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The Marvelous Machines of the Far West, by Johann Schreck
| Glimpses | Matteo Ricci | Johann Schreck | Adam Schall | Ruminations |
One interesting book in the History of Science Collections, Johann Schreck’s Ensei kiki zusetsu rokusai (Diagrams and Explanations of Wonderful Machines of the Far West, 1830), is an engineering textbook written in Chinese by a friend of Galileo’s who accompanied him during his early telescopic discoveries. That book was originally printed in China as Qi qi tu shuo in 1627. This edition, printed in Japan, contains more than 170 woodcut illustrations.
Johann Schreck composed Wonderful Machines of the Far West in a joint effort with Wang Cheng, a Chinese collaborator. Many of the machines depicted in the work are found in the pages of European books such as Agostino Ramelli, Le diverse et artificiose machine (Paris, 1588).
Schreck, born in Switzerland in 1630, encountered Galileo while studying medicine at Padua in 1603-1604. In 1611, Schreck observed the satellites of Jupiter at the villa of Federico Cesi (founder of the Accademia dei Lincei). Shortly thereafter, Schreck traveled with Galileo to Rome for telescopic demonstrations at the Villa Medici. On that occasion, as Schreck remembered years later, a hostile witness refused to look through Galileo’s telescope “lest he be forced to admit that what he saw was true.” Galileo was the sixth member invited to join Cesi’s Academy of the Lynx; Schreck became the seventh a few days later. Schreck was also involved in the publication by the Lincei of Francisco Hernandez' Natural History of Mexico (Thesaurus Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispianiae, Rome, 1651).
At this time, Nicolaus Trigault was traveling through Europe explaining the China mission of Matteo Ricci and soliciting the help of mathematicians and astronomers. In December of 1611, Schreck became a Jesuit in order to join Ricci and Trigault in China. Schreck prepared for the trip by collecting an extensive scientific library of approximately 7,000 volumes as well as a Galilean telescope. (Many of these books survive today in the Peitang Library in Beijing.) During the four-year journey to China, both on the ship and during a winter layover in India, Schreck tutored his fellow Jesuits in advanced astronomical techniques. One of those students, Adam Schall von Bell (1592-1666), would become the leader of astronomers in China after Schreck’s death in 1630. Once in China, Schreck continued to correspond with European astronomers, including Galileo and Kepler; the latter answered with two copies of his Tabulae Rudolphinae.
Optional: For more information on Schreck, see the biographical essay at the Archimedes Project.
| Glimpses | Matteo Ricci | Johann Schreck | Adam Schall | Ruminations |
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HSCI 3013. History
of Science to 17th century |
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Many thanks to the pedagogical model developed in Mythology and Folklore and other online courses by Laura Gibbs, which have been an inspiration for this course.
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This course is currently undergoing major reconstruction to bring it into alignment with the new version of the course at Janux |
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