Catalogue of Stars by Ulugh Beg; Edward Ball KnobelReview by: George SartonIsis, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Sep., 1919), pp. 413-415Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/223894 .

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figures, graceauxquelles le lecteur ignorant la langue japonaise peut cependant se faire une idee exacte des procedes de calcul employes autrefois au Japon. ARNOLD REYMOND (Neuchatel).

Ulugh Beg's, Catalogue of Stars. - Revised from all Persian

Manuscripts existing in Great Britain, with a vocabulary of Persian and Arabic words by EDWARD BALL KNOBEL, 109 p. in-4?.

Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1917.

This publication is a sequel to that of PTOLEMY'S catalogue reviewed above. The method and the presentation are the same in both cases, which is very fortunate since it makes comparisons between these two fundamental works easier. Strange to say, no other catalogue of stars was made from original observations during the thirteen centuries which elapsed from the days of PTOLEMY to those of U LUGH BEG. The catalogue of the latter based on observations made at his observa-

tory of Samarkand from A. H. 823 to 841 (= A. D. 1420 to 1437), appeared probably in A. I. 841 (== 1437). The observations were carried on by at least three astronomers : SALAH UD-DIN Muisa, called KazI-ZaDAH RUiMi; GHIYas UD-DiN JAMSH1D; ALI BIN MUHAMMAD KUiSHJI and possibly a fourth one named Mu'iN UD-DiN.

Before the time of lULUGH BEG, the two most important contributions of the Arabs to observational astronomy were:

1) The Hakemite Tables (A. ID. 1007) of EBN JOUNIS (960-1008), which contain numerous observations of eclipses (discussed by

NEWCOMB); some 54 observations of conjunctions of planets with each other and with stars; determination of the mean motions of the Sun, Moon and planets; and several observations of the Equinox;

2) The lUranometria of ABD AL RAHMAN AL SUFI (903 - 86), a work

of the highest value.

The work of ULUGH BEG however is far more important. His

grandfather TAMERLANE was a Mongol, but he himself was a Turk. Hence the question has been raised whether he wrote his tables in Turkish, Persian or Arabic. No Turkish Ms. is known. SEDILLOI has come to the conclusion that the tables were formerly written in Persian and later translated into Arabic (sic).

The scanty information we possess on the making of these tables is contained in the Preface and Introduction which precede them and are entitled (( Zij ULUGH BEG )). The relevant passage of the preface is

quoted by KNOBEL in extenso. The whole introduction was published and translated into French by SEDILLOT (1839, 1847, 1853).

The earliest investigation of ULUGH BEG'S catalogue was made by JOHN GREAVES, Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, 1643. It

figures, graceauxquelles le lecteur ignorant la langue japonaise peut cependant se faire une idee exacte des procedes de calcul employes autrefois au Japon. ARNOLD REYMOND (Neuchatel).

Ulugh Beg's, Catalogue of Stars. - Revised from all Persian

Manuscripts existing in Great Britain, with a vocabulary of Persian and Arabic words by EDWARD BALL KNOBEL, 109 p. in-4?.

Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1917.

This publication is a sequel to that of PTOLEMY'S catalogue reviewed above. The method and the presentation are the same in both cases, which is very fortunate since it makes comparisons between these two fundamental works easier. Strange to say, no other catalogue of stars was made from original observations during the thirteen centuries which elapsed from the days of PTOLEMY to those of U LUGH BEG. The catalogue of the latter based on observations made at his observa-

tory of Samarkand from A. H. 823 to 841 (= A. D. 1420 to 1437), appeared probably in A. I. 841 (== 1437). The observations were carried on by at least three astronomers : SALAH UD-DIN Muisa, called KazI-ZaDAH RUiMi; GHIYas UD-DiN JAMSH1D; ALI BIN MUHAMMAD KUiSHJI and possibly a fourth one named Mu'iN UD-DiN.

Before the time of lULUGH BEG, the two most important contributions of the Arabs to observational astronomy were:

1) The Hakemite Tables (A. ID. 1007) of EBN JOUNIS (960-1008), which contain numerous observations of eclipses (discussed by

NEWCOMB); some 54 observations of conjunctions of planets with each other and with stars; determination of the mean motions of the Sun, Moon and planets; and several observations of the Equinox;

2) The lUranometria of ABD AL RAHMAN AL SUFI (903 - 86), a work

of the highest value.

