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Before he went to Portugal in 1480, Martin Behaitn undoubtedly was converfantsn the mathematics, and in nautical affairs ; but on this account it does not naturallyfollow that he had been a difciple either of Regiomontanus or Beroald.
It is moreover perfeftly clear that he was an excellent cofmographer, and that heparticipated in the difcovery of the ufe of the aftrolabe, or rather of the application ofit to navigation as is feen by the following extract from Emmanuel Tellefius Sylvius *.
“ John II., that the unknown fea might be navigated with lefs danger, enjoinedhis phyficians Roderigo and Jofeph, in conjunction with Martin Behaim , men for thattime deeply converfant in mathematics, to bend their ftudies to forming fome meansby which mariners might fteer their fhips, whether in our own or fome new fea, withgreater fafety, and by which they might afcertain, by obfervations of known ftars andknown fhores, in what latitude, and what part of the fea they might be. In confequence,after indefatigable Rudy and long meditation, they made improvements on the aRrolabe,an inflrument previoufly ufed in affronomical obfervations; by which improvements,Ks utility was much increafed, and the inffrument made fubfervient to the art of navi-gation, to the great convenience of failors. For this benefit is Europe indebted toJohn II.; a,fa<R which no one can deny f.”
This faCt is confirmed by Pierre Matthieu J, and by the learned Jefuit Maffeus, in hisHifiory of the Indies § .
. Were it a matter made evident that our Behaim had for inftruCtor the celebrated Re-giomontanus, who refided at Nuremberg from 1471 to 1475, onefhould have groundfor fuppofing that from him it was that he acquired his information refpedting the^fe of the meteorofcope, or the inffrument adapted to the afcertainment 'of latitudesand longitudes by means of the ftars JJ, which Regiomontanus fancied he had difco-Vered from a paffage in Ptolomey , (Geog. lib. i. cap. 3.) as he relates in a letter toCardinal Baffarion. Regiomontanus likewife wrote a treatife on the armillary aftro-labe, which is found in the edition of his works printed at Nuremberg in 1554^.Notwithftanding this it is fair to prefume that Behaim fucceeded in perfecting the ufe°f the fea-aftrolabe, as is more lately obferved by Mr. Wales **, who looks upon him
. * In his work De Rebus geltis Johannis II. Lufitanorum Regis (Hagoe Com. 1712. 4to. p. 99.)c 'ted by Gebauer. Hiiloire de Portugal, p.123. Tellefius Sylvius is the only Portuguefe writer whoMentions Behaim.
t The original runs as follows : “ Ut minore cum errandi periculo ignotum mari navigari poteft, Ro-T e jj Co et Jofepho, medicis fuis nec non Martino Bohemo, ea setate peritiffimis mathematicis, injunxitJ°hannis II. ut adhibito inter fe confilio, excogitarent aliquid, quo nauta; curfum navium, licet in noitro°voque pelago, tutius dirigerent, ut vel abflracti a notis fideribus. cognitifque litoribus, quam coeli acfn. 13 !’ 1 Pattern tenerent, aliquo modo cognofcerent: ii poll indefefium ftudium longamque meditationemr olabium, inflrumentum, quod ante allronomiaj tantum inferviebat, utiliori invento ad navigandi artem,p ot Xl ^ 10 navigantium commodo, tranftulere; quod beneficium tota Europa Johanni debere, inficiari non
t In Notis ad Jus Canonicum ad VII Decretal. LI. tit. IX. de Infulis Novi Orbis, p. 80. edit.rr ancop. j 590 . f 0 i.
II ^ n dias, lib. i. p. 51. edit. Venetas, in 4to. He died in 1603,
^11 Johannis de Regiomonte. Epist. ad reverendifs. pat. et dom. Beflarionem card. Nic. ac Con-^ t 'tinop. de comp, et ufu cujufdam meteorofcopi. This letter is found at the end of the works offive"!? Cr i P u kblhed 111 folio at Nuremberg in 1514, and reprinted in 410. in 1537. Werner himfelf wrotehand °°r on different meteorofcopes invented by him, the manufcript of which at his death fell into theT n „ L' George Hartman, who in 1442 made a prefent of it to the celebrated mathematician GeorgeJ'.Jj?’ furnamed Rheticus .
a ftfon ’ J 0 * 1, R c g‘ om ontanus. Scripta de torqueto, aflrolabio armillari, regula magna Ptolomaica baculoque** et °hftrvationibus cometarum.
r °und t,' l ^' na ^ a ^ r °nomical obfervations, made in the courfe of a voyage towards the fouth pole, and•and wSr wor ^> ,n His Majefty’s fhips the.Refolution and Adven||u'e, 1772—5,-by William Wales, F. R.S.
1 iam Bayly. London, 1777, in qto.
3® to