Frontispiece

DANTE STUDYING.

From a fresco by Luca Signorelli at Orvieto.

Or vedi insieme l’uno e l’altro polo,Le stelle vaghe e lor viaggio torto;E vedi ’l veder nostro quanto è corte.Petrarch.

DANTE
AND THE
Early Astronomers

BY
M. A. ORR
(Mrs. John Evershed).

Plainness and clearness without shadow of stain,Clearness divine!Ye heavens, whose pure dark regions have no signOf languor, though so calm, and though so greatAre yet untroubled and unpassionate;Who, though so noble, share in the world’s toil,And though so tasked keep free from dust and soil!
You remainA world above man’s head, to let him seeHow boundless might his soul’s horizons be,How vast, yet of what clear transparency.Matthew Arnold.

London
Gall and Inglis, 31 Henrietta St., W.C.
And Edinburgh.

PRINTED AND BOUND BY
GALL AND INGLIS,
Newington Printing and Bookbinding Works,
Edinburgh.

[Pg iii]

PREFACE.

An observatory on a mountain top is an ideal place in which to writeon astronomy and poetry, but it has one drawback: the difficulty ofobtaining books on special subjects. My husband’s criticisms and helphave been invaluable, and of books on modern astronomy there is nolack; but many others which I have wished to consult I have been unableto procure, and doubtless there are many more which I ought to haveread, but of whose existence I am ignorant.

This defect has been partly remedied, however, by Mr. Wicksteed’s greatkindness in lending me a number of books on Dante subjects.

I am much indebted to my sister, Miss Orr, who has helped me inpreparing these sheets for the press. The index is mainly her work.

Thanks are also due to several members of the staff of thisobservatory: Mr. Sitarama Aiyar made some calculations, Mr. NagarajanAiyar projected the map facing page 295, Mr. Krishna Aiyarprepared photographs of several illustrations, and Mr. Krishnasawmy typed thegreater part of the copy for press. Mr. Raymond Beazley, the Trusteesof the British Museum, and Messrs Macmillan, have kindly allowed me toreproduce illustrations from their publications.

To all these I offer grateful thanks.

M. A. EVERSHED.

Kodaikanal Observatory,
South India.
October 1913.

[Pg iv]

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