Measuring the Universe, Marvellous Inventions. Athanasius Kircher’s “Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae” (1646) (Blog 3)

 

 

Title page of Ars magna lucis et umbrae. Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

Towards the end of Ars magna lucis et umbrae, Kircher invents another term, “ars anaclastica”, the refraction of light through different materials. Like reflection, refraction produces straight lines of light, and the same medium always refracts light by the same degree. Kircher calculates the degree of refraction by water and by the atmosphere and considers the design of possible refractive instruments to measure time.

In the next section, subtitled “Cosmometria Gnomonica”, Kircher attempts to measure the universe itself.

 

“Qua nova method datarum rerum distantiae, longitudines, latitudines, profunditates, umbra lucis directa, reflexa, refracta, indagantur.”

“In which new methods for measuring distant objects, longitude, latitude and depth are investigated by direct, reflected and refracted light and shadow.”

 

He estimates the thickness of the earth’s atmosphere, the extent of sunlight and shadow falling on the earth and measures clouds using their shadows. Kircher demonstrates how to measure the height of mountains and estimates the distance between the moon and the earth. He attempts to estimate the diameter of the sun and its distance from the earth.

Then Kircher turns his attention to the “Celestial Spheres”, the movement of planets and stars which is difficult for a modern reader to follow. In 1616 the Vatican had banned Copernicus’ book “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” which argued that the sun, rather than the earth, was the centre of the universe and in 1633 Galileo had been imprisoned for espousing this view.

Athanasius Kircher was a devout Jesuit priest working in Rome and his book bears the imprimatur of the Jesuit order, so inevitably a compromise (or fudge) was necessary.

Kircher discusses a model of the universe which he describes as Copernican, but which is very odd. The sun is placed at the centre of the diagram with the earth and all the other planets orbiting around it at the same distance. Kircher has invented additional planets and the orbit of the moon is unclear. Kircher’s text is devout and he exhorts the reader to admire and revere the beauty of the heavens.

 

The celestial spheres in Kircher’s diagram (p766). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

The last Book is devoted to the design and construction of marvellous inventions using light. Kircher returns to the design of theatre sets and describes a forerunner of the kaleidoscope.

 

Design of a kaleidoscope (p818). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

He considers the design of a model dragon which will be able to “fly” in air as he says “Fabrica machinae volatilis” (To make a flying machine)

 

The flying machine (p826). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

Kircher considers the use of plane, concave and convex lenses in optical instruments. He shows how lenses can be used in combination to magnify objects and the design of a microscope.

 

Diagram for a microscope (p833). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

He demonstrates a refracting telescope like that of Gallileo

 

Diagram for a telescope (p836). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

Peering down the lenses of his microscope, Kircher describes mites with hairs like bears, a drop of water teeming with animals. He writes

 

“Who would have believed, had he not used a microscope, that vinegar and milk abound with an innumerable multitude of worms … “

 

The results of his microscopical investigations preceded those of Robert Hooke and Anthony van Leeuwenhoek by many years.

The next section is devoted to a consideration of mirrors.

Kircher quotes Archimedes’ writings on the use of a burning mirror to destroy the Roman fleet at Syracuse in 212BCE and considers whether a mirror might be used to incinerate a distant object. Dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Kirchner illustrates his own suggestion for a “death ray” machine which could destroy enemy ships.

 

Illustration of a design for a “death ray” dedicated to Emperor Ferdinand III (p883). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

In a continuation of his earlier ideas about image projection, Kircher then demonstrates how to use mirrors and lenses to create a combined image of text and picture, and even different language texts. Surely a very early power point presentation!

 

The use of lenses to combine images and text for demonstration (p912). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK)

 

Kircher’s book has an epilogue on metaphysics. He considers God and the Light Eternal and constructs a hierarchy of the natural and supernatural. He discusses “intellectual light” and the light of reason and fantasy and ends with a chapter devoted to mysticism and religious commentary.

After the end of his text, Kircher offers the reader a bibliography, an index of subjects and terms used and a list of error corrections.

Although written nearly 400 years ago, and in Latin, Athanasius Kircher’s book Ars magna lucis et umbrae is surprisingly intelligible to a modern reader, not least because the straightforward organisation of the text and clarity of the copious illustrations.

Kircher’s conflation of Jesuitical Roman Catholicism and Scientific Empiricism fell out of favour with the rise of more secular science and after his death Kircher lapsed into obscurity. More recently his works and thinking have been re-evaluated, particularly in the United States and he has received a more sympathetic assessment. He has been fairly, if inaccurately, dubbed “The Last Man Who Knew Everything”.

 

Diana Westmoreland

 

See also: –

Athanasius Kircher Blog 1   The Light Fantastic:Science and Magic,Learning and Devotion

Athanasius Kircher Blog 2   Seeing and Illusion, Sundials and Clocks, Measuring the World

 

Bibliography and websites.

Brian L Merril (1989) “Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) Jesuit Scholar. An Exhibition of his works in the Harold B Lee Library Collections at Brigham Young University.” Pub. Friends of the Brigham Young University Library, Provo, Utah.

Paula Findlen (Ed) 2004. Athanasius Kircher “The Last Man Who Knew Everything” Routledge, New York and London

Tim Eggington, (2007) Kircher, Athanasius, 1602-1680. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in X. libros digesta . Romae : Ex typographia Haeredum Francisci. Corbelletti, 1650.

Glassie, John,(2012) “Athanasius, Underground,” The Public Domain Review, November 1, https://publicdomainreview.org/2012/11/01/athanasius-underground/

Scott, Michon (2015), “Athanasius Kircher,” Strange Science, March 29, https://www.strangescience.net/kircher.htm

Westfall, Richard S.,(1995) “Kircher, Athanasius,” The Galileo Project, Rice University, http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/kircher.html

“Athanasius Kircher, S.J. 1602-1680,” The Museum of Jurassic Technology, 1996-2001, http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/kircher.html