362 Ahmad Dallal

REFERENCES
I. In this context I note the possible reading of GU 4-UD.MES as sa!Jatu "left-out, missing lines",
cited in CAD SII, p. 95.
2. On the number 110 at the beginning of this eclipse report, see now 1. M. Steele, "A simple function for
the length of the saros in Babylonian astronomy", in 1. M. Steele and A. Imhaesen (eds), Under
one sky: Astronomy and mathematics in the ancient Near East (Munster, forthcoming).
3. See J. M. Steele, "Eclipse prediction in Mesopotamia", Archive for history of exact science, Iiv
(2000),421-54, note 19.
4. Brown does acknowledge this point on p. 221 but, whilst I accept his arguments against it, I would still
urge a little more caution in describing the situation before c. 750 B.C.

ARABIC STUDIES ASSEMBLED

Arabic Mathematical Sciences: Instruments, Texts, Transmission. Richard Lorch

(Ashgate/ Variorum Publishing, Aldershot, Hampshire and Brookfield, Vermont,
1995). pp. xii + 354. $122.95.
Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World. Edward S. Kennedy
(Ashgate/ Variorum Publishing, Aldershot, Hampshire and Brookfield, Vermont,
1998). pp. xii + 352. $111.95.
Richard Lorch's Arabic mathematical sciences: Instruments, texts, transmission is
a collection of eighteen essays published over a period of twenty years (1975-95).
Unlike traditional studies of transmission history, Lorch goes beyond generalities
and explores the details of the complex process of textual transmission. He does
not restrict himself to the examination of translations, but traces the appearance
of fragments of texts, mathematical theorems and formulas, and instruments and
mathematical devices in various Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin sources. As a
result of this detailed and multi-layered approach, Lorch constructs a nuanced and
significantly complicated picture of transmission and translation history.
Lorch examines three sets of mathematical and astronomical problems: the first
(articles I-IV) focuses on the transmission history of a cluster of mathematical texts
and geometrical theorems including Archimedes's Sphere and cylinder, Theodosius's
Spherics, and Euclid's Elements. On the basis of meticulous mathematical analysis
as well as detailed textual comparisons of various translations, Lorch examines the
deviations in the Arabic translations from the Greek texts, and identifies instances
where the Arabic translations are closer to the original than the existing Greek texts.
Lorch also identifies theorems and definitions that appear in the Arabic translations
that do not belong to the original.
The second set of problems deals with spherical trigonometry as it is developed
and employed in astronomical texts. In examining the transmission of astronomical
texts, Lorch provides careful textual comparisons of the styles and contents of
texts in order to identify the authorship of manuscripts, their development, possible

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 Arabic Studies Assembled 363

authorship of parts of the texts, and additions over time. Several articles (articles
V-VIII) focus on the work of Jabir Ibn Afla and his influence in the West. In
particular, Lorch examines the establishment of trigonometry after the translation
of Jabir's commentary on the Altnagest (l~llilJ al-Majistz) by Gerard of Cremona.
Together with a general overview of the contents of this book, Lorch provides a
detailed study of Jabir's section on trigonometry and establishes that, although this
trigonometry was not originated by Jabir himself, it was the vehicle through which
developments in Arabic trigonometry were passed to the West.
The third set of problems (articles XI-XVIll) deals with astronomical instruments,
in particular celestial spheres, and explores questions of origins and transmission
of these instruments. One of these essays examines two universal instruments
described in the work of Jabir ibn Afla, one in Arabic, and the other in a Latin
translation that reproduces the diagrams that correspond to the instrument described
in the Arabic text. Lorch argues that Jabir's universal sphere, which combines the
celestial sphere and the plane astrolabe, may have inspired the invention of the
torquetum. In his essay on al-Khazini's balance-clock which measures time by
letting water or sand flow from a reservoir hung on one arm of a balance, Lorch
compares the functioning of this clock with simpler earlier Hellenistic models as
well as more elaborate Chinese ones, and suggests common origins for both in the
lost work of Heron on water clocks.
In sum, these essays provide individual contributions to the history of
trigonometry, geometry, and astronomical instruments. Furthermore, together
they furnish a model for tackling the complex question of transmission from
many perspectives.
E. S. Kennedy's Astronomy and astrology in the medieval Islamic world is another
such collection, of nineteen essays published between 1982 and 1998. Some are
co-authored, and three are first publications. In all of these essays Kennedy continues
a trend that characterizes all his previous work, namely to survey the field of the
history of Islamic astronomy, identify the problems and issues that were treated in
this tradition, and chart out methods for approaching these materials and problems.
On previous occasions, as here, Kennedy has provided exhaustive studies of specific
problems, together with editions and translation of the relevant Arabic texts. In
other cases, he simply provides overviews of the materials in question, assesses the
significance of the problems for the general history of science, and suggests methods
for solving these problems; this is often accompanied with a descriptive outline of the
contents of the manuscripts used in these particular studies.
The themes examined in this volume can be grouped into several categories. The
first set of articles (I, III) deals with instruments: the melon astrolabe described,
though not invented, by Habash al-Hasib (9th c.) and the celestial globe of al-Sufl
(lOth c.). Kennedy's presentation of the fairly complex spherical astronomy involved
in the construction of the melon astrolabe is typical of his tendency to exhaust all
known mathematical varieties of a particular problem, and to complement previous
work he had done on other variants of this problem.

