The Copernican Globe

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The Copernican globe: A delayed

conception
a
Elly Dekker
a
Faculty of Geographical Sciences/Cartography, University of
Utrecht , Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Published online: 18 Sep 2006.
To cite this article: Elly Dekker (1996) The Copernican globe: A delayed conception, Annals of
Science, 53:6, 541-566
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00033799600200391
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ANNALS o r SCIENCE, 53 (1996), 541-566
The Copernican Globe: A Delayed Conception
ELLY DEKKER
Faculty of Geographical Sciences/Cartography, University of Utrecht,
Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Received 29 April 1996

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Summary
The impact on globe making of the change from a Ptolemaic to a Copernican
world-view is examined. As well as showing a map of the Earth and the Heavens,
the main use of globes originally was to demonstrate the natural phenomena as
these are observed from a geocentric perspective. In the second half of the
eighteenth century some belated attempts were made to construct so-called
Copernican globes for this purpose. This late response did not stop the production
and use of the common Ptolemaic globe. It is argued that the technological
developments of the nineteenth century made the role of the globe as a
demonstration model superfluous and thus contributed more to the downfall of
the common Ptolemaic globe than did any revolution in science.
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
2. Ptolemaic globes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
2.1. The Ptolemaic nature of the common globe .......................... 544
2.2 The English Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
3. Demonstration models for the motions of the Earth ...................... 549
4. Copernican globes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
4.1. George Adams Sr and the Copernican problem ..................... 550
4.2. The Copernican globe of George Adams Jr .......................... 554
4.3. The Copernican globe of Cornelis Covens ............................ 559
5. Discussion and conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
1. Introduction
In the quest for the role of the sciences throughout society in past times, the study
of globes is of great interest. Globes served as showpieces in the palaces of monarchs,
they decorated the libraries of universities and monasteries, formed part of the
collections of instruments of learned societies, and finally, found their way to private
studies and schoolrooms.
In the Middle Ages globes were virtually absent, but from the sixteenth century
their production increased exponentially. Their impact on popular science can hardly
be underestimated, because these models served to explain the principles of astronomy
and geography without the need to understand the mathematics involved. The use of
globes as demonstration models is clear from an uninterrupted series of manuals on
their use, dating from the early sixteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries.1
I The first printed manual on the use of globes is that published by Johann Schfner, Luculentissima
quaedam terrae totius descriptio : cure multis utilissimis Cosmographiae iniciis ... (Nuremberg, 1515). A
treatise on the celestial globe followed a few years later: Solidi ac sphaerici corperis sire Globi Astronomici
canones usurn... (Nuremberg, 1517), with Appendices, which was published in 1518, also in Nuremberg. It
0003-3790/96 $12"00 9 1996 Taylor & Francis Ltd

542 E. Dekker
GEMMA PH RY,'
SIVS DE PRINCIPIIS ASTRONO.
miz ~ CofmograF.hiz, De@ vfu Globi ab eodem
editi. Item deOrbisdiuifione, ~Infu~'
lis,rcbuf~ nuperinuentis.
V,tneunt cura Globi~ Louanit ,~ud $erucllura Zaffenura, 0~

~ntutrfia s~ud Grtgoriu~ttl~ontiun~fi~,fcuto B~fiticn~.
Figure 1. Engraving of the common globe from Gemma Frisius, De principiis astronornios &
cosmographioe (Antwerp, 1530).
A m o n g the phenomena that a globe could demonstrate, the time-related appearances

of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars, as these were seen by a local observer, came first.
Also geographical concepts such as 'the antoeci, perioeci and antipodes' as well as
' t h e torrid, temperate and frigid zones' were, until the middle of the nineteenth
century, part of the subject-matter taught with the help of globes. ' T o know the use
of both the globes' was for centuries the first step in learning geography, astronomy,
navigation, astrology, time measurement, and trigonometry)
is impossible to list all subsequent manuals here. Peter van der Krogt, Globi Neerlandici: The Production
of Globes in the Low Countries (Utrecht, 1993), 626-6, gives a list of 33 editions of books on the use of
globes, which were published in The Netherlands between 1585 and 1650.
2 See, for instance, the manual on globes by Joseph Moxon, A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography. Or
an easie and speedy way to know the USE of both the GLOBES, Ccelestial and Terrestrial.... The Third
Edition Corrected and Enlarged (London, 1674). I used the facsimileedition published in New York (1968).
The Copernican Globe 543
Figure 2. The modern globe from a catalogue of the Berlin firm Ernst Schotte, around 1900.
In discussing the globe as a demonstration model the question arises to what

extent this particular role was affected by the transition from a Ptolemaic to a
Copernican world system. This so-called Copernican Revolution triggered a whole
new class of demonstration models. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
instruments were specially designed for popularizing, first of all, the Copernican
544 E. Dekker
hypothesis, and later the new Newtonian science that followed in its wake. 3 In the new
astronomical models the Earth is endowed with two motions: first, it rotates around
its own polar axis and second, it orbits around the Sun as all the other planets do.
These two motions replaced the Ptolemaic concepts of the 'First Mover', and the
annual motion of the Sun around the Earth respectively. For more than 1500 years
these Ptolemaic motions dominated the structure of the world and they are the basis
o f the use and construction o f the common globe as it was known from the early
sixteenth century. A picture o f such a common globe, in which all accessories for
demonstration and problem solving are present, is shown in Figure 1. It is from the
title page of the manual on globes published in 1530 by the Louvain professor,
Gemma Frisius. 4 Considering its Ptolemaic background one might expect that the
construction and use of at least the common terrestrial globe would have been
influenced by the change from a Ptolemaic to a Copernican world system. This indeed
did happen. Modern terrestrial and celestial globes are usually mounted at a fixed
angle of 66.5 ~ with the horizontal plane, reflecting the position of the Earth's axis with
respect to its orbital plane around the Sun, as is shown in Figure 2, which is taken
from a catalogue of a globe maker in Berlin around 1900. 5 These modern globes lack
the accessories for demonstration. Their use l~as become entirely restricted to showing
the cartography of the Earth and the Heavens.
Recently, a terrestrial globe has come to light that combines the problem-solving
facilities of the common globe with the ' Copernican' mounting of the modern globe
(Figure 8). 6 It was designed in 1802 by the Dutch globe maker Cornelis Covens and
appears to reflect a transition from the common globe to the modern one. Such truly
Copernican globes are very rare and raise a number o f questions. Whey did it take
so long before the transition from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican world-view began
to be a matter of concern in globe making? And when it finally did affect the trade
at large, why was the role of the globe as a demonstration model lost in the process?
To gain insight into these problems in this paper, the Ptolemaic nature of the
common globe and its value as a demonstration model will first be explained. Then
follows a short discussion of the existing demonstration models for the motions of the
Earth, such as the tellurium, and their relevance to problem solving. The construction
of Copernican globes and their reception is next examined. Finally, the reason for the
disappearance of the globe as a demonstration model in the nineteenth century is
discussed.
2. Ptolemaic globes
2.1. The Ptolemaic nature of the common globe
The construction of Western terrestrial globes emerged during the fifteenth
century after Ptolemy's Geography had been translated into Latin in 1409-10. 7 At that
time the Earth was firmly believed to be immobile in the centre of the Universe. Thus,
3 Henry C. King, in collaboration with John R. Millburn, Geared to the Stars: The Evolution o f
Planetariums, Orreries, and Astronomical Clocks (Toronto, 1978).
4 Gemma Frisius, De Principiis Astronomi~e & Cosmographice. Deque vsu Globi ab eodem editi. Item de
Orbis divisione, & Insutis, rebusque nuper inuentis (Antwerp, 1530). The title page of the manual by Johann
Sch6ner of 1515 (note 1) also shows a picture of a globe, but there the hour circle, one of the important
accessories of the common globe, is lacking.
5 For the picture and the firm Ernst Schotte, see Johannes Dorflinger, 'Verlagsanzeigen als Quellen zur
Geschichte der Globen', Der Globusfreund, 33/4 (1986), 81-98, and figure 21.
6 Private communication by Trevor Philip & Sons Ltd, London.
7 Evidence for the impact of Ptolemy's Geography on early globe making is presented by Dana Bennett
Durand, The Vienna-Kloster Neuburg Map Corpus of the Fifteenth Century: A Study in the Transition from
Medieval to Modern Science (Leiden, 1952), 164--7. Records of early, no longer extant terrestrial globes,
i?ii!84
A
,
Figure 3. Engraving of the English Globe from The English Globe invented by R. Palmer, Earl
o f Castlemain (n.d.), Bodleian Library (Ashmole 1733). 9 Bodleian Library.
as far as m o d e l s o f the E a r t h are c o n c e r n e d , it w o u l d h a v e sufficed to m a k e a simple

terrestrial sphere with a fixed m o u n t i n g . The existence o f static m o d e l s is k n o w n f r o m
also induced by Ptolemy's Geography, are discussed by Jacques Paviot, 'Ung Mapmonde rond, en guise
de Pom(m)e: Ein Erdglobus von 1440-44, hergestellt f~ir Philipp den Guten, Herzog von Burgund', Der
Globus[reund, 43/4 (1995), 19-30; and Jozef Babicz, 'The celestial and terrestrial globes of the Vatican
Library, dating from 1477, and their maker Donnus Nicolaus Germanus (ca. 142(~ca. 1490)', Der
Globu~i/feund, 35/7 (1987), 155-68. See also Klaus A. Vogel,' Armillarsph~ire und friJhe Globen vor 1492',
Der GlobusJfeund, 43/4 (1995), 31~t2.
546 E. Dekker
paintings, but no copy of such a globe has survived. 8 Apparently they were not
produced in great numbers. The preferred construction in early globe making was a
mobile sphere mounted in a stand with a number of accessories (Figure 1), notably
a movable meridian ring, a fixed horizon ring and an hour circle. The motions to be
demonstrated by the common globe were naturally Ptolemaic in origin: that of the
'First Mover' and the annual motion of the Sun around the Earth. In the common
pair of terrestrial and celestial globes, the diurnal motion of the 'First Mover' is
realized by the mobility of both spheres around the poles of the world. When
operated, these spheres always have to be turned from east to west, in accordance with
the Ptolemaic world system. For the proper understanding of the concept of the
common globe, it is important to realize that, in particular, the mobility of the sphere
of a common terrestrial globe has nothing whatsoever to do with a motion of the
Earth. Neither is it a matter of convenience. When the sphere of a terrestrial globe is

