hes to their great
clock, the result surpassed the greatest possible expectations, for it
was truly a masterpiece. Not only did it illustrate the ecliptic
phenomena of the moon, the sun and earth occurring in their proper time,
as well as many other things, but it showed these operations as they
succeeded in proper order, taking place through the centuries.
With mutual feelings of great pride, the two friends surveyed the result
of their three years of endeavor. Bertolla realized that he had reached
a point of maximum achievement in his work. He probably felt that now he
could relax again, that his sleep would no longer be troubled by
confused nightmares of wheels and gears that did not mesh together. Time
was to prove otherwise.
PUBLISHED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST CLOCK
Father Borghesi soon came to the conclusion that it would be desirable
to have a written description to explain the mechanism of the clock and
its many indicators. He thereupon wrote out the story of how the clock
was made, the reasons for embarking on the enterprise, the difficulties
he had encountered, and the success which had crowned his and Bertolla's
mutual labors. Finally, he described the operation of the clock's
mechanism and the functions of its array of indicators.
The little book was written in Latin and only a few copies were printed,
presumably at the priest's own expense, on a handpress by Giovanni
Battista Monauni, printer to the Bishop in Trent. The little volume was
stated by contemporary writers to have been published in 1763, although
no date appears on the title page. The title translated is, in part,
_The Most Recent, Perpetual Astronomical Calendar Clock,
Theoretical--Practical...._ The work begins with an introduction for the
reader in which Father Borghesi stated that:
... the little work, which, as far as I was concerned could
easily have been finished in a year, was only completed after
about three years. Fortunately, however, it was so far beyond
the expectations of most, that not only am I able to foretell
with certainty all the lunar ecliptic phenomena and the solar,
or rather terrestrial, phenomena, carefully worked out in their
true periods, among many other matters exhibited by the
machine; but also, within a few hours, I can exhibit by
altogether tangible evidence to the skeptics and the doubting
those very same phenomena, occurring within the space of many
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