Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

Littrow’s conclusion appears to be somewhat exaggerated. Father Hell spent three weeks in
Copenhagen on the northbound part of the journey, and we must assume that many
arrangements concerning his expedition were settled here. The problem is that the part of
Sajnovics’ diary covering this period has been lost, along with nearly all Hell’s letters written
from Copenhagen. In any case, this is the kind of instruction that might well have been given
orally and never taken down in any document. Even if it may never have been stated
expressly, one may conjecture that the ban against sharing the observation with anyone else
until after the King had received his copy of the report was perceived by Hell as part of his
duty. We ought to assume that he had a certain flair for courtly etiquette from his many years
as court astronomer. Besides, to seek intimate contact with potentates and inner circles at
court by means of scientific work was a typical strategy followed by Jesuits when visiting
non-Catholic countries. 180 Thus, one might reverse the assumption of Littrow, by asking: how
would the King and government of Copenhagen have reacted, if an astronomer in their service
told lies without any foundation whatsoever? Surely, such a way of laying the responsibility
on his sponsor for the late communication of a much-longed-for observation would have
caused an outcry, if it had been completely unfounded. If we widen the scope beyond the
Vardøhus expedition itself, more evidence suggests that the scientific data sets from Vardø
may indeed have been considered ‘state secrets’ by the Danish authorities.
As Sverker Sörlin has pointed out, the participants at the Danish-sponsored expedition to
Arabia felix in the years 1761-1767 (from where Carsten Niebuhr returned as the sole
survivor), were under strict orders not to publish any results of their expedition elsewhere than
in Copenhagen. In fact, the scientific staff of that expedition was not even allowed to
communicate their findings by letter to foreigners. 181 Incidentally, the man who was in charge
of the Arabia felix enterprise, minister Moltke, was also the host of Father Hell in
Copenhagen in June 1768. Since Hell’s expedition was planned under the same regime as
Niebuhr’s, it is not unlikely that he received similar instructions. So, the ban against private
communication of the data sets from Vardø may well have been in breach with the ideals and
practices of the Republic of Letters, but it was in accordance with Danish behaviour under
very similar circumstances only a few years earlier.
180 See for example Hsia 1999; Standaert 1999; Pagani 2006.
181 Sörlin 1993, pp. 58-61. See also Section I.1.2.1 above.
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