Comments on: Other Kinner letters…

By: Rene Zandbergen

Rene Zandbergen — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:58:29 +0000

Very little seems to be known altogether about G.A. Kinner. He must have died
after 1668, as there is a letter from him dated end December 1668 in the
Kicher correspondence (transcribed by Philip) in which Schott, the Organum
Mathematicum and also Theodor Moretus are mentioned.
Kinner was one of several people at the time working on the quadrature
of the circle.

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:34:40 +0000

Hi Philip,

Thanks for the link! The Organum Mathematicum (both Kircher’s device and Schott’s book) is really one of those things that the web doesn’t really seem to get right – it deserves a decent-length post to itself…

Cheers, ….Nick Pelling….

By: Philip Neal

Philip Neal — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:56:51 +0000

There is some info about the Organum Mathematicum on this site:
http://fermi.imss.fi.it/rd/bd?lng=en
(search on Schott). The download does not seem to work but there is
a gallery of images. There are lots
of other good things on this site
such as Caramuel Lobkowitz,
Mathesis Biceps, which contains
letters from Marci and Martinitz.

By: Christopher Hagedorn

Christopher Hagedorn — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:24:32 +0000

Wow, I inadvertently just pasted his name in there. Here is the URL in full: http://archimede.imss.fi.it/kircher/emathem.html

By: Christopher Hagedorn

Christopher Hagedorn — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:23:45 +0000

I’ve been reading around on the Internet, and it seems that the Organum Mathematicum is just a user manual for Kircher’s invention of the same name, which was a box intended for Archduke Carl Joseph of Austria to contain all mathematical knowledge as well as some sticks which could be used for calculating a variety of things.

This website has a bit more about the invention: Gaspar Schott

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:37:14 +0000

Never mind… I’ll just have to come up with a better one.

By: Christopher Hagedorn

Christopher Hagedorn — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:54:34 +0000

Too bad; it was a pretty good idea.

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:27:55 +0000

Hi Christopher,

Thanks to your BnF find, I’ve now gone through volumes 6 and 7, and there’s nothing of any substance in either. I’ve added an update to the end of the page to that effect.

Cheers, …Nick Pelling…

By: Christopher Hagedorn

Christopher Hagedorn — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:01:06 +0000

I’ve been reading through the volume. I’ve found a brief mention of Kinner on page 111 (image 120) but nothing else so far. I’ll keep looking.

By: Christopher Hagedorn

Christopher Hagedorn — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:27:25 +0000

It took me several hours, but I found it!

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k778547

Here is Book VI of Huygens’ Oeuvres Complètes freely available online!