The work of ULUGH BEG however is far more important. His

grandfather TAMERLANE was a Mongol, but he himself was a Turk. Hence the question has been raised whether he wrote his tables in Turkish, Persian or Arabic. No Turkish Ms. is known. SEDILLOI has come to the conclusion that the tables were formerly written in Persian and later translated into Arabic (sic).

The scanty information we possess on the making of these tables is contained in the Preface and Introduction which precede them and are entitled (( Zij ULUGH BEG )). The relevant passage of the preface is

quoted by KNOBEL in extenso. The whole introduction was published and translated into French by SEDILLOT (1839, 1847, 1853).

The earliest investigation of ULUGH BEG'S catalogue was made by JOHN GREAVES, Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, 1643. It

413 413 ANALYSES ANALYSES

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ISIS. II. 1919

was never published, but a part was incorporated in BAINBRIDGE'S Canicularia, 1648. -- THOMAS HYDE, Bodley's Librarian, not knowing

anything of the researches of GREAVES, published the same observa- tions in 1665, from three mss. at Oxford (2d ed., 1767; 3d ed., with notes

by FRANCIS BAILY, 1843, H. A. S. Memoirs, xiii). In BAILY'S edition the

stars were for the first time identified with modern catalogues. KNOBEL began the publication of his investigations in 1879, and

PETERS in 1881. ULUGH BECG'S Catalogue, as found in the codices, consists of 1,018 stars

of which 27, as he states, were not observed, but reduced from PTOLEMY by the addition of a constant to the longitudes. The present investigation shows however that the positions of many other stars are at least partly derived from PTOLEMY'S Catalogue. Thus it is probable that in the whole catalogue only about 700 stars have both elements determined from original observations.

As in the case of PTOLEMY'S Catalogue, ULUGH BEG made his observa- tions generally by constellations, and not indiscriminately. He was guided throughout by SUFI, and did not intentionally observe any other stars than those described by SUFI. All the determinations were made at Samarkand, the latitude of which ULUGIH BEG determined as 39? 37f N., (STRUVE, 39?38'50"). His tables were based on the Ilkhanic tables of NASSIR EDDIN AL Tusi, which were constructed at Maraghah in the middle of the thirteenth century, and it is probable that his methods were those pursued by NAssIR EDDIN.

KNOBEL'S edition is arranged in the following way Introduction of 10 pages giving the history of the Catalogue, also some information

(very little) on the methods which were possibly used at Samarkand. Tables to permit comparisons between ULUGH BEG'S and modern observations. This shows that their accuracy was not much superior to that of PTOLEMY'S. Other tables evidence the positions borrowed from PTOLEMY. The catalogues follow: i) ULUGH BEG'S Catalogue of stars for the epoch A. D. 1437.5; ii) His catalogue compared with modern observations reduced to the same epoch. - Notes to the cata-

logue (p. 75-84). List of imss. of ULUGH BEG examined and collated

(21 Persian and 3 Arabic, all in England except 3 Persian mss. of

Paris). Results of the collation of the mss. (p. 86-94). Persian and Arabic vocabulary by PETERS and KNOBEL.

MIRZA ULUGII BEG BIN SIIAHRUKH BIN TIMiUR KUfRGaN was born in 1393; his scientific work began as far as we know in 1420; he succeeded in 1447 to the Imperial throne of Samarkand on his father's death, but his reign was very shortlived for in 1449, he was defeated in battle and put to death by his eldest son. He was the last great representative of Arabic astronomy. It is a great pity that one knows so little of a

414

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king who showed, in at least one direction, such extraordinary wisdom. His biographer, Ann MUHAMMAD MUSTAPHAM, Says: (( fuit Rex justus, doetus, perfectus praesertim in mathematicis, scientiam et ejusdem cultores dilexit )). GEORGE SARTON.

Orta, Garcia da. - Colloquies on the Simples and Drug's of India

by GARCIA DA ORTA. New edition (Lisbon, 1895) edited and anno-

tated by the CONDE DE FICALHO, translated with an introduction and index by Sir CLEMENTS MARKHAM. London, HENRY SOTHERAN

and Co., xxi - 509 pp., 26 pl., 1913. [42 shillings net.]

