The New (So-Called) Magdeburg Experiments of Otto Von Guericke (International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des ides, 137)

Otto von Guericke has been called a neglected genius, overlooked by most modern scholars, scientists, and laymen. He wrote his __E____xperimenta Nova__ in the seventeenth century in Latin, a dead language for the most part inaccessible to contemporary scientists. Thus isolated by the remoteness of his time and his means of communication, von Guericke has for many years been denied the recognition he deserves in the English speaking world. Indeed, the century in which he lived witnessed the invention of six important and valuable scientific instruments -- the microscope, the telescope, the pendulum clock, the barometer, the thermometer, and the air pump. Von Guericke was associated with the development of the last three of these; he also experimented with a rudimentary electric machine. Thus his __Experimenta____Nova__ was an important work, heralding the emerging empiricism of seventeenth century science, and merits this first English translation of von Guericke's __magnus opus__. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv What the World is, or What is Usually Understood by the Term, World....Pages 1-4 The Motion of Stars, the Wanderers or Planets, as Well as the Stationary or Fixed Stars....Pages 5-7 The Two Systems of the Ancients: That Based Upon the Presumed Inactivity of the Earth and That Based Upon Its Movement....Pages 7-8 A Brief Resume of the System of the World Based Upon Ptolemy’s Theory of the Immovability of the Earth....Pages 9-12 A Revised Pythagorean System of the World Wherein, According to Copernicus, the Sun is Held to be in its Center....Pages 12-14 The Daily and Annual Movement of the Earth According to Copernicus....Pages 14-15 Objections of the Astronomers and Natural Philosophers to the Copernican System....Pages 15-17 Objections to the Copernican Theory from the Sacred Scriptures and Their Refutations....Pages 17-25 The World System According to Tycho Brahe, the Noble Dane. He Assigns the Earth to the Center of the World and the Sun to the Center of the Planets Which Revolve Around it (with the Exception of the Moon)....Pages 26-29 Another System Wherein the Earth is Situated in the Center of the World and Moves About Its Own Axis in the Space of Twenty-Four Hours....Pages 29-31 The Corrected and Improved Copernican Theory of the World....Pages 31-31 The Sun....Pages 31-32 The Sun Spots....Pages 32-34 Mercury....Pages 34-35 Venus....Pages 35-36 The Earth and the Moon....Pages 36-36 Mars....Pages 36-39 Jupiter....Pages 39-40 Saturn and Planets in General....Pages 40-41 A General Discussion of the Distances of the Stars....Pages 41-44 The Distance of the Moon from the Center of the Earth....Pages 45-46 The Size of the Moon....Pages 47-48 The Distance of the Sun from the Earth....Pages 48-51 The Size of the Sun....Pages 52-54 The Distances of the Planets from the Earth and Their Magnitudes....Pages 55-57 The Height or Distance of the Fixed Stars from Our Earth, According to the Followers of Ptolemy and Aristotle....Pages 57-59 The Height or Distance of the Fixed Stars from the Earth According to the Followers of Tycho....Pages 59-61 The Distance of the Stars According to the Followers of Pythagoras or Copernicus Who Locate the Sun in the Center of the World....Pages 61-63 The Number of Fixed Stars and the Revelations of Telescopes in This Century as to Their Great Extent....Pages 64-65 The Magnitude of the Fixed Stars....Pages 66-68 Heaven or the Heavens as Well as the Atmosphere and Celestial Matter....Pages 68-72 The Firmament and the Waters Above It, According to the Sacred Scriptures....Pages 72-74 The Empyrean Heaven....Pages 74-77 Are There Any Other Worlds Beyond This of Ours, and If There are, can They be Counted, or are They Uncountable?....Pages 77-78 Imaginary Space Outside the World....Pages 78-81 Why the Author was Led to Investigate the Vacuum....Pages 83-84 Space and Time....Pages 84-86 Empty Space....Pages 86-89 Space....Pages 89-91 The Space Existing between the Earth Bodies Is Commonly Called Sky....Pages 91-93 Is Space, the Universal Container of All Things, Finite or Infinite?....Pages 93-97 That Which is and That Which is Said Not to be....Pages 97-99 Is Space, the Universal Container of All