turned around, it is the daily motion of the Sun that is reproduced, as is, for instance,
clearly indicated by the inscription on the horizon ring of the Behaim terrestrial globe
of 1492: 'the ring is called the horizon and shows the rising and the setting of the Sun
and the 12 signs'. 9 Thus, in the terrestrial globe the motion of the First Mover is
imparted to the' sphere of the Sun' and in the celestial globe to the' sphere of the fixed
stars'. With this construction the whole series of phenomena, which mattered in daily
life as well as in education, such as the rising and setting of the Sun (with the
terrestrial globe) and of the stars (with the celestial globe), and the difference in local
time between places with different longitudes, can be demonstrated. The mobile
meridian ring serves to rectify the globe for the latitude of a place. The hour circle
with pointer on top of the meridian ring can be set to local time, as measured through
the diurnal motion of the Sun. Finally, the fixed local horizon is represented by a
horizontal ring, which serves for finding the times of rising and setting of the celestial
bodies and of the zodiacal signs for astrological problems. The gnomon depicted in
Figure 1 (bottom left corner) shows that the terrestrial globe was also to be used for
dialling. 1~
The annual motion of the Sun around the Earth is realized only indirectly by two
design features. First, the ecliptic is drawn on both the terrestrial and celestial
sphere. 1~ Second, the position of the Sun in the zodiac throughout the year is
8 The best known and most often recorded example is the terrestrial globe depicted in the painting The
Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger of 1533, in the National Gallery, London. See, for instance,
Elly Dekker and Peter van der Krogt, Globes from the Western WorM(London, 1993), 24, figures 8, 9. Very
few of the surviving early terrestrial globes have their original stand, but all existing examples of static
globes such as that seen in The Ambassadors are facsimiles, made in the nineteenth century or later.
9 Roland Schewe, ' Das Gestell des Behaim-Globus', in Focus Behaim Globus, edited by G. Bott, 2 vols
(Nuremberg, 1993), k 279-88, in particular 283 : ' Der ring ist genent orisont vnd zeigt das auf vnd absteigen
der sonnen vnd der zwelf zeichen'. The horizon ring was added to the globe in 1510. The precise historical
background of the use of the horizon ring in the common terrestrial globe is still uncertain. In the
construction of celestial globes horizon rings were common from antiquity. This could easily have been
transferred to the construction of terrestrial globes but in doing so the conceptual distinction between the
fixed Earth and a mobile sky had to be overcome. The first mention of a terrestrial globe with a ' horizont'
is by Germanicus in 1477 (see Vogel, note 7, 36) but since these globes have not survived, it is uncertain
whether a real horizon ring is meant.
l0 In the literature on dials it is generally ignored that many manuals on globes have a chapter on
dialling. This is not surprising because it has not been recognized generally that the common terrestrial
globe actually is a model for the daily motion of the Sun. In the treatise on globes by Moxon (note 2),
136-81, the gnonomic problems are discussed at length.
t The indication of the ecliptic on the terrestrial globe is not so strange as it appeared to some globe
makers at the end of the eighteenth century. In a Ptolemaic context, all circles on the terrestrial globe are
'celestial' in origin. The tropics and the equinoctial line are defined by the daily motion of the Sun, when
displayed graphically on the horizon ring of the globes. The choice of the horizon ring
was a matter of convenience.12 It served to provide information about the location'of
the Sun at a particular time of the year. Once this is known, the Sun can be located
in the ecliptic drawn on the sphere and its motion for that time of the year can be
demonstrated.
The design of, in particular, the terrestrial globe is therefore a mixture of concepts.
This is best illustrated by the use of the globe for the following problem: ' the H o u r
of the D a y at one Place, being given; to find the correspondent H o u r (or what
o'Clock it is at that Time) in any other P l a c e ' ) 3 F o r solving this problem first 'the
Place at which the H o u r is given' is brought to the meridian, and the pointer is set
to the given hour. Then the globe is turned until' the Place where the H o u r is required
comes to the Meridian' and the pointer will then indicate the required hour.14 The
principle involved in this solution is simply that the difference in longitude between
two places as depicted on the ' sphere of the E a r t h ' is converted into a difference in
local time by turning the 'sphere of the Sun' about and this can be measured with the
hour circle.
Against this background it is rather anachronistic to call the c o m m o n terrestrial
globe a model of the Earth. It could just as well or better be called a ' solarium', that
is a Ptolemaic model for demonstrating the phenomena arising from the diurnal and
annual motion of the Sun around the Earth, by analogy with the later Copernican
model, known as the tellurium, for the demonstration of the motion of the Earth
around the Sun. However that may be, the use o f the c o m m o n terrestrial and celestial
globes as a pair of demonstration models appeared to have been a very successful
formula that until the second half of the eighteenth century was rarely criticized.
Nevertheless, by the end of that century the concepts underlying the c o m m o n
Ptolemaic globe did come under attack:
Though globes have ever been considered as the best instruments for conveying
general ideas of astronomy and geography, yet have they always been mounted
in a way that must perplex and confuse the learner, and furnish him with ideas
that are altogether false, and contrary to the nature of things. 15
2.2. The English Globe

One of the few alternatives to the c o m m o n Ptolemaic globe is the so-called English
Globe, which in the 1670s was designed by Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine, and
promoted by the globe m a k e r Joseph M o x o n (Figure 3),16 The English Globe is a static
it is located at the equinoctial and solstitial points. The Behaimglobe of 1492already has the ecliptic drawn
in; see the reproduction of the map of the Behaim globe in Bott (note 9), I, 259-71.
12 The graphical way of finding the place of the Sun in the zodiac during the year is a feature that for
centuries had been presented at the back of astrolabes, but it is not known when this was first drawn on
the horizon ring of terrestrial globes. It is included on the horizon ring of the celestial globe by Johann
strfller of 1493; see my description in Bott (note 9), 11, 516-18, no. 1.16.
13 Joseph Harris, The Description and Use of the Globes and the Orrery, 3rd edn (London, 1738), 96-7.
14 Idem.
15 George Adams, Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, considered in its present state of
Improvement. Describing, in a familiar and easy Manner, the Principal Phenomena of Nature; and shewing,
that they all co-operate in displaying the Goodness, Wisdom, and Power of God, 4 vols (London, 1794), IV,
197.
16 The globe was advertized in a prospectus, The English Globe invented by R. Palmer, Earl of
Cast&maine (n.d.), folio, single sheet printed one side. A copy is preserved in the Bodleian Library (Bodl.
Ashmole 1733). A complete description is given in Joseph Moxon, The English Globe, Being a Stabil and
Immobil one performing what the ordinary Globes do, and much more. Invented and described by the Right
548 E. Dekker
model o f the Earth, which had been designed as a response to pocket globes. These
small and cheap globes, which had been invented by Joseph M o x o n himself, became
very p o p u l a r and quickly f o u n d their place in the m a r k e t next to the c o m m o n globe. 17
However, they only showed the ordering o f the lands and the constellations, nothing
more. It is, I believe, significant that this was considered as a serious s h o r t c o m i n g o f
the pocket globe. It p r o m p t e d the Earl o f Castlemaine to the invention o f a globe
which, Being a Stabil and Immobil one, represents the Earth more naturally, according
to the c o m m o n Ptolemaic hypothesis. Palmer and M o x o n were obviously not
adherents o f the Copernican world system in which the Earth is supposed to turn
a r o u n d its o w n axis. ~8
In spite o f its static character the English G l o b e was designed to compete with the
c o m m o n globe:performing what the ordinary Globes do, and much more; even without
the usual Appendices o f Wooden Horizon, Brazen Meridians, Verticle Circles, Horary
Circles, Nautical Compass, &c. ~9 The m o s t notable features in the design o f the
English G l o b e are that the fixed horizon ring and the h o u r circle o f the c o m m o n globe
are now directly engraved on the globe gores (Figure 3). The predominance o f the
h o u r scales along the equator and the polar circles indicates that the English G l o b e
indeed served m o r e purposes than being a model o f the Earth. Clearly, time, and
therefore the daily m o t i o n o f the Sun, played an i m p o r t a n t role in the design o f this
new globe. But h o w could this immobile globe do everything a mobile globe can d o ?
Taking a closer look and considering the type o f problems that could be solved by it,
one observes that in the English G l o b e the two c o m p o n e n t s that make up the c o m m o n
terrestrial globe, the Earth and the 'sphere o f the S u n ' , have been separated. In the
design o f the English Globe the terrestrial sphere is employed as a sundial (for the
latitude o f L o n d o n ) in order to deal with the p h e n o m e n a arising f r o m the ' sphere o f
the Sun'.2~ The mobility o f the c o m m o n globe, that is the m o t i o n o f the ' s p h e r e o f
the S u n ' , is replaced by the m o t i o n o f the real Sun in the sky. The English Globe,
which has to be operated in clear sunlight, can solve all sorts o f questions on time-
related p h e n o m e n a and as such served the same d e m o n s t r a t i o n purpose as the
c o m m o n globe. 2~ However, since it was designed for a fixed latitude certain
p h e n o m e n a such as the variation o f the length o f the day with latitude could not be
demonstrated. In order to rebut criticism M o x o n included in his description an
instruction on h o w to make the globe universal, in c a s e ' a m a n cannot be content with
one for his study or garden, unless it m a y serve for Jerusalem also'.22
Honorable the Earl of Cast&maine (London, 1679). Two copies of the English Globe have survived, one in
Winchester Cathedral Library, another in the University Library Cambridge. The background of the
English Globe is discussed by Helen Wallis, 'Geography is better than Divinitie: maps, globes, and
geography in the days of Samuel Pepys', in The Compleat Plattmaker, edited by N. J. W. Thrower
(London, 1978), 1-43.
17 Dekker and van der Krogt (note 8), 111-12.
18 Moxon (note 2), 12-13.
19 Prospectus (note 16).
20 The use of the globe for time measurement in this particular way is described in N. Bion, The
Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments, translated from the French by Edmund
Stone (London, 1723; 2nd edn 1758). In both editions the globe is discussed on pp. 238-9. On p. 239 it is
said : ' Note. This dial is the most natural of others, because it resembles the Earth itself, and the sun shines
thereon as he does on the Earth '. I used the facsimile of the second edition, published in New Jersey (1995).
21 One of the two surviving copies of the English Globe was examined by A. D. Baynes-Copes, 'The
study and conservation of Globes', Der Globu~freund, 33/4 (1986), 1-80, especially figures 6, 12. Baynes-
Copes presented the English Globe to show the damaging effects of exposure to sunlight. He could not have
chosen a better example.
22 Moxon (note 16), 41. The instruction consisted of the advice to have an instrument maker produce
an adjustable brass circle divided like the horizon.
3. Demonstration models for the motions of the Earth