In the sixteenth century the kingdom of Portugal (1) formed the connecting link between Europe and India. VASCO DA GAMA had reached Calicut on the Malabar coast by the sea route in 1498 and from this time onwards, for a hundred years or more, commerce with the East was almost entirely in the hands of his countrymen. Goa Dourada - ((Golden Goa)) - fell to ALBUQUERQUE in 1510, and

became the capital of Portuguese India. To this city, in 1534, the physician GARCIA DA ORTA set sail from the Tagus, reaching India after a voyage lasting six months. GARCIA, who was then over forty, had been born about the year 1490 at Elvas, famous for its plums, so that he was about the same age as four of his great contemporaries, ANDREA DEL SARTO, HOLBEIN, MELANCHTHON and PARACEISUS.

He had studied medicine at the Spanish universities of Alcala de Henares and Salamanca and afterwards lectured at Lisbon Universi-ty In India he practised with great success as a physician, numbering among his patients Europeans, Eurasians and natives, and amassing a fortune. He had a house and garden at Goa, and here, after nearly thirty years' experience in the use of eastern drugs, he wrote the famous work Coloquios dos simples, e drog'as he couzsas medicinais da India. It was published at Goa in 1563 and was thus one of the first European books to be printed in India. ORTA'S countrymen were early in the field as regards the art of printing, which was introduced into Portugal only ten years after CAXTON first set up his press in Westminster. The Coloquios has since been translated into other languages and two new editions in Portuguese appeared in the nineteenth century, but up to the present, in spite of the close connec- tion between Britain and India, it has never been issued in English. This want has recently been supplied by the appearance of the trans-

(1) For an interesting account of the Portuguese travellers and explorers of the renaissance period and full references to the literature of the subject, see JAYNE, K. G., VASCO DA GAMA and his Successors, 1460-1580. London, 1910.

king who showed, in at least one direction, such extraordinary wisdom. His biographer, Ann MUHAMMAD MUSTAPHAM, Says: (( fuit Rex justus, doetus, perfectus praesertim in mathematicis, scientiam et ejusdem cultores dilexit )). GEORGE SARTON.

Orta, Garcia da. - Colloquies on the Simples and Drug's of India

by GARCIA DA ORTA. New edition (Lisbon, 1895) edited and anno-

tated by the CONDE DE FICALHO, translated with an introduction and index by Sir CLEMENTS MARKHAM. London, HENRY SOTHERAN

and Co., xxi - 509 pp., 26 pl., 1913. [42 shillings net.]

In the sixteenth century the kingdom of Portugal (1) formed the connecting link between Europe and India. VASCO DA GAMA had reached Calicut on the Malabar coast by the sea route in 1498 and from this time onwards, for a hundred years or more, commerce with the East was almost entirely in the hands of his countrymen. Goa Dourada - ((Golden Goa)) - fell to ALBUQUERQUE in 1510, and

became the capital of Portuguese India. To this city, in 1534, the physician GARCIA DA ORTA set sail from the Tagus, reaching India after a voyage lasting six months. GARCIA, who was then over forty, had been born about the year 1490 at Elvas, famous for its plums, so that he was about the same age as four of his great contemporaries, ANDREA DEL SARTO, HOLBEIN, MELANCHTHON and PARACEISUS.

He had studied medicine at the Spanish universities of Alcala de Henares and Salamanca and afterwards lectured at Lisbon Universi-ty In India he practised with great success as a physician, numbering among his patients Europeans, Eurasians and natives, and amassing a fortune. He had a house and garden at Goa, and here, after nearly thirty years' experience in the use of eastern drugs, he wrote the famous work Coloquios dos simples, e drog'as he couzsas medicinais da India. It was published at Goa in 1563 and was thus one of the first European books to be printed in India. ORTA'S countrymen were early in the field as regards the art of printing, which was introduced into Portugal only ten years after CAXTON first set up his press in Westminster. The Coloquios has since been translated into other languages and two new editions in Portuguese appeared in the nineteenth century, but up to the present, in spite of the close connec- tion between Britain and India, it has never been issued in English. This want has recently been supplied by the appearance of the trans-

(1) For an interesting account of the Portuguese travellers and explorers of the renaissance period and full references to the literature of the subject, see JAYNE, K. G., VASCO DA GAMA and his Successors, 1460-1580. London, 1910.

ANALYSES ANALYSES 415 415

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