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there is no allusion to his ever having taken an interest
in astronomical work ; among the articles he dealt with
as a merchant there are no astronomical or other scientific
instruments. Columbus, in his numerous marginal notes,
never once mentions his name. The only contemporary
to hint at Martin Behaim's qualifications as a seaman or
astronomer is Hieronymus Monetarius in a letter addressed
to King John in 1493.1 In that letter he recommended
Behaim as being " well fitted " to accompany an expedition
for " disclosing the East to the West." Monetarius,
however, is hardly a competent witness on such a
question. An examination of the famous globe of
Nuremberg enables us to form a more trustworthy
estimate of Behaim's capacity. We there find that he
placed the mouth of the Congo in lat. 24° S., and the
Montenegro in lat. 38° S., the true latitudes of these
localities being 6° 4' and 15° 40' S. This proves conclusively
that if Behaim accompanied the famous expedition
of Cao as cosmographer or astronomer, as is maintained
by his biographers, he was absolutely ignorant of
the work he had undertaken. On the other hand, if this
portion of his globe is merely a compilation, he exhibited
a deplorable incapacity as a compiler, for since Dias'
return in 1488, the latitudes along the African coast, as
far as the Cape, were approximately known.

Moreover, several legends on the globe prove Behaim's
ignorance as a " cosmographer." Thus we read, in 78° N.,
" the longest day here lasts six months," and in the gulf of
Guinea, within the tropics, the curious reader is told that
it is summer there when we in " Europe have winter," a
statement quite appropriate to the southern temperate
zone, and possibly taken over from some old map, and
put in the wrong place. Another legend proves Behaim's
absolute ignorance in matters connected with the art of
navigation, for it tells us with reference to the Indian
Ocean :—

" Here the Stella maris, by us called Polus Arcticus,
cannot be seen, and those who navigate this sea must
sail (shape their course) with the help of the astrolabe,
for the compass does not point (to the north)."

No doubt such nonsense was believed at one time by
the ignorant,2 but no seaman, nay, no observant landsman
who had once crossed the Equator, as Behaim claims to
have done, could have penned such a sentence.

It is not likely that a man so inexperienced as was
Behaim at that time, at all events, could have taught
anything to a man of the scientific attainments of Mestre
Jose. He may have boasted at Lisbon of being a pupil
of Regiomontanus, and, on the strength of this boast, may
have been invited to join a Junta of astronomers; but
his want of knowledge would soon have betrayed itself.
Yet, in spite of these considerations, some of his more
imaginative biographers have credited him with achieve-

1 See Appendix IX.

J S. Gunther, 'Johannes Kepler und der Tellurisch-kosmische

Magnetismus ' (Vienna, 1888).

ments which would entitle him to a foremost position
among the scientific men of his age. J. F. von Bielefeld,3
copying a statement in that untrustworthy ' Dictionnaire '
of Louis Moreri,4 suggests that " Behaim was the first to
apply the compass to the navigation of the high sea, an
achievement, if true, deserving of immortality."

Antonio Ribeiro dos Santos, the author of a ' Memoria
sobre alguns mathematicos Portuguezas,'5 actually adopts
these wild statements. He says with reference to
Behaim : " He was a disciple of the famous mathematician
John de Monte Regio, Professor of Astronomy, who
devoted himself with much diligence to the study of
cosmography and navigation. He entered the service of
Portugal and was well received by Kings Affonso V.6
and John II. on account of the nobility of his person, his
attention to his profession and discourses. The last-
named Prince, on February 18, 1485, appointed him one
of his esquires (escudeiros), and the navigation of the
Portuguese derived much profit from him. Of him it is
said that he was the first to adapt the compass for the
general use of navigators, which would suffice to
immortalize his name and confer much honour upon
Germany, his fatherland."

A. Ziegler,7 in ' Regimontanus ein geistiger Vorlaufer
des Columbus ' (Dresden, 1874, p. 17), speaks of Behaim
as " one of the most learned mathematicians and
astronomers of his century, a famous navigator and
Portuguese cosmographer," and in a paper published in
the ' Deutsche geographische Blatter' (Bremen, 1878,
p. 117), he actually suggests that Behaim was the spiritus
familiaris of Ruy Faleiro,8 to whom he revealed the
secrets of cosmography and new methods for determining
the longtitude.

Quite as fantastic is the statement put forth by a more
recent writer, J. P. de Oliveira Martins (' Les explorations
des Portugaises,' Paris, 1893, p. 20), who would have us
believe that John II., " when he ascended the throne and
founded at Lisbon a school of mathematics, summoned
from Nuremberg a pupil of Regiomontanus, Martin
Behaim, upon whom devolved the role formerly filled at
Sagres9 by Jacome of Majorca."

3 1 Progres des Allemands dans la science' (Amst., 1752), pp. 72-76.

4 Moreri was born at Bagemont (Provence) in 1643, and died in
1680. His ' Dictionnaire' was first published in 1678. This first edition
does not refer to Behaim : Bielefeld quotes one of the many enlarged
subsequent editions, probably that of 1732.

6 'Mem. da litt. Port.,' VIII. (Lisbon, 1812), 20th ed. 1856, p. 164.
6 Affonso V. died 1481 !

' A. Ziegler was born at Ruhla in 1822, and died at Wiesbaden in
1887. He was a great traveller.

8 Ruy Faleiro was a native of Covilha, joined Magellan in Spain in
1517, and died about 1529 at Seville. Herrera (Dec. II., lib. 2, c. 19) first
started the story of a "demonio familiar," but does not identify him with
Behaim. Humboldt ('Krit. Unters.,' I., 234) suggests that this Ruy or
Rodrigo Faleiro was the Dr. Rodrigo of the Junta, but the latter is
described as a native of Fedras negras, and not of Covilha.

9 On the supposed Academy of Sagres see De Souza Holstein, ' A
escola de Sagres' (Lisbon, 1877), and J. Mees, ' Henri le Navigateur et
l'ecole de Sagres ' (' Bull, de l'Ac. Belgique,' Classe des Lettres, 1901).