Terrestrial and celestial globes; their history and ... - 24grammata.com

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes.
structed, a comparison with other globes of the second
decade of the century has led to the conclusion that it
must have been prior to the year 1515, and perhaps as
early as 1513. In its representation of the Old World, the
land is made to extend through 240 degrees, counting from
the island of Porto Santo, whose meridian has been taken
as the prime meridian. The northern section of the New
World is given the name "Par(ias)," the last letters of the
word having been obliterated by age, while the southern
section is called "America." The great austral land south
of the apex of the southern continent, appearing
on the
Schoner globe of 1515 as "Brasilie regio," is omitted on
the Hauslab globe. The continents, rivers, and mountains
represented are very dark in color, and were probably originally
blue, black, or red, and the seas are a dark blue. The
equator, as drawn on the surface of the sphere,
is divided
into degrees, represented alternately in white and black,
and every tenth degree is indicated by an appropriate num-
ber, beginning, as stated above, at the island of Porto Santo.
By way of decoration a border of gold is given to the lines
representing the equator, the tropics, and the polar circles.
In the geographical department of the Bibliotheque
Nationale of Paris is a globe referred to in cartographical
literature as the Green globe, or the Quirini globe, the first
name being given to it by Gabriel Marcel,** by reason of
the prominence of the color green employed in painting
the seas (Fig. 38). It is an unsigned and undated wooden
sphere, 24 cm. in diameter. Its surface appears to have
been covered with a coating of paint, originally white, and
on this the world map was drawn. There is much artistic
skill displayed in the coast configurations, with the deeply
shaded seaboards making the land appear to rise above the
ocean surface, and in the representation of the islands, most
of which are made conspicuous in red or gold. The inscrip-
tions in dark brown, perhaps originally black, are neatly
written, clearly suggesting that the globe was constructed
[ 76 ]
www.24grammata.com