If the common terrestrial globe represents indeed a 'solarium', which, as
described above, is a model for demonstrating the motion o f the Sun around the
Earth as seen from a Ptolemaic perspective, its natural successor in the Copernican
world system would be the tellurium, that is the model demonstrating the motion of
the Earth around the Sun. 23 Such instruments were designed to represent the main
features o f the complex of motions of the Earth: its annual revolution about the Sun,
its diurnal rotation, and the constancy of direction of its axis of rotation. The earliest
o f the still extant models was made by the Dutch publisher, and map and globe
maker, Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638) in about 1634 (Figure 4), and many more
such models were made thereafter. 24 In Blaeu's model the Earth is represented by a
small terrestrial globe which is fitted into a 'Copernican' mounting: its polar axis is
fixed under 66.5 ~ with the ecliptical (horizontal) plane and, via a train of gears below
the base plate, maintains a fixed orientation in space during its annual motion around
the Sun. Around the Earth itself there is a set of rings, as usually encountered in a
geocentric armillary sphere. However, whereas there the horizontal ring always
represents the horizon, in the sphere surrounding the terrestrial globe in Blaeu's
tellurium the horizontal ring represents the ecliptic. The horizon ring itself is attached
to the terrestrial globe in order to show that it moves along with the globe in its
rotation around the polar axis.
The 'Copernican' mounting of the terrestrial globe in Blaeu's tellurium is
encountered in many demonstration models made during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Therefore, globes mounted in the Copernican way (that is the
same as in the modern globe), are not rare. However, this type o f mounting was until
recently not applied to the common globe. The particular problems that could be
tacked with globes could in no way be as easily solved with the help of a tellurium,
in spite of the demonstration with the latter of the true motions of the Earth. The
terrestrial globe in a tellurium is usually not more than 3 inches in diameter, and often
the horizon ring is lacking. The common globe was a far too powerful model to be
dispensed with in education for demonstrating especially the apparent phenomena
arising from the rotation of the Earth around its own axis. Many globe makers
considered the common Ptolemaic globe in the same light as Joseph Harris, a teacher
of mathematics, put it in 1738:
But because it is from the Earth that we always observe the Celestial bodies, and
their apparent motions seem to us to be really made in heaven, it is more natural
in explaining the Phenomena arising from these motions, to place the Earth in
the Centre. 25
The Ptolemaic globe remained in demand and flourished as never before, especially
in England where globe making reached its highest peak in the second half of the
eighteenth century.
23 King (note 3), 93.

24 For the most recent information on Blaeu as a globe maker, see van der Krogt (note 1), chapters 4,
5. Blaeu's instrument is describedin detail in King (note 3), 94, Five copies of this instrument have been
recorded,but one of these was recentlylost. The copy shownin Figure 4 is in the Rijksmuseum'Nederlands
Scheepvaartmuseum'; see Marijke Donkersloot-deVrij, Drie Generaties Blaeu : Amsterdamse Cartografie
en boekdrukkunst in de zeventiende eeuw (Zutphen, 1992), 54, and figure 6.5. Another copy is shown in
Ludolf von Mackensen, Die erste Sternwarte Europas mit ihren lnstrumenten und Uhren: 400 Jahre Jost
Biirgi in Kassel (Munich, 1979; 3rd edn 1988), 99.
25 Harris (note 13), 38.
550 E. Dekker
Figure 4. The tellurium of Willem Jansz. Blaeu, c.1634. Collectie Nederlands Scheepvaart-
museum, Amsterdam. 9 Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum.
4. Copernicanglobes
4.1. George A d a m s S r and the Copernican p r o b l e m
Around 1765 George Adams (1709-72), a notable London instrument maker,
entered the globe-making trade with the production of a pair of globes of a new
design. H o w these globes were to be used is described in a manual, the first edition
of which appeared in London in 1766. 26 Adams' treatise was reprinted several times
and when the fifth edition (published in 1782) was sold out, his son George A d a m s
Jr (1750-95) was requested to prepare a new edition. In order to 'obviate several
objections to the form in which he [his father] had disposed the problems' Adams Jr
published an entirely revised treatise, his A s t r o n o m i c a l a n d Geographical Essays, in
1789. 27 In it Adams Jr brought the novelty of his father's globe design most fully to
light, and for this reason we shall follow his treatise. In the ' C a t a l o g u e ' added to this
work two kinds of globes are advertised. F o r instance, the price of an 18-inch globe
with m a h o g a n y frame mounted in the c o m m o n manner was s 8s 0d, whereas the
same globe but mounted in the best manner was offered for the price of s 12s Od. 28
26 George Adams [Sr], A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial
and Terrestrial Globes (London, 1766).
27 George Adams, Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing L A Comprehensive View of the
General Principles of Astronomy ; H. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes,... IlL The Description and
Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical
Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial (London, 1789).
28 Ibid., 'A Catalogue of Instruments' (bound in).
Until now the difference between Adams' globes mounted in the best and in the
common manner has been interpreted in terms of the presence or absence of a number
of semi-circles and various constructional features, which formed part of the new
globe design of Adams Sr. 29 That this is correct for the celestial globe of the pair is
explicitly said by Adams Jr in his Essays:
The celestial globe is used in the same way in both mountings, excepting, that
in my father's mounting it has some additional circles; but the difference is so
trifling, that it is presumed the pupil can find no difficulty in applying the
directions there as given to the old form. 3~
Since our concern here is with the Copernican globe we shall leave Adams' celestial
globe aside and concentrate on the terrestrial globe, for which the situation is more
complex. In the introduction to the use of the globes mounted in the best manner
Adams Jr explains:
The earth, by its diurnal revolution on its axis, is carried round from west to
east. To represent this real motion of the earth, and to solve problems agreeable
there to, it is necessary that the globe, in the solution of every problem, should
be moved from W E S T TO E A S T ; and for this purpose, that the divisions on
the large brass circle should be on that side which looks westwards. Now this
is the case in my father's mode of mounting the globes, and the tutor can
thereby explain with ease the rationale of any problem to his pupil. But in the
common mode of mounting, the globe must be moved from east to west
according to the Ptolemaic system.3~ (emphasis added)
For the construction of globes the significant part of the Copernican hypothesis is the
true rotation of the Earth around its own axis. In fitting up the terrestrial globe
agreeable to the Copernican and Ptolemaic hypotheses respectively, the distinction
between the Copernican motion of the Earth around its own axis and the Ptolemaic
motion of the Sun around the poles of the world is equivalent to that between the
motion of the globe from west to east and the other way around. Therefore, the
distinction made by Adams Jr between the use of the terrestrial globe with his father's
mounting and the common mode of mounting, that is, to solve problems by moving
the globe from west to east rather than from east to west, demonstrates that a
Copernican concept underlies the design of the terrestrial globe of Adams Sr. The
'Copernican' problem involved is how to explain the natural phenomena as these are
observed from a geocentric perspective by turning a globe from west to east. The key
to Adams' solution of this 'Copernican' problem is, first, his description of new
methods for problem solving and second, his design of a globe which suited these new
methods best.
29 See, for instance, Peter van der Krogt, Old Globes in the Netherlands: A Catalogue of Terrestrial and
Celestial Globes Made Prior to 1850 and Preserved in Dutch Collections (Utrecht, 1984), 35-7. Van der
Krogt lists as part of the normal circles: the meridian ring, the horizon ring, and an hour circle mounted
between the meridian and sphere. This latter English type of hour circle is not part of the original design
of Adams. It was applied, however, on some of the later globes made by the Adams family. Among the
parts designed by Adams, a quadrant of altitude is listed which is, in fact, one of the normal circles of
globes, whereas the hour scale engraved on the globe gores (to be used with the semicircle with movable
hour indexes) is not mentioned.
30 Adams (note 27), 525. The relevant text in Adams Sr (note 26), 36, is: 'We have contrived our new
globes so that the real motion of the earth and the apparent diurnal motion o f the heavens are presented
by them '.
31 Adams (note 27), 244~5. The principle is explained by Adams Sr (note 26), 3: 'In the use of the
terrestrial globe, we are to consider ourselves standing upon some part of its surface and that its motion
represents the real diurnal motion of the earth, which is from west to east'.
552 E. D e k k e r
A d a m s ' m a n u a l presents a completely new a p p r o a c h to using the globe in solving

