moment he could spare went into the perusal of books on mathematics, astronomy, and associated subjects. He progressed rapidly, driven by his overpowering interest and aided by his quick intellect.

Little by little, Borghesi managed to acquire the basic texts that explained this new world to him, probably borrowing them from old seminary friends. As each new book came into his hands, he devoured it in his desire to master its contents. He discussed each new principle or precept that he learned with Bertolla. Together, they attempted to apply his new learning to the calculations necessary for a timepiece which would demonstrate the astronomical theories in visual form. Borghesi taught himself slowly, step by step, and the result was a profound understanding of astronomical science. He conceived the project of constructing a great astronomical clock which he felt could be accomplished by combining Bertolla's mechanical skills with his own recent mastery of astronomy and mathematics.

First Borghesi Clock

It is not difficult to visualize the two men, the priest and the clockmaker, as they sat together night after night working out their plans. Father Borghesi would painstakingly outline the astronomical principles he wished to have the clock exhibit and the mathematical principles which would be involved to operate them. Bertolla concentrated on them and tried to transcribe the principles into functional mechanical terms, visualizing each operation in terms of wheels and gears. Little by little the two men coordinated the numerous elements and welded them into an operating entity. They adjourned either to the stark simplicity of the rectory or, probably more often, to Bertolla's little home workshop, the priest standing over his friend while the latter worked at his bench in the dark paneled interior illuminated only by the several lamps on the work benches.

This first clock which the two men combined to create is a monument to the great scientific knowledge of the self-taught priest and the technical ability of the clockmaker—a unity combining astronomical science, mechanics, and artistry. The story of the project is told in a little book, Novissima Ac Perpetua Astronomica..., which Borghesi later published. Explaining the incentive which inspired him, and the premises from which he began his work, he wrote:

From the foundation of astronomical science long ago, innumerable [and] repeated observations of both ancient and modern astronomers, emerged at last from their hiding places. Made light of by the jests of so many outstanding intellects, they have so successfully brought to light the paths of the stars and their motions, which are more complicated to us than the Gordian knots. Now it is possible for even an amateur in astronomy, sufficiently instructed, to predict for any given time not only the mean position of the planets, but also their true longitude and latitude, and even the true time of their conjunctions, and their ecliptic oppositions, with all the attendant circumstances. Yet, until now, no hypothesis has been devised which would force an automaton to show to us, before our very eyes, the eclipses of the planets in their true and certain times.

For though there have been men seeking with all their might to bind by laws their artificial heavens, by I know not how many and how great calculations, and to systematize the complexities of the rotations of celestial bodies; nevertheless, all of them, as if by common agreement, considered themselves to have made great contributions to mechanico-theoretical astronomy. However, they have only attained, even though closely, the mean locations of the secondary mobiles, and those by a certain rather crude calculation. Some attained by more, some by less, but all by some degree of wandering from the truth, either worn out by the intricacies of the motions, or deceived and deceiving by the errors of their calculations. This fact those well know, who, setting about to collect information of this kind, even those publicized not long ago, with true astronomical calculation, have been bored to death while digging out by the most elementary and superficial arithmetical torture, the worst of fallacies spontaneously erupting from thence.

It would seem that true calculations alone can be desired in mechanico-astronomics. Long study had not only convinced me that an automaton was within the realm of possibility, but that there were many mechanical systems by which it could be achieved. I girded myself for a new project and developed it theoretically from the ground up, but under such unhappy auspices that not only did all hope fail that anyone would ever appear who might have seemed willing to set his hand to the work, but that the new discovery itself was scoffed at by many as altogether a nightmarish delirium of an unbridled imagination.

The first months of the project must have seemed like an inspired dream to the two men, and then must have followed a period of hopeless depression. Bertolla undoubtedly felt many times that the clock was an aspiration far beyond their combined abilities and means, but the priest would not be thwarted in his ambition and refused to abandon the project. He felt that it was a work that they were destined to produce. Many times, he wrote, he chided and begged and shamed his erstwhile partner into resuming the project where it had been last abandoned. Little by little, the first clock began to take form. As each new difficulty was encountered, the two men would go back over the notes and sketches to trace the problem to its source. Often a new part of the mechanism would nullify another which had thus far operated successfully, and a complete rearrangement would be required.

Figure 7.—Title Page of Father Borghesi's first book. The translation in its entirety is: "The Most Recent, Perpetual, Astronomical Calendar Clock: Theoretical—Practical: by means of which besides the hours, the minutes and seconds; the current year, the month; the day of the month and the day of the week; the dominical letter, epact, and thence, the day of all the feastdays, both fixed and movable; the solar cycle; the golden number; the Roman indiction; the dominant planet of any year and its sign; the phases of the moon and its mean age: and all the motions of the sun and the moon as to longitude, latitude, eccentricity, etc., are immediately seen, so accurately that [not only] the true new full moons and the true quadrature, etc., of the sun and moon appear, but also, all solar and lunar eclipses—both visible and invisible; as in heaven, so on the clock, they are conspicuously celebrated in their true times, and those of the past and those of the future, with their circumstances of time and duration, magnitude, etc., can be quickly determined. All this was devised and brought to light by the author, Francesco Borghesi of Anáuni, a secular priest of Trent, A.A.L.L. & Doctor of Philosophy. (Trent: From the printshop of Giovanni Battista Monauni, With Permission of Superiors.)" (Title page reproduced by permission of the Biblioteca della Citta di Trento.)

Again and again, Bertolla threw up his hands in despair and begged Father Borghesi to abandon the enterprise. He protested that he was not capable of producing such a complicated mechanism; he had neither the tools nor the skill. The priest wished to produce a clock such as the world had never seen before, such as the greatest scientists and clockmakers of all time had never been able to make. But Bertolla felt that he was only a provincial craftsman who could not