Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

and less conspicuous ‘nodes’, which Hell brought to the awareness of his peers through
scientific correspondence and publications. This promoting was by no means all-embracive.
The refutation of Schumacher has been mentioned. Hell there put his authority as a Jesuit
priest and as Imperial and Royal Astronomer behind a – probably quite devastating – attack
on a simple almanac editor in Dresden. Needless to say, that amateur was never bestowed the
honour of having his observations published in Hell’s Ephemerides.
A counter-example is provided by Petrus Anich (1723-1766), a farmer and turning-lathe
operator from the village Oberperfuss in Tyrol. A eulogy of this man was included in Hell’s
Ephemerides Astronomicae for the year 1767. In 1751, at the age of 28, Anich had made his
way from his village to the Jesuit Collegium in nearby Oenipontum (Innsbruck), where he
presented himself to the Professor of Mathematics, Ignatius Weinhart SJ (1705-1787). The
published account tells how Weinhart perceived the man’s potential, and decided to teach him
during Sundays and other holidays. Soon, “thanks to his own talent and industry” 94 Anich
emerged as a prominent surveyor and map maker in Tyrol. Weinhart’s correspondence with
Hell concerning this publication is preserved. Both in these letters and in the printed version,
the propaganda aspect of the story is made quite explicit. 95 In a preface to the eulogy, Hell and
Weinhart explain how a recent publication on the scientific achievements of a Saxonian
farmer by the name Joannes Ludewig from Cossebaude had driven them to act. 96 In that
publication, Ludewig’s example was used to demonstrate that “Saxony [Sachsen] owed to
Martin Luther” the fact that “even Saxonian farmers engage in philosophy and produce works
on mathematics and other exact sciences”. 97 With great pathos, the two Jesuit professors extol
Anich as an example refuting that claim. According to them, Catholic farmers had proven
themselves to be at least as capable as, and probably even more capable than, Protestants to
make tremendous advances in the exact sciences. Thus, the eulogy was published to
94 Hell & Weinhart Elogium Rustici Tyrolensis Celeberrimi Petri Anich Oberperfussensis Coloni, Tornatoris,
Chalcographi, Mechanicarum Artium Magistri, Geodetæ, Geographi, et Astrophili ad Prodigium Excellentis…
1768, p. 7 footnote: “in iis, quæ præstitit Anichius longe plus debet sibimetipsi, talento suo, & industriæ propriæ,
quam mihi [i.e. professori suo Weinhart]” = “in the things Anich achieved, he owed far more to himself, to his
own talent and industry, than to me [that is, his teacher Weinhart]”.
95 The text was reprinted with corrections and additions in Oenipontum in 1768, after a resumé had appeared in
the Parisian Journal Éncyclopedique (Sommervogel 1893, p. 254). It is the Oenipontum version that I have had
access to.
96 See Johann Ludewig, Der gelehrte Bauer. Mit Christian Gotthold Hoffmanns Vorbericht nebst Kupffern
(Dresden, 1756), reprinted with a postface by Holger Böning, 1992.
97 Hell & Weinhart 1768, p. 3: “Saxoniam Martino Luthero libertatem sentiendi, & agendi suis sectatoribus
indulgenti in acceptis habere debere suum in scientiis progressum, adeo per omnes hominum conditionibus
propagatum, ut ipsi Rustici Saxones & philosopharentur, & Mathematicas, aliaque severissimas profiterentur
scientias”. Refutation of this statement is found on pp. 4-5 et passim.
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