relevant problems. Indeed, in the advertisement in the Daily Advertiser on 29 O c t o b e r
1755, in which A d a m s first a n n o u n c e d the p r o d u c t i o n o f a new pair o f globes, the
b o o k is said to be ' on a new plan'.32 Essential for understanding the structure o f this
remarkable treatise is that the circle which in the c o m m o n globe is labelled as the
horizon ring cannot, o f course, serve this purpose any m o r e in the best mounting, as
the rotation o f the sphere n o w represents that o f the E a r t h a r o u n d its axis. D u r i n g
this rotation the true horizon moves along with the sphere. Therefore, this ring is
labelled the ' B R O A D P A P E R C I R C L E ' and, depending on the function given to it,
various sets o f solutions are presented. One set o f solutions is based on the situation
that the poles o f the globe are set for the declination o f the Sun for the time o f the
year. A solar declination scale at the back o f the graduated brass circle o f the
terrestrial globe serves to m a k e this feasible. In this situation the Sun will be located
right above the sphere and the ' b r o a d paper circle' coincides with the circle o f
illumination separating day and night. A n o t h e r set o f solutions requires that the poles
o f the globe are set at 66.5 ~ above the horizontal plane (that is, the sphere is m o u n t e d
in the C o p e r n i c a n fashion), but then the bro~ad paper circle represents the ecliptic. In
either case one has, o f course, to imagine the Sun to be outside the globe and to turn
the globe f r o m west to east. In b o t h m e t h o d s the local horizon disappears out o f view.
The absence o f the horizon ring is a disadvantage n o t to be underestimated, because
the solutions o f m a n y problems were in fact based on its very presence. This was to
some degree compensated for by A d a m s by a d d i n g a small sliding circle to the
m o v a b l e meridian, which he called the terrestrial or visible horizon.
The new ' C o p e r n i c a n ' methods o f solving problems account for the introduction
o f a n u m b e r o f the new design features, two o f which, the solar declination scale and
the small visible horizon, have already been mentioned. The most notable detail in the
new design o f A d a m s Sr, his unusual construction o f the h o u r circle, is also a
consequence o f the ' C o p e r n i c a n ' w a y o f solving problems. In order to rectify the
globe for the solar declination the need to bring the south pole repeatedly above the
b r o a d paper circle is imperative. 33 Therefore, A d a m s had to find another solution for
the h o u r circle than that in use with the c o m m o n globe, that is, one m o u n t e d on top
o f the meridian ring. A d a m s engraved the h o u r scale on the sphere itself at the
equator, and added a semicircular wire with indexes to replace the pointer. By this
replacement the south pole could smoothly be b r o u g h t above the horizon ring. A n d
there are other, at first sight inconspicuous differences in construction stemming f r o m
the ' C o p e r n i c a n ' problem. As A d a m s Jr explained in the q u o t a t i o n above, the
terrestrial globe should be m o v e d f r o m west to east, and consequently, the divisions
on the large brass circle should be on that side which looks westwards. 34 The brass circle
32 This information was kindly provided by Mr John R. Millburn from his forthcoming monograph on
the Adams family. Millburn would not read too much into the words 'new plan'. The accusation of
plagiarism raised against Adams' earlier books on microscopes and quadrants may have been a reason for
asserting that the book on globes was newly written. Moreover, in his 1766 advertisements the globes are
called new, not the treatise. However, assuming that Adams' book on globes was, indeed, on a new plan,
it is possible that Adams meant more than just asserting that his globe book was his own work. It is further
understandable that Adams in 1766 emphasized his globes rather than the treatise, because it was the
globes he wanted to sell in the first place.
33 During the summer the solar declination is positive, and the north pole has to be set above the broad
paper circle, but during the winter it is negative, and then the south pole has to be set above the broad paper
circle. A common globe is rectified for the latitude of a place, which in most cases required that the north
pole was above the horizon.
34 In the manual by Adams Sr (note 26) this is explained on p. 11 : 'The graduated side of the strong
brass circle encompassing our new terrestrial globe, faces west'.
Figure 5. Engraving of the pair of globes of George Adams Sr, mounted in the best manner,
from George Adams Jr, Astronomical and Geographical Essays (1789).
here referred to (formally labelled ' the strong brass ring') corresponds to what in the
Ptolemaic globe is labelled as the brazen meridian ring. Students familiar with the use
o f the c o m m o n Ptolemaic globe, in which the sphere rotates from east to west, are
aware that the east side o f the horizon must always be turned towards the user. F o r
that reason the meridian ring is graduated on the side facing eastwards and it is this
graduated side that passes exactly t h r o u g h the poles o f the sphere. 35 However, when
a globe is to be turned from west to east this same convention in construction requires
that the graduated side is on the west side. In Figure 5 a drawing o f a pair o f A d a m s
globes is shown with the terrestrial globe indeed having the graduated side facing west
(coinciding with the location o f September on the horizontal ring) and the celestial
globe with the graduated scale facing east (coinciding with the location o f M a r c h on
the horizontal ring). 36 Finally, one more, equally inconspicuous, feature reflecting the
Copernican nature o f his terrestrial globe is on the graduated h o u r scale along the
equator, o f which A d a m s Jr explains: ' As the m o t i o n o f the terrestrial globe is from
west to east, the h o r a r y numbers increase according to the direction o f that m o t i o n ;
on the celestial globe they increase from east to west'.37
35 Moxon (note 2), 37.

36 The very fine pair of globes by George Adams St, presented to King George IIl, is preserved in the
Science Museum, London: Alan Q. Morton and Jane A. Wess, Public' & Private Science: The King George
111 Collection (Oxford, 1993), 22-5 (Catalogue nos E38 and 39), 410-13. The pictures of the terrestrial and
celestial globes on pp. 24 and 25 show clearly that the graduated side of the meridian ring of the terrestrial
globe faces westwards (October) and that it faces eastwards (March) in the celestial globe.
37 Adams (note 27), 261. In the original treatise of Adams Sr (note 26) these scales are discussed on
pp. 15-16.
554 E. Dekker
When seen from the perspective of the 'Copernican' problem, all of the
apparently unconnected new design features introduced by Adams Sr become part of
one and the same pattern. The conclusion therefore is that the 'Copernican' problem
was the driving agent in George Adams's introduction of a new design in globe
making, replacing the popular design of the common globe. Yet, it is difficult to guess
how many users actually operated the globe in the Copernican fashion, because
Adams' design did not prevent the use of his globes in the common, Ptolemaic
manner. In fact, for a number of problems in the manuals of both father and son 'the
broad paper circle' is used as the horizon and the sphere is turned from east to west.
This provided no difficulty at all because the scales of Adams' 'broad paper circle'
and his 'strong brass circle' do not differ from those found on the horizon ring and
the meridian ring of the common globe respectively.
We note that it is not impossible that Adams borrowed the idea of an equatorial
hour scale from the design of the English Globe (see above), which was well known
to him. In his treatise on globes of 1789 Adams Jr includes a section ' Of the solution
of problems, by exposing the globe to the sun's rays', which reproduces the
demonstrations described by Moxon for the English Globe.38 The reason for this is
explained:
My father thought that this method might be useful, to ground more deeply in
the young pupil's mind, those principles which the globes are intended to
explain; and by giving him a different view o f the subject, improve and
strengthen his mind; he therefore inserted on his globes some lines, for the
purpose of solving a few problems in Lord Castlemaine's manner. 39
In brief, Adams' newly designed terrestrial globe can be used in a variety of manners:
first, in a Copernican way with a moving Earth turning from west to east and afixed
Sun outside the globe; second, in the common Ptolemaic manner, serving as the
'sphere of the Sun' when turned from east to west, and third, as the English Globe
with afixed Earth and a real Sun moving outside the globe. Under these circumstances,
one may well wonder whether Adams' terrestrial globe may indeed be called a
Copernican globe. Rather than losing ourselves in semantics, let us stress the fact that
Adams Sr gave much attention to the 'Copernican' problem and that his new
instructions showed the proper way to solve problems by implementing the true
rotation of the Earth.
4.2. The Copernican globes of George Adams Jr

The new approach for operating the globes of George Adams Sr, through the
multiple use of his broad paper circle, was from an educational point of view not very
instructive. Thus the question remained how to make a proper Copernican terrestrial
globe, that is, a globe suitable for solving problems and demonstrating the natural
phenomena (observed from a geocentric perspective) in accordance with the
Copernican motion of the Earth around its own axis.
One logical method is to borrow constructions such as are used in a tellurium, and
it is not surprising that this is actually what happened. An example of particular interest
is the terrestrial globe of 18-inch diameter which was ordered from George Adams Jr
38 Adams (note 27), 352; see also Adams Sr (note 26), 229.
39 Adams (note 27), 352. For instance, Adams added an hour scale along the arctic circle of his
terrestrial globes, in the same way as this is done on the English Globe (compare Figure 3).
in 1790 b y M a r t i n u s v a n M a r u m for Teyler's M u s e u m in H a a r l e m ( F i g u r e 6). 40 O f this

new g l o b e A d a m s Jr w o u l d later, in 1794, write in his Lectures t h a t it ' w a s first
i m p r o v e d by m y father, a n d p l a c e d in a fixed p o s i t i o n , &c, the floating m e r i d i a n a n d
h o r i z o n were a d d e d b y M r N e w m a n ' . 41 T h e idea o f m a k i n g a t r u l y C o p e r n i c a n g l o b e
h a d a p p a r e n t l y been discussed quite s o m e time before, because A d a m s Sr died
in 1772. T h e r e a s o n for t a k i n g it u p a g a i n m u s t be s o u g h t in the c o n t a c t with
v a n M a r u m , because such globes were n o t a d v e r t i s e d in the v a r i o u s c a t a l o g u e s o f
i n s t r u m e n t s p u b l i s h e d b y the A d a m s family. In the 1790s v a n M a r u m was b u y i n g
several d e m o n s t r a t i o n m o d e l s for use d u r i n g his p u b l i c lectures at Teylers
F o u n d a t i o n . O n 18 J u n e 1790 he h a d received p e r m i s s i o n f r o m the D i r e c t o r s to b u y
f r o m the A d a m s firm a n a r m i l l a r y sphere after L o n g ' s design, a p l a n e t a r i u m , a
tellurium, a n d a l u n a r i u m , b u t the a c q u i s i t i o n o f a p a i r o f globes was n o t s a n c t i o n e d
at t h a t time. 42 D u r i n g a visit to L o n d o n in July 1790 v a n M a r u m saw a m o d e l o f a

