Re: VMs: Mad Kircher, was (lots)

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rene,

At 23:20 09/09/2003 -0700, Rene Zandbergen wrote:
> --- Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Well, unlike most other hypotheses, this one at
> > least has a precedent
> > (IIRC). :-)
>
> You're thinking of the Andreas Mueller hoax, I
> guess. Do we have a year for it?

Not AFAIK. But one source for the story, according to...
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:yG5w2qdQ8mAJ:www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/alchemy/shelves/stacks-jk.html&ie=UTF-8
...would appear to be...
        Mencken, Johann Burkhard. The Charlatanry of the Learned.
        (De charlataneria eruditorum, 1715). Translated from the German
        by Francis E. Litz, with notes and an introduction by H. L.
        Mencken. "First edition." New York, London, A.A. Knopf, 1937.

> In any case, the Voynich MS was sent to Kircher
> in 1666 by Marci, but was already owned by Baresch
> in 1637. So who planned the hoax, if it was one?
> Not Marci, for sure. Was Marci duped as well?
> Was Kircher a good target for a hoax in 1637?

Kircher was born in 1602, so would have been 35 then. According to the page 
just quoted:-

        He also studied hieroglyphics and observed the sunspots with a
        telescope of his own invention before he was appointed professor
        in philosophy and mathematics, as well as Hebrew and Eastern
        languages at the University of Würzburg in 1628.

So, Kircher was already studying hieroglyphics *before 1628*, and Marci 
might well have been someone else's cat's-paw - so the 
VMs-as-17th-Century-hoax hypothesis is still breathing. :-)

> That's why I think this scenario doesn't make
> complete sense.

It's quite clear to me that, for all our efforts, we've found it almost 
impossible to kill just about *any* VMs theory, however half-baked.... 
:-)  Perhaps for the VMs, if you can topple one domino, you can topple them 
all (hopefully bar one)... we shall see! :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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