Things, Created or Uncreated?....Pages 99-102 Infinity, Immensity, and Eternity....Pages 102-104 Number....Pages 104-107 The Heaven Which is Called the Abode of the Blessed....Pages 107-109 The Greatest and the Smallest....Pages 109-110 Concerning the Origin, Nature, and Characteristics of Air....Pages 111-114 The First Vacuum Experiment Performed Through the Extraction of Water....Pages 114-115 The Second Vacuum Experiment Performed Through the Extraction of Air....Pages 115-117 The Construction of a Special Type of Apparatus for Producing a Vacuum....Pages 117-120 The Third Experiment Demonstrating a Vacuum....Pages 120-121 The Fourth Experiment: The Production of a Vacuum through the Extraction of Water from a Glass Vessel....Pages 121-122 A Fifth and More Accurate Method of Producing a Vacuum....Pages 123-124 The Sixth Experiment to Obtain the Best Possible Vacuum....Pages 125-130 Does a Vacuum Exist in Nature, or Not?....Pages 130-134 Experiments Concerned with Exhalation and Fermentation....Pages 134-135 The Experiment in Which Clouds and Wind and the Colors of the Rainbow can be Produced in Glasses....Pages 135-138 Fire in a Vacuum....Pages 138-139 An Experiment in Which Air is Consumed by Fire....Pages 139-140 Light in a Vacuum....Pages 140-141 Sound in a Vacuum....Pages 141-142 Experiments Performed with Animals in a Vacuum....Pages 143-144 The Construction of a Kind of Hydraulic-Pneumatic Apparatus Which can be used not only for Carrying Out Numerous Experiments but also used as a Source of Mental Recreation and Study....Pages 144-145 The use and Operation of the Aforementioned Apparatus....Pages 145-149 A New Discovery through the use of This Apparatus Which Indicates the Weight of the Atmosphere....Pages 149-151 Other Experiments of This Kind Which Demonstrate the Weight of the Atmosphere as Well as the Limit to Which Aversion of a Vacuum Extends....Pages 151-155 Concerning the Weight of Air....Pages 155-156 How to Determine the Pressure That a Cylinder of Air of Any Given Circumference Exerts....Pages 157-160 The Experiment Demonstrating That as a Result of Air Pressure, Two Hemispheres can be Joined Together in Such a Way That They Cannot be Separated by Sixteen Horses....Pages 160-162 A Further Experiment Wherein the Hemispheres Which Could Not be Drawn Apart by Twenty-Four Horses are Separated by the Admission of Air....Pages 163-165 Another Experiment Wherein It is Shown That the Aforementioned Hemispheres can be Separated by a Weight....Pages 165-167 Another Experiment Demonstrating That All Vessels can be Compressed and Broken by Air Pressure....Pages 167-168 A Glass Vessel Which can Forcibly Pull More Than Twenty, Indeed Fifty or More Strong Men....Pages 168-171 An Experiment to Raise a Great Weight....Pages 171-172 An Experiment Employing a New and Heretofore Untested Airgun....Pages 172-174 Experiments Which Show How Air Pressure Varies at Different Altitudes....Pages 174-176 Experiment Showing How Air Pressure Fluctuates According to the Weather....Pages 176-177 The Cause of Suction....Pages 177-178 Experiments Concerned with the Expansion and Condensation or Compression of Air....Pages 178-180 An Experiment Demonstrating Proof of a Vacuum through the Descent of Mercury in a Glass Tube Sealed at the Top....Pages 181-183 Common Objections to the Existence of a Vacuum and Their Refutation....Pages 183-186 The Opinions of the Reverend Kircher and Zucchi at Rome, as Well as Father Cornaeus, Professor at the University of Würtzburg, Concerning the Magdeburg Experiments....Pages 187-189 A New Thermometer, So-Called Magdeburg....Pages 189-192 A General Discussion of Mundane Virtues....Pages 193-195 The Incorporeal Impulsive Virtue of the Earth....Pages 195-198 The Nature and Characteristics of the Impulsive Virtue....Pages 198-201 Experiment with a Globe Freely Suspended in Water....Pages 202-204 The Conserving Virtue of the Earth....Pages 204-206 The Expulsive Virtue of the Earth....Pages 206-207 The Directing Virtue of the Earth....Pages 208-210 The Difference between the Conserving and Directing Virtue of the Earth....Pages 211-212 The Turning Virtue....Pages 212-213 The Sound-Producing and Echo-Producing Virtue....Pages 213-217 The Heat-Producing Virtue....Pages 218-219 The Light-Producing and Coloring Virtue....Pages 219-221 The Nature and Characteristics of Vision....Pages 