Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-12-03
AN ARABIC CELESTIAL GLOBE.

In the philosophical cabinet of the
Royal Institute of Florence many of the
instruments of Calico and other students
OF astronomy and physics are preserved.
Among them is an Arabic celestial globe,
OF which (. Menssi has published an inter-
esting description. 1t has not been long In
! possession of the Institute, and NO one sus-
pected its antiquity until recently. The
one which is in the Borgian Museum, at
Velletri, which was described by Assemani
in 1870, and which dates from the year
l225, has hitherto been regarded as the
oldest. There are two others of the same
century-oue of A. ID. 1915, owned by the
Royal Asiatic Society Of London, and the
other of A. d. 1883, in the Mathematical
Salon at Dresden. There are also two
one owned by the Royal Astronomical So
ciety of London, and the other by the Ma
tional Library of Paris, both of which are
without date. Menssi's curiosity was first
awakened by observing that the longitude
of the stars showed that the globe must
have been constructed about the year 1915.
On closer examination, he found an Arabic
inscription around the Antarctic Circle,
which he submitted for translation to the
learned 0nentahst, Prof. +. Lasinio. He
presented note to the Society, in q meet
ing which was attended by the Emperor of
Brazil, in which he stated that the iuscrip-
tions were in Cutir characters, and that the
globe was made by Ibrahim Ihn Said as
Sahli and his son Mohammed the work
was finished in NalenzA, in the beginning
of the month of Ssfor, in the year 473 of
the Heglrs corresponding to the ID OF
July, l0S0) The diameter of the globe
is 209 milhmeters Is % inches) IL is COM
posed of two hemispherss of brass,
soldered together, and it gives the arrange.
ment of stars and constitutions which
was adopted by Ptolemy. Among the
Southern consultations, the Cus (CrAtern),
which should have been placed between
the second and third coils Of tine Hydra,
is wanting; all the other consultations
are very we'll engraved. The positions of
LOIS stars are gwen, and their magnitude
is well marked, inasmuch as every point,
which is engraved to give the precise posi-.
tion of a star, is the center of little cir
Gle, which diminishes in diameter from the
first to the sixth magnitude. The two cir
cles of the equator and the ecliptic are di.
vided by means of little lines into 800 de.
grees, every fifth degree being marked by
Cutir numersl figures. The zero of the
equator is at its intersection with the eclip-
tic, in the beginning of the sign Aries.
Twelve great circles of deoliuation, lightly
engraved, divide the ecliptic into its twelve
signs. Forty.seven consultations are rep
resented, twenty.on one of which are in the
Northern Hemisphere, twelve in the 10
diac, and fourteen in the Southern Hem
isphere. A heart shaped curved line in
closes the six stars near Aquilla, which rep
resent upon our celestial globes the con-
stellation of Antonious. This constellation
and that of Berenice's Hair were intro
duced by Tycho Brahe in the sixteenth
century. On this globe. as upon other
Arabic globes, the figures face the observer
instead of looking toward the center of the
sphere. Therefore, the stars which are
upon the right side of a constellation on
our globes are on the left on the Arabic
globes, and vice versa.-[The Young Sci
enlist.