new globe design, p r e p a r e d b y A d a m s . 43 This m u s t have satisfied h i m because o n 30
July 1790, s h o r t l y after v a n M a r u m ' s r e t u r n f r o m L o n d o n , the D i r e c t o r s a u t h o r i z e d
the a c q u i s i t i o n o f a p a i r o f globes. 44
T h e p r o d u c t i o n o f w h a t was o b v i o u s l y the p r o t o t y p e o f a novel globe design was
f r u s t r a t e d b y difficulties in the w o r k s h o p where the spheres o f A d a m s ' globes were
p r o d u c e d . This especially affected the newly designed globes o r d e r e d by van M a r u m .
In a letter to h i m o f 12 S e p t e m b e r 1791, A d a m s m e n t i o n s his difficulties a n d p o i n t s
o u t t h a t the ' G l o b e s i n t e n d e d for y o u were to have a " h o l l o w a x i s " ' a n d t h a t ' t h i s
was s o m e t h i n g o u t o f the common'.45 A t last, on 4 N o v e m b e r 1791, the new terrestrial
g l o b e was sent off, with the c o m p l i m e n t s o f the m a k e r : ' I t h i n k it was the c o m p l e a t e s t
thing o f the k i n d t h a t was ever m a d e , e v e r y b o d y t h a t saw it, was pleased with it'.a6
v a n M a r u m was p l e a s e d too, as witnessed b y a p u b l i c n o t e o f its first d e m o n s t r a t i o n :
H a a r l e m , 18 J a n u a r y . L a s t S a t u r d a y Dr. van M a r u m s h o w e d to the O r d i n a r y

Society o f T e y l e r ' s F o u n d a t i o n , the e x t r e m e l y fine a n d splendid Terrestrial
G l o b e , recently received by this F o u n d a t i o n f r o m L o n d o n , a n d e x p l a i n e d to
4o Gerard L'E. Turner, Van Marum's Scientific Instruments in Teyler's Museum, catalogue no. 92,
p, 199. Part II of Martinus van Marum: Life and Work, edited by E. Lefebvre and J. G. de Bruijn, Iv
(Leiden, 1973).
41 Adams (note 15), 198. The information is given in a footnote. A drawing of the globes is in Iv, plt.
XIII.
42 Turner (note 40), 201-3. All these demonstration models are described by Adams Jr in his Essays
of 1789; see note 27.
43 Martinus van Marum, 'Notes on a voyage to London in 1790', in E. Lefebvre and J. G. de Bruijn
(eds) (note 40), Vl, 224-5. The new terrestrial globe is first mentioned in a 'price list' prepared for van
Marum. Turner (note 40), 199, dates this list 8 December 1789, but the list itself is not dated. There is a
letter, dated 8 December 1789, in which demonstration models are discussed in more general terms, but a
new globe is not mentioned therein. It is my feeling that the explanation offered by Millburn in his
forthcoming monograph (note 32) is the most plausible, which is that the price list was made during van
Marum's visit to London in July.
44 Turner (note 40), 200.
45 Gerard L'E. Turner, 'A Very Scientific Century', in E. Lefebvre and J. G. de Bruijn (eds) (note 40),
Iv, 28-9. Reprinted in Turner's Scientific Instruments and Experimental Philosophy 1550-1850 (Aldershot,
1990), chapter XIV. The hollow axis was needed in order to attach the floatable horizon ring to the globe,
a feature not required in the construction of the common globe.
Ibid., XIV, 29. On 16 March 1792 the celestial globe was dispatched. Included in the accompanying
letter is an instruction on the use of this globe, which is in outline the same as that published by Adams
Jr (note 15), 202. This celestial globe also has a 'Copernican' mounting; see Turner (note 40), 198. In a
Copernican world system the celestial sphere is immobile, but a static model is not suitable for explaining
the rising and the setting of the stars, caused by the rotation of the Earth. In order to make the celestial
sphere as nearly as possible conform to nature, that is with respect to the true orientation of the Earth,
Adams Jr gave the celestial globe the same mounting as the terrestrial globe.
556 E. Dekker
Figure 6. The Copernican terrestrial globe of George Adams Jr in Teyler's Museum,

Haarlem. 9 Teyler's Museum.
those present, the particular construction and the use of this Instrument. The
same is of a completely new and improved composition, according to a model,
which the Doctor saw at Mr Adams's, when he was in London during the
Summer of the year 1790, and it is the first [globe] that has been constructed,
by this Artist, in this manner. In this 'Masterpiece' the use of the common
Terrestrial Globe has been combined with that of the Tellurium, and the same
can thus be regarded as a twofold Instrument. 47
By comparing this terrestrial globe of new construction (Figure 6) with the tellurium
attachment of the orrery by George Adams Jr (Figure 7), it is obvious that the new
terrestrial globe is, as it were, a blown-up version of his tellurium. By placing the
large-sized terrestrial globe in the centre of the disc representing the ecliptic plane, by
locating the Sun at the border of this disk, and by adding to the terrestrial globe a
floating horizon which can be set for a particular latitude, the problems that were
taught with the common globe could be solved by moving the globe from west to east.
Two vertical circles, the circle of illumination separating day and night and the circle
representing the limit of twilight, further facilitate the demonstration of the daily
phenomena. Finally, a geared system for the hour circle was added, a feature that no
doubt contributed to the high price ofs that was ultimately asked and paid for this
18-inch globe. 48
The unusually high price paid for the terrestrial globe no doubt limited the
number of Copernican globes made by the Adams family: the van Marum globe in
Teyler's Museum is the only one on record. Another reason for a limited production
is that Adams Jr died only a year after he published a first description of it in his
Lectures in 1794. It may well be, however, that after the death of George Adams Jr,
his brother Dudley took up the new globes. In a note in Thomas Keith's manual on
globes a prospectus is mentioned in which 'the publication of New Globes, to be
executed by Mr Dudley Adams, and called the Newtonian Globes' is announced. 49The
prospectus concerned has not been identified, and it remains therefore uncertain
47 Message in Algemene Konst- en Letterbode, viii, no. 186 (20 January 1792):
Haerlem, den 18 January. Laatstleden Zaturdag toonde Dr. van Marum aan het gewoon
Gezelschap bij Teylers Fundatie, de ongemeen fraaye en prachtige Aardglobe, kortlings door deze
Stichting uit Londen ontvangen, en verklaarde den aanwezenden, de byzondere inrichting en het
gebruik van dit Werktuig. Dezelve is van ene geheel nieuwe en verbeterde zamenstelling, volgens een
model, hetgeen de Doctor, in den Zomer des jaars 1790, te Londen zijn de, by den Heer Adams zag,
en is de eerste, welke, door dezen konstenaar, op die wyze is vervaardigd. In dit Konststuk is het
gebruik van de gewone Aardglobe met dat van het Tellurium verenigd, en hetselve kan dus als een
tweevoudig Werktuig beschouwd worden.
In the same note a complete description of the new globe is promised, which appeared in the February
issue of the journal; see Martinus van Marum, 'Beschryving ener nieuwe en fraaye Aardglobe, door den
Hr. Adams, to Londen, vervaardigd, en thans in het Museum van Teylers Fundatie geplaatst', Algemene
Konst- en Letterbode, viii, no. 188 (3 February 1792), 34-6.
48 Turner (note 40), 200.
49 Thomas Keith, A New Treatise on the Use of Globes." Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and
Heavens, 3rd edn (London, 1811), 234. The note concerned is added to the following problem: ' W h a t is
the sun's altitude at Madrid on the 24th of August, at 11 o'clock in the morning?', and the full text is:
This example is taken from a prospectus announcing the publication of New Globes, to be executed
by Mr Dudley Adams, and called the Newtonian Globes, wherein the author has treated the common
globes with uncommon severity; he has however been rather unfortunate in the choice of his
examples, which are designed to shew ' the absurdities and ridiculous inconsistencies of the common
globes'. He says 'By working this problem on the common globes, we find, with the greatest
astonishment, that Madrid, where it is understood to be eleven o'clock in the morning, is at that
time in the dark, under the horizon; and consequently we hardly conceive how the inhabitants can
see the sun take its altitude, and calculate the time to be eleven o'clock'. Ex uno disce Omnes.
558 E. Dekker
Fig.:..
O &
tt:lne rid,
Figure 7. Engraving of the globe mounting in the tellurium from George Adams Jr,
Astronomical and Geographical Essays (1789).
which type of globe was meant. However, 'the absurdities and ridiculous
inconsistencies of the common globes' mentioned in the prospectus are certainly not
found in the description of his father's globes. 5~They may well reflect the criticism of
the common globe included in the description of the van Marum globe by his brother
George, for example:
Now every place is always in the zenith of its horizon, and the place and the
horizon always move together; but in the common globes the broad paper circle
is only the horizon in one situation, that is, when the place is in the zenith; after
having rectified the globe to the latitude, the moment you move the globe, the
broad paper circles is no longer the horizon .... As if it were to multiply
confusion, a circle is laid down on the terrestrial globe to represent the ecliptic,
and used as such in solving problems upon the common globes, though it
so Ibid.
involves the pupil in numerous absurdities: thus having marked the sun's place
in the ecliptic, then turn the globe, and the sun and the earth have a diurnal
motion together? 1 (emphasis added)
The case of the 18-inch van Marum globe is instructive because it shows that although
with a tellurium the true motions of the Earth around the Sun can be demonstrated,
this in itself did not suffice to demonstrate the daily phenomena arising from the
rotation of the Earth around its own axis. In some circles at least, the need for a globe
in addition to a tellurium remained and for that purpose van Marum chose to have
a proper Copernican globe, and was willing to pay for it. But he was probably the
only person then whose institute could and would afford it.
4.3. The Copernican globe of Cornel& Covens