222-224 The Difference in Appearance between Stars at Greater and Lesser Distances....Pages 224-227 The Experiment Wherein These Aforementioned Important Virtues Can Be Excited through Rubbing on a Sulphur Globe....Pages 227-231 Other Corporeal and Incorporeal Virtues....Pages 231-233 The Sphere of Land and Sea, or the Earth, and Its Size....Pages 235-236 The Size of Our Sphere of Land and Sea Relative to the Planetary System....Pages 237-238 The Earth is Composed of an Infinite Variety of Things Both Externally and Internally....Pages 238-242 The Earth Spirit....Pages 242-244 The Sea and Its Tides....Pages 244-246 The Air Surrounding the Earth and the Elementary Fire That has Been Postulated....Pages 247-248 The Height of the Air Around the Earth....Pages 249-250 An Observation Made in the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary by David Frölich Which Seems to Make a Significant Contribution to an Existing Opinion About the Height of Perceptible Air and Stratification....Pages 250-252 The Stratification of the Atmosphere....Pages 252-254 The Refraction of Air and the Consequent Difference in the Appearance of Stars, both as to Their Location and Size....Pages 254-257 The Eccentricity of the Sun and Moon....Pages 257-260 The Motion of Circulation of the Air....Pages 260-261 The Sphere of Earth and Water does Not Lie at Rest in the Air....Pages 261-263 The Sphere of Earth and Water Is Not in the Center of the World....Pages 263-266 The Rotation of the Earth....Pages 266-268 “Latio” or the Forward Motion of the Earth....Pages 268-271 The Moon....Pages 272-274 The Appearance of the Moon and Its Spots....Pages 274-276 The Forward Motion of the Moon....Pages 276-277 The Moon’s Motion....Pages 277-278 The Conjunction and Comparison of the Moon with Our Sphere....Pages 278-280 The Distance and Size of the Moon....Pages 280-282 Are There or are There Not Animals on the Moon?....Pages 282-283 Eclipses....Pages 283-285 The Destruction of the Earth....Pages 285-286 Appendix to This Fifth Book Comets....Pages 287-307 The World, What It is, and What is Included in the Term, in This Treatise....Pages 309-311 In What Sense the World is One Body and Why It Should be Termed a Unity....Pages 311-312 The Forward Motion of the World....Pages 312-314 The Peripatetic Concept of the World....Pages 314-315 The Motion of the World According to the Followers of Tycho....Pages 315-316 The Movement of the World as Set Forth by the Author and in Part by Certain Other Writers....Pages 316-318 The Earth Bodies....Pages 318-319 The Sun....Pages 319-322 The Size of the Sun and Its Distance from the Earth....Pages 322-327 The Wandering Stars or Planets....Pages 327-329 The Forward Motion of the Planets....Pages 329-330 Planetary Motion....Pages 331-331 The Distance of the Planets....Pages 331-334 The Size of the Planets....Pages 334-335 Are There Animals on the Planets?....Pages 335-341 The True System of This World....Pages 341-345 The Boundaries of Our World....Pages 345-349 The Distance of the Fixed Stars from Our Earth or Rather from the Sun....Pages 351-356 The Size and Number of the Stars....Pages 357-361 The Fixed Stars and What They Really are....Pages 361-364 Father Kircher’s Opinions Concerning the Fixed Stars Along with Our Own Remarks....Pages 365-382 The Limit or Outermost Boundary of the Stars....Pages 382-387 Back Matter....Pages 389-400 Otto von Guericke has been called a neglected genius, overlooked by most modern scholars, scientists, and laymen. He wrote his E xperimenta Nova in the seventeenth century in Latin, a dead language for the most part inaccessible to contemporary scientists. Thus isolated by the remoteness of his time and his means of communication, von Guericke has for many years been denied the recognition he deserves in the English speaking world. Indeed, the century in which he lived witnessed the invention of six important and valuable scientific instruments -- the microscope, the telescope, the pendulum clock, the barometer, the thermometer, and the air pump. Von Guericke was associated with the development of the last three of these; he also experimented with a rudimentary electric machine. Thus his Experimenta Nova was an important work, heralding the emerging empiricism of seventeenth century science, and merits this first English translation of von Guericke's magnus opus .