suitable. As a result of this striving we have for example the projection of Donnus Nicolas Germanus employed in his maps of the geographer Ptolemy, and often referred to as the Donis projection.185Then we find the stereographic meridional186and the stereographic polar,187the cordiform single and double188which seem to have been a development from the orthographic projection well represented in the map of Johannes Stabius (Fig.45) who appears to have been the first to give the method prominence. In addition to the projections mentioned there were many modifications, to suit the notions of the draughtsmen, which were employed in the early sixteenth century.189With the fuller realization of the fact that the earth is a sphere, thedesire accurately to represent in the maps its spherical surface continued to seek for expression, an expression that would do least violence to the fact that the degrees of latitude and longitude vary in length, particularly those of longitude as one passes from the equator toward the poles or from the poles toward the equator. If the earth is a sphere then why could a map so draughted as truly to represent the surface of a sphere not be counted the most acceptable? This must have been the argument of those who especially applied themselves to the designing of maps suitable for a spherical surface, that is, for application to a globe ball.

Who first conceived the idea of fashioning globe gore maps we do not know. Fiorini cites evidence190that Francesco Rosselli (1445-1510), a printer of large and small maps in Florence, included in his productions gore maps to be used in globe construction, and this probably before the year 1507, but none of his work of this character has come down to us. The so-called Waldseemüller gores are the oldest known, of which but one copy is extant.191By some they are thought to have been constructed for his globe to which he refers in his ‘Cosmographiae Introductio,’ but they are unsigned and undated. They are somewhat crude and much manipulation would be required to fit them to the surface of a sphere. Before the first quarter of the sixteenth century had passed other globe gore maps made their appearance, such as those undoubtedly the work of Schöner or of the Schönerian school, or such as the gores of Boulengier192exquisitely engraved and printed, though so far as we know never used in covering the surface of a sphere.

The artist Albrect Dürer (1471-1528), as we are informed, was one of the earliest to set himself to the solution of the problem having to do with the development of a spherical surface into a flat surface, yet he never seems to have thought an exact mathematical solution possible. It was a problem, he realized, in which there could be butan approximate solution. In trying to illustrate what he thought to be the nearest approach to the same he found himself led to the idea of the globe gore.193Of his illustration, he said, “Die sphera oder ein Kugel wenn man sie durch jr mittag linien zerschneydet, und in Planum legt, so gewinnt sie ein Gestalt eines Kam, wie ich das hie hat auffgerissen.” “Should one divide the sphere or ball on theline of the equator and lay this out as a plane, one has the figure of a comb, as is here shown.” Dürer worked out a simple rule for the construction of the globe biangles,194which rule served measurably well for the purpose intended. While it would not be inappropriate to give here a résumé of his formula, as well as the formulae of others who set themselves to a like task, we should in so doing be carried into a field rather more technical than seems fitting for our purpose.195

Two years after Dürer had published his observations on this subject Henricus Loriti Glareanus (1488-1551) issued a small treatise on geography,196devoting his Chapter XIX bearing title ‘De inducendo papyro in globo’ to globe-gore construction. He proposed the employment of twelve gores or biangles (Fig.134) so arranged for printing that the shorter diameter of each should represent 30 degrees of longitude, the sum therefore representing 360 degrees or the equatorial circumference of the globe they were intended to cover; the longer diameter of each gore representing the semicircumference of the globe and extending from pole to pole, that is, a meridian. We do not know that his formula for gore construction was closely followed by any globe maker of the period, nor does Glareanus himself appear to have attempted a practical application of his method, at least we have no evidence that he ever actually attempted to construct a globe. He, however, had made an important contribution toward the solution of the problem of how best to multiply these instruments which were increasingly recognized as of great value in geographical and astronomical studies. The general method of gore map making rapidly found favor despite such practical difficulties, for example, as arose from the peculiarity inseparable from the quality inherent in any and all paper, that is, its irregular expansion when moistened. This difficulty the globe makers, of course, were continually seeking to overcome or reduce to a minimum, as the years passed, through a careful selection ofpaper to be used, through a more skilful manipulation of the paper made moist by the application of the paste or glue employed in attaching the map to the surface of the sphere,197and through a more careful working out of the mathematical problem having to do with the proper proportions of each of the gores.

Globe Gores of Henricus Glareanus, 1527.

Fig. 134. Globe Gores of Henricus Glareanus, 1527.

Dürer had proposed the employment of sixteen segments, Waldseemüller, Schöner, Boulengier, and Glareanus had thought twelve a more suitable number. As the years passed we find a preference manifesting itself now for twelve, now for sixteen, now for eighteen, twenty-four, or thirty-six with a more common preference for the smaller number. The several biangles for the maps alluded to above were fashioned to extend from pole to pole in what we may call the equatorial system; Mercator, as has been noted, introduced the novel idea of truncating his gores twenty degrees from each pole, preparing as a covering for the remaining polar space a circular disc, having the required diameter of forty degrees.198This plan he proposed for the practical reason that a paper covering for a sphere so constructed could be applied with greater ease and with greater accuracy than one consisting of complete biangular figures, remembering the tendency of the paper to expand and the difficulty in avoiding folds.

As there was much inclination among map makers to experiment in the matter of map projection so there was an inclination to experiment, as the years passed, in the matter of design for the globe gores. In the so-called Da Vinci gores we find them drawn in two groups of four each (Fig.135), and instead of the globe biangle we have the globe equilateral triangle. Their application to a spherical surface could only have been made with difficulty, if at all; indeed we cannot be certain that in so outlining a map of the world the draughtsman’s intention was to use it in globe construction. The plan seems never to have been followed by any of the other map makers, or by any globe maker. We find aninteresting early instance in which the gore map construction was clearly employed merely as a method for plane map making, a method having certain very commendable features (Fig.136). The author of this map is unknown.

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