Around 1800 the Dutch globe maker Cornelis Covens (1764-1825) entered the
globe-making trade by taking over the globe factory of the Valk family, a firm which
had been founded about a century earlier. 52 Coming into a new field Covens sought
several ways to improve on globes. One of the results of his efforts was a new
Copernican terrestrial globe (Figure 8), the construction and use of which are
described in a manual on globes in 1802. 53 The celestial globe too was improved by
adding a structure for demonstrating the precession of the equinoxes, but otherwise
this globe does not differ from the common Ptolemaic celestial globe. 54 Our main
concern therefore is only with the design of Covens' terrestrial globe, for which the
one of George Adams Sr served as the starting point:
After improving the Globe itself [the map], its proper Construction was
considered; evidently we had to give preference to that of A D A M S : the general
approval met by this one, the ease and advantages of its use over earlier globes,
has assured us of its general approbation: then, does this construction indeed
give complete satisfaction to the purposes for which Globes are meant to be
used? was a question the answer to which when put to ourselves, still left
something to be desired. 55
What, then, is wrong with the globes of Adams Sr according to Covens? Before
discussing this, let us see what Covens' design amounts to.
Like the globes of Adams Sr, the outer appearance of Covens' new terrestrial
globe resembles deceptively that of a normal terrestrial globe, but for a few rings that
have been added (Figure 8). However, Covens made a clear distinction between two
systems, that of the Earth and that of the ' celestial sphere'. The first system contains
the Earth surrounded by a number of brass rings: a meridian ring, a horizon ring, and
51 A d a m s (note 15), 198.
52 The history of the Valk Factory is described in detail by van der Krogt (note 1), chapter 9.
53 Cornelis Covens, Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der H E M E L - EN A A R D G L O B E N ,
bevattende tevens de beschro'ving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE,
welke in zich het gebruik der H E M E L - en A A R D - G L O B E N vereenigt (Amsterdam, 1802).
54 The history of precession globes is quite a different story, and for that reason is outside the scope
of the present paper. It will be the subject of a separate study.
55 Covens (note 53), vi:
Na bet verbeteren der Globe zelve kwam nu ook derzelver Constructie in aanmerking; natuurlijker
wyze moesten wij aan die van A D A M S de voorkeur geeven: de algemeene byval, welken dezelve
gevonden heeft, het gemak en voordeel, 't welk dezelve boven de oude heeft, was ons hieromtrent
ter verzekering dat ook dit de goedkeuring van het algemeen zou weg dragen; dan, voldoet deze
Constructie in alles aan het oogmerk waartoe m e n de Globen behoort te gebruiken ? was eene vraag,
welke wy onszelven doende, bevonden dat hieromtrent nog wel iets anders te wenschen overbleef.
560 E. Dekker
Figure 8. The Copernican terrestrial globe of Cornelis Covens. Private collection.
an hour circle parallel to the equator. The celestial sphere is represented by a

horizontal wooden ecliptical ring, supported by the stand, a brass celestial equator and
a brass celestial meridian ring. The system of the Earth is placed inside the celestial
sphere, in a manner similar to the way a common globe is mounted. However, in
Covens' globe the polar axis of the Earth is to be fixed at 66-5 ~ with the ecliptical plane,
and thus represents the Earth in a truly Copernican setting. Finally, the Sun, although
not materialized, is supposed to move outside the sphere in the wooden ecliptical ring,
in the same way as it moves in the Copernican globe of Adams Jr (Figure 6).
In comparing his own construction with the old one, by which the construction
of Adams Sr is meant, Covens mentions essentially the same inconsistencies as Adams

Jr did about eight years earlier in his Essays of 1794. 56 One of them reflects the dual
character of the common Ptolemaic globe: one cannot have the Earth and a ' sphere
of the Sun' moving at the same time. Covens also rejects the multipurpose function
which Adams Sr gave to his 'broad paper circle' for problem solving in agreement
with the Copernican hypothesis:
't is true, Mr Adams also occasionally uses the Horizon of his Terrestrial globe
as if it were the Ecliptic, but in that case the Horizon is entirely absent; and by
this exchange one causes perhaps confusion for the pupil; if one uses the
Horizon for the Circle separating the illuminated and dark parts of the Earth,
as Mr Adams also does now and then, one has to do without both the Ecliptic
and the Horizon, and therefore loses the opportunity to explain the relations
which these two Circles permanently maintain towards each other; whereas one
is also never able to show the narrow interrelation between Astronomy and
Geography so well, as when one keeps the Ecliptic and the Horizon and the
Equator [together] permanently in view. 57
Covens' new terrestrial globe is distinguished by a clearly defined horizon, equator,
and ecliptic. For that reason the compass directions have been deliberately left out in
his design of the ' broad paper circle' of the terrestrial globe in contrast with that of
his Ptolemaic celestial globe. Traditionally the horizontal ring combines the compass
directions and the scales for the zodiac and the calendar. As explained before, these
latter scales served no other function than providing information. This is the case for
the Covens celestial globe, but on the horizontal ring of Covens' terrestrial globe the
zodiacal scale represents the true ecliptic. In further comparing the design of Adams
Sr with that of Covens it is clear that Covens borrowed the idea of an hour circle
around the equator from Adams Sr. But rather than engraving this on the gores of
the terrestrial globe as Adams Sr did, it is represented by a brass circle mounted
around the globe in the equatorial plane. Another feature included in Covens' new
globe design (but missing in the globe shown in Figure 8) is the addition of a circle
of illumination separating day and n i g h t y
As is to be expected in any system demonstrating the phenomena caused by the
true motions of the Earth, Coven's Copernican globe, like that of Adams Jr,
resembles a blown-up version of a tellurium. Covens' new terrestrial globe is in fact
an improved and enlarged version of the terrestrial sphere mounted in an 'armillary
56 Covens (note 53), 319: ' m e t de oude Constructie, daarmede voornamelyk bedoelende, de
Constructie der Aard-globe volgens den Hr. Adams" (with the old Construction, by which meaning the
Construction of the Terrestrial globe of Mr Adams). For Covens' objections to the c o m m o n Ptolemaic
globe, see pp. 144-51, which are essentially the same as those given by A d a m s (note 15), 198-9.
57 Covens (note 53), 150:
't is waar, de Heer A D A M S gebruikt ook den Horison van zyne Aard-globe wel eens voor de
Ecliptica, doch in dat geval mist men dan geheel den Horison, en veroorzaakt door deze verwisseling
wellicht verwarring voor den leerling; gebruikt men de Horison voor den Cirkel, welke het verlichte
en onverlichte gedeelte van de Aarde afscheid, gelyk de Heer A D A M S mede in sommige gevallen
doet, dan mist m e n en Ecliptica en Horison, en m e n verliest dus daardoor de gelegenheid o m de
betrekkingen te verklaaren, welken deze Cirkels geduurig tot elkander hebben, terwyl m e n ook
nimmer in staat is, het naauwe verband tussen Sterre- en Aardrykskunde zoo duidelijk aantetonen,
als wanneer m e n en Ecliptica en Horison en Equator geduurig voor zich ziet.
58 See the drawing published by van der Krogt (note 1), 333, figure 9.23. The inclusion of the circle of
illumination m a y reflect its prominence in the method of A d a m s Sr to rectify the globe for the solar
declination. It could easily have been borrowed from the van M a r u m globe (Figure 6), a description of
which was published by van M a r u m in 1792 (note 47).
562 E. D e k k e r
s p h e r e ' as designed by Blaeu in 1634 ( F i g u r e 4). 59 T h e g l o b e c o u l d therefore also serve

as a tellurium, first by m o v i n g the whole globe a l o n g a circle representing the o r b i t
o f the Sun, in a w a y a l r e a d y d e s c r i b e d by A d a m s Sr in his treatise o f 1766 a n d second,
b y a d j u s t i n g the Sun's p o s i t i o n in the ecliptic, in the s a m e m a n n e r as this is realized
in the v a n M a r u m globe m a d e b y A d a m s Jr. 6~
5. Discussion and conclusion

C o p e r n i c a n globes t h a t a l l o w for p r o b l e m solving a n d d e m o n s t r a t i o n are
relatively r a r e in c o m p a r i s o n with the c o m m o n P t o l e m a i c globes. In a d d i t i o n to those
m a d e by A d a m s Jr a n d C o v e n s o n l y a few o t h e r e x a m p l e s o f such t r u l y C o p e r n i c a n
globes have been recorded. 61 T h e r a r i t y o f these globes implies t h a t there was n o t
really a m a r k e t for them. W h y , then, were C o p e r n i c a n globes m a d e at all?

W h e n A d a m s Sr started his g l o b e m a k i n g the m o s t prestigious English globes
were m a n u f a c t u r e d b y B e n j a m i n M a r t i n , a p u b l i c lecturer a n d i n d u s t r i o u s i n s t r u m e n t
m a k e r . 62 A d a m s Sr h a d to c o m e f o r w a r d with s o m e t h i n g new a n d different if he were
to establish h i m s e l f as a g l o b e m a k e r , A n d he did. T h e response o f B e n j a m i n M a r t i n
to the globes o f A d a m s Sr shows h o w serious a t h r e a t the new globes m u s t have
a p p e a r e d . In his Appendix to the Description and Use o f the Globes, p u b l i s h e d in 1766,
M a r t i n listed every fault he c o u l d detect, o r t h o u g h t he could, on the A d a m s globes.
H e ridiculed n o t o n l y the design b u t also even the v o c a b u l a r y used by A d a m s . 63
H o w e v e r , the ' C o p e r n i c a n p r o b l e m ' u n d e r l y i n g A d a m s ' design is n o t m e n t i o n e d at
all. T h e closest M a r t i n in his criticisms c o m e s to it is w h e n he asks:
T h e n as to the T r u t h . . . viz. shewing the P h e n o m e n a m o r e n a t u r a l l y t h a n a n y