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364 Ahmad Dallal

The second set of essays (II, VII) deals with spherical astronomical procedures
used in the computation of distances between localities and stars, finding the
direction of the qibla, and spherical trigonometry. In his study of Kashi's Zlj
al-Khaqani, Kennedy provides a summary outline of the contents of the six treatises
of this book and focuses on the fourth one, which deals with the application
of trigonometry by a leading astronomer and practitioner of computational
mathematics. In this treatise, Kashi gives rules for solving problems of spherical
astronomy and proofs validating these rules. Kennedy's elaborate analysis of these
rules is an invaluable tool for anyone working on similar problems of spherical
astronomy and, much like Kashi's own work at its time, it stands as a modem
reference work for historians of Islamic science.
Related to the above two themes is an essay that deals with Btrunt's azimuth
equidistant and globular mapping methods for projecting the surface of a sphere on
a plane. Another set of essays adds to Kennedy's earlier, almost exhaustive work
on zijes and astronomical tables. Of particular interest in this collection are the two
entries, published for the first time, on the legacy of Ulugh Beg. Essay XI is notable
as an example of Kennedy's grace and sensitivity for cultural history, a talent that is
often obscured by the technical nature of the field. After a summary of Ulugh Beg's
political career, Kennedy presents (XI, X) an overall evaluation of the scientific
legacies of both the prince and the scientific culture that he patronized. Kennedy
synthesizes the findings of other scholars, as well as new manuscript evidence,
and concludes that Ulugh Beg was a competent scientist, and not just a patron
of the sciences, and that under his patronage Samarqand was the astronomical
capital of the world.
Although Kennedy has written extensively on planetary theory, this volume
contains only one essay on that topic, summarizing the latest findings of several
historians of Arabic astronomy as of 1982-3. An original contribution to this field
of study in the form of a specific solution of one problem of spherical astronomy
is the essay on the spll§rical case of the Tiist Couple, the first explanation of the
working of the spherical couple.
The last group of essays (XV-XIX) presented in this collection deal with
astrology. Many of the manuscripts of Arabic astrology studied here emphasize how
to apply the astronomical methods rather than the predictions that can be derived
from these concepts. Following the lead of these authors, Kennedy also focuses on
the scientific computations that precede the subsequent astrological interpretation.
Kennedy thus illustrates the relevance of the study of astrology for the study of
the history of astronomy and trigonometry. The final essay in this group provides
an exhaustive history of all the known methods used for the determination of
astrological houses as reflected in twenty-eight, mostly unpublished, works of
Arabic astronomy and astrology.
Kennedy's careful and tireless efforts to structure the field of the history of
Arabic/Islamic astronomy, block by block, has inspired and guided a whole
generation of historians of science, many of whom have worked on problems he had

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 Book Reviews 365

already identified or pointed out, and have based their own work on foundational
knowledge which he had generated. In most cases, the detailed and specialized
studies by Kennedy collected in this volume complement earlier work on related
topics by solving yet another problem, Iintroducing yet another method, or outlining
the contents and methods of yet another set of tables or astrological scheme.
Specialized as these studies may be, they also contribute to the sharpening of the
larger picture. Through his meticulous efforts, Kennedy has contributed more than
any other historian of Arabic astronomy to the definition of a field of study and to
charting out its future trajectories.
Stanford University AHMAD DALLAL

fHA, xxxii (ZOO)

BOOK REVIEWS

PRINCIPIA IN GERMAN

Die Mathematischen Prinzipien der Physik. Isaac Newton, translated and edited
by Volkmar Schuller (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 1999). Pp.
xii + 683.
Volkmar Schuller here gives us a German version of Newton's third-edition text,
along with extensive footnotes, appendices (pp. 519-616), annotations (pp. 634-50),
and an editor's epilogue (pp. 617-33). The footnotes, drawn largely from the
Koyre-Cohen Third edition with variant readings (1972), exhibit the revisions
the Principia underwent during Newton's lifetime. The appendices consist of the
following, all in German translation: major passages from the first edition that
were replaced in the later editions; the classical scholia that Newton wrote in the
1690s, but eventually shied away from introducing into the Principia; a good many
of Newton's drafts for revisions of particular Principia passages; and reviews of
the first three editions of the Principia that appeared between 1687 and 1727.
The editor's epilogue is chiefly devoted to problems of translation, including
those having to do with mathematical expressions. The annotations spell out
certain of Newton's allusions and references, and elucidate terms likely to be
unfamiliar to present-day readers.
A translation ofthe Principia, says Schuller (p. 621), cannot be a word-for-word
equivalent of the original; it is a 'Hilfsmittel', a first interpretation. and the reader
should always have the original text at hand for consultation. In samplings, I have
found Schuller's German version in most cases closely parallel to Newton's text.
An exception is his use of Physik to translate the philosophia naturalis of Newton's
title; his justification (pp. 622-5) is in terms of word usage from the seventeenth

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