SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 4 August 1921, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

(By “Volt.”) ,

History of the Passion Manuscript. From Geneva comes news of the discovery of a manuscript of the History of the Passion, with which are bound miniatures of notable workmanship, many of which are accredited ■to Durer (says an exchange). There are 23 miniatures in the series. They are painted in gold and colors on vellum. The coloring is brilliant and the design is striking. Eleven of them have been accredited to Durer. The other 12 are not much inferior in execution, and are apparently the work of a pupil, 'possibly of Nicholas Glockendon. From his hand several miniatures after Durer are known, and to him the manuscript was ascribed by its previous owner. The signature of Durer is clearly marked. Except for small alterations the designs are identical with those of the so-called “Little Passion” on wood. This was executed between 1509 and 1511. It is the Durer of the line-en-graving rather than the Durer of the block-book who is recognised in this book. \ Though the date of the work is uncertain, it is believed to have been between 1007 and 1512. The book was bought recently by a Florentine collector and publisher from a bookseller in Nuremberg, who sent it to the curator of the Art Department of the Geneva Museum for examination. Vatican Scientists. The Rome,correspondent of an exchange, writes under date, May 13: — ,i Under the supervision of Father John Hagan, S.J., diiectoi of the Vatican Observatory, who was formerly connected with Georgetown University, Washington, D. 0., there is being issued a wonderful series of 2800 photographs of stars one set for a catalogue of heavenly bodies and one for a photographic map of the skies. The photographs for the catalogue are completed and those for the map of the sky are nearly ready. They will be contained in ten. volumes, five of which have already been published. On the occasion of the appearance of the fifth volume the Holy Father sent a letter through Cardinal Gaspari to Father Hagan congratulating him and his associates in the Observatory on the beautiful and invaluable work they are doing. The idea of constructing a large photographic map of the sky was conceived and proposed in 1890 by Rear Admiral Mouchcz, director of the astronomical observatory of Paris. He suggested the employment of photography for the study of astronomy and especially for permanently recording the physical aspects of the heavenly bodies. The idea was accepted with enthusiasm by scientific men and a commission was at once formed to divide the difficult work among the most famous of the world’s astronomers. Pope Leo XIII., advised by the celebrated Father Denza then director of the Vatican Observatory, offered to co-operate in the great undertaking. Pope Leo’s proffer of the services of the Vatican astronomers and equipment was promptly and gratefully accepted by the'committee. Eighteen observatories, distributed throughout the world, were then selected to participate in the work. They were the Vatican and Catania observatories in Italy; Oxford and Greenwich in England; Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse in France; San Fernando in Spain; Potsdam in Germany; Helsingfors in Finland; Algiers and Cape of Good Hope in Africa; Perth, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia; Cordoba in Argentine; Santiago in Chile; and Tambaja in Mexico. . The portion of the sky assigned to the Vatican Observatory extends from 54 to 64 degrees of the boreal hemisphere. In making the photograps for the map, the pose must be three-fold, and each of the three phases requires 40 minutes. From this it will be seen how long and delicate is the process of obtaining acceptable prints. For thirty years the work has been devoutly performed' by Father Lais, vice-director of the Observatory, assisted recently by Professor Emanuelli. All these observatories adopted an unique type of telescope, called international type, and they immediately began their labors. The work has been pursued with great industry up to the present time.