others, as this is a M a t t e r o f still g r e a t e r C o n s e q u e n c e , we o u g h t to have h a d
59 Covens (note 53), 198-203, also describes a new design of an armillary sphere, which he derives from
the construction of his new terrestrial globe. The celestial sphere has the same orientation as that on his
Copernican globe (but the polar circles and tropics have been added) and the system of the Earth now
consists of a small globe with a horizon disc attached to it. As a result, Covens' new armiUary sphere is
similar to the one depicted by Adams (note 15), IV, plt. XIII, figure 1, in which the celestial sphere is fixed
and the Earth can rotate. Both spheres are enlarged copies of that in Blaeu's tellurium. A copy of Covens'
new armillary sphere is depicted by van der Krogt (note 29), 222, val 1.
6o Covens (note 53), 233-5, 330-1.
61 Only one copy of the Copernican globe by Adams Jr is known; it is in Teyler's Museum, Haarlem.
A number of copies of Covens' Copernican globes can be identified in the descriptions provided by van der
Krogt (note 29), 2367: val 34 (incomplete), 35, 36. A Copernican terrestrial globe in a mounting of the
same design as that of Covens was produced in 1868 by the London firm Malby & Co. This globe is
described in A Catalogue of Globes published by Trevor Philip & Son Ltd, London (n.d.). See also Dekker
and van der Krogt (note 8), 11(~17, figure 58. The so-called Fitz globe of 1875, designed by Ellen Eliza
Fitz, an American governess from New Brunswick, is reminiscent of the design of Adams Jr; Ellen E. Fitz,
Handbook of the Terrestrial Globe; Or Guide to Fitz's New Method of Mounting and Operating Globes
(Boston, 1876). Other editions followed in 1878, 1880, and 1884. See also Deborah Warner, 'The
Geography of Heaven and Earth, Part 2', Rittenhouse, Journal of the American Scientific Instrument
Enterprise, 2 (1988), 52-64, especially 62. After Warner's publication a copy of a Fitz globe came to light,
a picture of which is in Dekker and van der Krogt (note 8), 128 9, figure 61. An example of a terrestrial
globe with a floatable horizon by Newton & Son, 66 Chancery Lane, London, is depicted in van der Krogt
(note 29), 206, new 2.
62 John R. Millburn, Benjamin Martin: Author, Instrument-maker, and'Country Showman' (Leiden,
1976), 103. Martin had taken over the copper plates from James Ferguson, who had in turn bought these
plates from the widow of John Senex. See John R. Millburn (in collaboration with Henry C. King),
Wheelwright of the Heavens: The Life & Work of James Ferguson, FRS (London, 1988), 8~8.
63 Benjamin Martin, An Appendix to the Description and Use of the Globes, Containing, L
Animadversions upon...a Set of New Globes... (London, 1766). I am indebted to John R. Millburn for
providing me with a copy of this treatise. See also the discussion presented in Millburn, 1976 (note 62),
138~40.
much better Proof of it, than a bare Ipse dixit; Wherein does the artific&l Globe
differ from the natural one (the EARTH) but in the Appurtenances of an
Apparatus ?64
Instead of admitting that the common Ptolemaic globe moves from east to west and
the Earth the other way round, Martin chooses to skip the real issue, for his answer
is : ' Does not that Globe, therefore appear most natural, that is least incumbered and
shackled with these Appurtenances of Circles, Strings &c. &c. &c'. 65 Martin
apparently did not recognize the Copernican problem underneath the design of
Adams Sr.
Whether Adams' new methods and resulting new globes were a success is hard to
estimate. His son George sees proof of it in the great and increasing sale, the public
sanction of the University of Leyden, the many editions of his father's treatise (it was
even translated into Dutch) and the recommendation of a number of public

lecturers. 66 However, in the 1803 edition of the Essays of Adams Jr, published by
William Jones, it is pointed out that the recommendations given by Adams Jr in
favour of his father's globe, 'cannot now be fully admitted'. 67
The criticism among English globe makers cannot conceal the fact that the
various design features of Adams Sr have indirectly left their trace in English globe
making. For example, after 1765 the solar declination scale, called the analemma,
became a regular feature on English globes. In about 1770 Benjamin Martin added
a paper solar declination scale, which he pasted on the sphere in an empty region. 68
Also the replacement of the traditional hour circle mounted on top of the meridian
ring became a point of concern among English globe makers. The terrestrial globe
gores published in 1782 by Gabriel Wright and William Bardin have an hour circle
engraved around the north pole and a brass pointer, mounted between the sphere and
the meridian ring. Later globes published by the Bardin firm around 1800 have the
so-called English type of hour circle, a brass ring with an hour scale, which is mounted
between the sphere and meridian ring. It is said that ' Mr James Harris, of the Mint,
in the year 1740, contrived a method of fixing the brass horary circles at the poles,
under the meridians'. 69 The English type of hour circle became the standard
construction in the nineteenth century and allowed the common Ptolemaic globe to
64 Martin (note 63), 8.

65 ldem.
66 Adams (note 27), 244. The background of the reference to the University of Leiden is discussed in
detail by John R. Millburn in his forthcoming monograph on the Adams family.
67 George Adams, Astronomical and Geographical Essays, 5th edn, corrected and enlarged by Williams
Jones (London, 1803), note on 192.
68 A paper analemma is pasted on the 12-inch terrestrial globe by Benjamin Martin of about 1770,
preserved in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0079. Later globes have the analemma engraved directly
onto the globe gores. According to Martin (note 63), 16, the brass analemma upon the meridian ring was
invented by Joseph Harris about 30 years earlier, and it was Harris, too, who suggested having it engraved
on the globe gores.
69 For James Harris, see William Nicholson, The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and
Sciences (London, 1809), m, s.v. Globes. I am indebted to Sylvia Sumira for bringing this source to my
attention. I know only one example of an early mounting, attributed to Thomas Wright and dated c. 1740,
with an English type of hour circle (used for mounting a globe, published by John Senex in 1728; private
communication, Trevor Philip & Sons). All other examples that I know date from about 1800 or later.
Apparently the invention by James Harris was not known to Adams Sr, or other globe makers at that time.
An example of a globe by Wright and Bardin with a printed hour scale around the north pole and a pointer
is the 9-inch terrestrial globe published in 1782, preserved in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0093.
The 18-inch celestial globe in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0166, made by the Bardin finn around
1800, is a transition piece. It has a printed hour scale around the north pole as well as an English-type brass
hour scale mounted between the sphere and the meridian ring.
564 E. D e k k e r
be used for rectifying it for the s o l a r d e c l i n a t i o n a n d used in the C o p e r n i c a n w a y as

d e s c r i b e d by A d a m s Sr.
T h e globes b y A d a m s Sr certainly m e t with a g o o d r e c e p t i o n in T h e N e t h e r l a n d s ,
where the local V a l k f a c t o r y h a d o c c u p i e d a m o n o p o l y p o s i t i o n since c. 1700. 7o W h e n
Covens, a r o u n d 1800, t o o k over the f a c t o r y it h a d been at low e b b for a few decades.
T o m a k e a c o m e b a c k , C o v e n s h a d to i m p r o v e p a r t i c u l a r l y on the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f the
m o r e p o p u l a r A d a m s globes. T o gain a c a d e m i c s u p p o r t for his o w n new C o p e r n i c a n
globe, C o v e n s gave a lecture at a m e e t i n g o f the D e p a r t m e n t o f Physical Sciences o f
the M a a t s c h a p p i j Felix Meritis, an i m p o r t a n t l e a r n e d society in A m s t e r d a m . This
society h a d been f o u n d e d in 1777 for the e n c o u r a g e m e n t o f the arts a n d sciences. 71
A m o n g its m e m b e r s were m a n y f a m o u s scientists a n d p o t e n t i a l clients, as, for
instance, the l e a d i n g D u t c h scientist in H o l l a n d , J a n H e n d r i k v a n S w i n d e n
(1746-1823). H e was P r o f e s s o r o f P h i l o s o p h y a n d Science at the A t h e n a e u m Illustre

in A m s t e r d a m a n d a C o u n s e l l o r in scientific m a t t e r s to the D u t c h g o v e r n m e n t . H e
c e r t a i n l y a p p r e c i a t e d a globe r e p r e s e n t i n g the true n a t u r e o f the E a r t h . n Felix M e r i t i s
possessed a n i m p o r t a n t collection o f d e m o n s t r a t i o n i n s t r u m e n t s , including a t e l l u r i u m
b y W i l l e m Blaeu, a p l a n e t a r i u m by A d a m s a n d a 12-inch celestial a n d terrestrial g l o b e
a c c o r d i n g to the latest c o n s t r u c t i o n , by Covens. 73 C o v e n s o b v i o u s l y h a d c o n v i n c e d
the society o f the i m p o r t a n c e o f his new globes. T h e m o s t o u t s p o k e n s u p p o r t for
C o v e n s ' C o p e r n i c a n terrestrial globe c a m e f r o m the L e i d e n P r o f e s s o r o f M a t h e m a t i c s ,
J a c o b de G e l d e r (1765-1848), a close friend o f v a n S w i n d e n :
... w h e n c o m p a r i n g the s o l u t i o n o f the s a m e p r o b l e m with the o l d a n d new

