The Objections To The Alleged Age Of These Instruments Were Entirely Based
On An Inspection Of Photographs.
The opinion was given very strongly that
no instrument of the kind, so perfect in theory and in execution, could
have been even imagined in those days, and that nothing of such scientific
quality could have been made except by the Jesuits.
In fact it was
asserted or implied that these instruments must have been made about the
year 1700, and were therefore not earlier in age than those which stand on
the terraced roof of the Observatory, and are well known to most of us
from the representation in Duhalde and in many popular works.
The only authority that I could lay hand on was Lecomte, and what he says
was not conclusive. I extract the most pertinent passages:
"It was on the terrace of the tower that the Chinese astronomers had set
their instruments, and though few in number they occupied the whole area.
But Father Verbiest, the Director of the Observatory, considering them
useless for astronomical observation, persuaded the Emperor to let them be
removed, to make way for several instruments of his own construction. The
instruments set aside by the European astronomers are still in a hall
adjoining the tower, buried in dust and oblivion; and we saw them only
through a grated window. They appeared to us to be very large and well
cast, in form approaching our astronomical circles; that is all that we
could make out.
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