globe, one shall have to a d m i t t h a t the s o l u t i o n s with the c o m m o n terrestrial
globe are in m o s t cases, as a n a t u r a l c o n s e q u e n c e o f the u n n a t u r a l c o n s t r u c t i o n ,
difficult, f o r c e d a n d peculiar, w h e r e a s they, i n s t e a d o f clarifying the same,
d a r k e n the true significance o f things; truly a very i m p o r t a n t a n d pressing
r e a s o n to use f r o m n o w on, especially in e d u c a t i o n , no o t h e r i n s t r u m e n t b u t t h a t
o f Covens. TM
70 For the reception by the Dutch of globes by Adams Sr, see van der Krogt (note 1), 330. It is worth
noting that in one copy of the second edition of George Adams, Astronomical and Geographical Essays
(1790), that I consulted, all the parts relevant for the 'Copernican' problem are underlined and provided
with exclamation marks. This copy, preserved in the Library of the University of Utrecht, had been the
property of Gerrit Moll (1785-1838), Professor of Astronomy at Utrecht.
71 Covens (note 53), 'Introduction'. For the role of learned societies in Holland, see R. Hooykaas, 'De
Natuurwetenschap in de eeuw der genootschappen', in Natuurwetenschappen van Renaissance tot Darwin,
edited by H. A. M. Snelders and K. van Berkel (The Hague, 1981), 131-67. The first years of Felix Meritis
are described in H. Reitsma, 'De beginjaren van Felix Meritis, 1777-1795', Documentatieblad Werkgroep
Achttiende Eeuw, XV/2 [59-60] (1983), 101-39.
72 In a lecture, published by J. H. van Swinden, Lessen over bet Planetarium, Tellurium, en Lunarium
van Hartog van Laun ; gehouden in de Maatschappy Felix Mer#is. te Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 1803), 58, 91,
the terrestrial globe by Covens is recommended, and use of the common Ptolemaic globe is criticized. For
the influential role of van Swinden in Felix Meritis, see H. Snelders, 'Het departement Natuurkunde van
de Maatschappij van Verdiensten Felix Meritis in het eerste kwart van zijn bestaan', Doeumentatieblad
Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw, XV/2 [59-60] (1983), 197-211.
73 Van der Krogt (note 1), 358.
74 Jacob de Gelder, Algemeene Sterre- en Natuurkundige Aardrijksbeschrijving... : Alles opgehelderd
door de beschrijving en het gebruik der kunstige Aard- en Hemelglobe en het Tellurium (The Hague,
Amsterdam, and Breda, 1819), 246:
zal men echter, bij vergelijking van de oplossing van dezelfde vraagstukken op de oude and nieuwe
globe, moeten toestemmen, dat deeze oplossingen op de gewoone Aard-globe meestal, als een
natuurlijk gevolg van de onnatuurlijke toestelling, moeijelijk, gedwongen en onfiigenaartig zijn,
terwijl zij de waare begrippen der zaaken, in plaats van dezelve op to helderen, verdonkeren;
waarlijk een zeer gewigtige drangreden, om voortaan, vooral in het onderwijs, van geenen anderen
toestel, dan die van Covens, gebruik te maaken.
The objections against the use of the common Ptolemaic globe, as these were
expressed successively by Adams Jr, Covens, van Swinden, and de Gelder, were
threefold. In the use of the common Ptolemaic globe, first, the axis of the Earth had
to be raised or lowered when setting the globe for a certain latitude, whereas in nature
this axis had a fixed orientation in space; second, by turning the globe the horizon
ring remained fixed whereas in reality the horizon moved along with a place on Earth;
and third, the sphere of the Sun could not move simultaneously with the Earth. Yet,
true as they are, these shortcomings were certainly not generally felt as inconvenient.
Thus most globe makers of the nineteenth century, like Cary in Britain, Delamarche
in France, Klinger in Germany, and Wilson in the United States, to mention only a
few, continued to produce Ptolemaic globes as if no Copernican Revolution had
taken place. 75 Money was of course another reason for supporting the continued use
of the common Ptolemaic globe. In 1818, the Dutch school teacher Diederik
Geelhoed based a treatise on the common Ptolemaic globe because he happened to
possess such a globe and could not afford to buy a globe from Adams or Covens. 76
These more expensive globes, he believed, were for that reason not generally used,
despite their superior construction. Moreover, the Copernican methods for solving
problems as described by Adams Sr could easily be applied to the common Ptolemaic
globe. Nineteenth-century manuals on the use of the globe include Adams' method
for solving problems by turning the globe from west to east. 77 In one of these the
author, Thomas Keith, advised the user to unscrew the hour circle when it was placed
above the brass meridian and remove it from the pole for solving the technical
problems arising from rectifying the globe for the solar declination. 78 Keith has no
need of a Copernican globe nor does he care about 'the addition of a few wires, a
semicircle of brass, a particular kind of hour circle, &c. which is of no other use on
the globe than to enhance the price thereof', and which, so he continues, 'has
generally been a sufficient inducement for the instrument maker to publish a treatise
explanatory of the use of such addition'. 79 This clear disapproval of the new
construction of Adams is unjust. The manual of George Adams Sr was not written
because of the 'addition of a few wires', but to introduce new methods for solving
problems from a Copernican perspective, some of which are used by Keith himself.
The 'addition of wires' was a consequence thereof, because Adams was too serious
an instrument maker to have his users unscrew parts of his instrument. Keith's
criticism heralds the arrival of the modern globe, which no longer serves for problem
solving, especially when he argues:
The most important part of a globe is its external surface: if the places on the
terrestrial globe, and the stars on the celestial, be accurately laid down and
distinctly and clearly engraven, it is of little consequence of what materials the
frame is made. 8~
75 An overview of globe making in the Western world from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries
is in Dekker and van der Krogt (note 8).
76 Diederik Geelhoed, Onderwijs in de behandeling der Aard-globe (Leyden, 1818), iv. The same
argument is repeated in a treatise on the celestial globe by the same author: Onderwijs in de behandeling
der Hemelglobe, kunnende strekken tot een eerste leerboek in de Sterrenkunde (Dordrecht, 1826).
77 In Keith (note 49), and, for example, in the description of the use of globes in James Ryan, The New
American Grammar of the Elements of Astronomy on an Improved Plan (New York, 1835), the method of
rectifying the globe for the solar declination, introduced by George Adams Sr, is applied, but Adams is not
acknowledged.
78 Keith (note 49), 214, in a footnote to a problem.
79 Ibid., in a footnote to the Preface, v.
80 Idem.
566 The Copernican Globe
The production of Copernican globes around the turn of the eighteenth century
appears to have been an isolated phenomenon in globe making, which served the
interests of a few globe makers and truth-loving Dutch scientists. Also after the
Copernican world system became generally accepted, the user of globes remained
quite satisfied with the educational facilities offered by the common Ptolemaic globe.
We may therefore safely conclude that the use of the common Ptolemaic globe was
not seriously affected by the change from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican world
system.
Neither can the emergence in the nineteenth century of the modern globe, which
has indeed a 'Copernican' mounting (Earth's axis under 66.5~ with the ecliptic) be
explained by such a change of perspective. The modern globe lacks the accessories for
problem solving, such as the horizon ring and the hour circle, altogether (Figure 2).
For the purpose of education these accessories had in the course of the nineteenth
century become superfluous. Time problems and their explanation in terms of the
motion of the Sun had lost their importance. 8~The use of telegraphy had permeated
society and accurate time was available everywhere. With the introduction of street
lighting the boundary between day and night faded away. These technological
developments of the nineteenth century did haore for the downfall of the concept of
the common Ptolemaic globe that did any revolution in science.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Trevor Philip & Sons Ltd, London, for providing photographs and
for sponsoring part of the research carried out for this paper. I am grateful
to W. F. J. MSrzer Bruyns of the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam,
M. A. M. van Hoorn of Teyler's Museum, Haarlem, Dr P. C. J. van der Krogt of
Utrecht University, and the Librarian of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for providing
information and photographs. I am indebted to John R. Millburn for discussions and
information on the Adams family prior to publication. The discussions with my
husband, Professor H. G. van Bueren, have, as always, been invaluable, and his help
with the English translations is gratefully acknowledged.
81 EllyDekker, 'From a WorldRulingTimeto a Time-RuledWorld', in Time,editedby A. J. Turner

(The Hague, 1990), 24-32.

The Copernican Globe

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This article was downloaded by: [McMaster University]

On: 20 December 2014, At: 14:21

The Copernican globe: A delayed

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00033799600200391

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The Copernican Globe: A Delayed Conception

Received 29 April 1996

0003-3790/96 $12"00 9 1996 Taylor & Francis Ltd

V,tneunt cura Globi~ Louanit ,~ud $erucllura Zaffenura, 0~

A m o n g the phenomena that a globe could demonstrate, the time-related appearances

In discussing the globe as a demonstration model the question arises to what

as far as m o d e l s o f the E a r t h are c o n c e r n e d , it w o u l d h a v e sufficed to m a k e a simple

Earth. Neither is it a matter of convenience. When the sphere of a terrestrial globe is

2.2. The English Globe

3. Demonstration models for the motions of the Earth

23 King (note 3), 93.

A d a m s ' m a n u a l presents a completely new a p p r o a c h to using the globe in solving

35 Moxon (note 2), 37.

4.2. The Copernican globes of George Adams Jr

in 1790 b y M a r t i n u s v a n M a r u m for Teyler's M u s e u m in H a a r l e m ( F i g u r e 6). 40 O f this

at t h a t time. 42 D u r i n g a visit to L o n d o n in July 1790 v a n M a r u m saw a m o d e l o f a

H a a r l e m , 18 J a n u a r y . L a s t S a t u r d a y Dr. van M a r u m s h o w e d to the O r d i n a r y

Figure 6. The Copernican terrestrial globe of George Adams Jr in Teyler's Museum,

4.3. The Copernican globe of Cornel& Covens

Figure 8. The Copernican terrestrial globe of Cornelis Covens. Private collection.

an hour circle parallel to the equator. The celestial sphere is represented by a

of Adams Sr is meant, Covens mentions essentially the same inconsistencies as Adams

s p h e r e ' as designed by Blaeu in 1634 ( F i g u r e 4). 59 T h e g l o b e c o u l d therefore also serve

5. Discussion and conclusion

really a m a r k e t for them. W h y , then, were C o p e r n i c a n globes m a d e at all?

T h e n as to the T r u t h . . . viz. shewing the P h e n o m e n a m o r e n a t u r a l l y t h a n a n y

even translated into Dutch) and the recommendation of a number of public

64 Martin (note 63), 8.

be used for rectifying it for the s o l a r d e c l i n a t i o n a n d used in the C o p e r n i c a n w a y as

(1746-1823). H e was P r o f e s s o r o f P h i l o s o p h y a n d Science at the A t h e n a e u m Illustre

... w h e n c o m p a r i n g the s o l u t i o n o f the s a m e p r o b l e m with the o l d a n d new

81 EllyDekker, 'From a WorldRulingTimeto a Time-RuledWorld', in Time,editedby A. J. Turner

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