Spanish Jesuits in the Philippines: Geophysical Research and Synergies between Science, Education and Trade, 1865–1898

Summary

In 1865, Spanish Jesuits founded the Manila Observatory, the earliest of the Far East centres devoted to typhoon and earthquake studies. Also on Philippine soil and under the direction of the Jesuits, in 1884 the Madrid government inaugurated the first Meteorological Service in the Spanish Kingdom, and most probably in the Far East. Nevertheless, these achievements not only went practically unnoticed in the historiography of science, but neither does the process of geophysical dissemination that unfolded fit in with the two types of transmitter of knowledge identified by historians in the missionary diffusion of the exact sciences in colonial contexts. Rather than regarding science as merely a stimulus to their functionary and missionary tasks, Spanish Jesuits used their overseas posting to produce and publish original research –– a feature that would place them within the typology of the ‘seeker’ rather than the ‘functionary’ (in stark contrast to what the standard typology sustains). This paper also analyses examples of synergies between science, education and trade, which denotes, inter alia, the existence of a broad and solid educational structure in the Manila Mission that sustained the strength of research enterprise.

Acknowledgements

This article is part of a larger study on Jesuits and science in nineteenth-century overseas supported by the Basque government (SA-2012/00202). I am grateful to the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) and the Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University, in whose archives and libraries this work crystallized through two short-term fellowships (January-March 2011, and January-February 2012). I am indebted to Father José S. Arcilla S.J., Víctor Badillo, Melissa Lao, Elizabeth J. Macapagal, and Shyl Angelica Sales, Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu, Carina C. Samaniego, and Mariel R. Templanza for providing essential feedback and help for this project. This work benefited tremendously from the insightful and generous reviews of Lewis Pyenson, as well as for the remarks of two anonymous referees.

Notes

¹ Teófanes Égido, Javier Burrieza and Manuel Revuelta, Los jesuitas en España y en el mundo hispánico (Madrid, 2004), 302.

² In nineteenth-century Spanish vocabulary, the expression (meteorological) ‘Servicio’ was synonymous with the French ‘Bureau’ and the English ‘Office’. The term denoted a centralized governmental body of a national/colonial character that was responsible for reporting and coordinating atmospheric situations and conditions through a telegraphic network of meteorological stations. Although one should give credit to the work of Andrés Poëy in Cuba, the Observatorio Físico-Meteórico de La Habana (created in 1860 by the Madrid Government) never had this role.

³ Lewis Pyenson, ‘Functionaries and Seekers in Latin America: Missionary Diffusion of the Exact Sciences, 1850–1930’, Quipu, 2 (3) (1985), 387–420 (389). For a constructive criticism of the categorization and terminology proposed by Pyenson, see Thomas F. Glick, ‘Crítica a N. Stepan y L. Pyenson’, Quipu, 2 (3) (1985), 437–42 (438–40).

⁴ Lewis Pyenson, Civilizing Mission: Exact Sciences and French Overseas Expansion, 1830–1940 (Baltimore, 1993); Lewis Pyenson, Cultural Imperialism and Exact Sciences: German Expansion Overseas, 1900–1930 (New York, 1985); Lewis Pyenson, ‘Pure Research, Jesuit Institutions, and Metropolitan Ambitions: The Evolution of French Policies Overseas, 1880–1940’, in Chine et Europe: Évolution et particularités des rapports est-ouest du XVI^eau XX^esiècle. Actes du IVe Colloque International de Sinologie de Chantilly, edited by Centre d’études et de recherches interdisciplinaires de Chantilly (Paris, 1991), 249–71. See also Steven J. Harris, ‘Transporting the Merton Thesis: Apostolic Spirituality and the Establishment of the Jesuit Scientific Tradition’, Science in Context, 3 (1) (1989), 29–65.

⁵ L. Pyenson, ‘Pure Learning and Political Economy: Science and European Expansion in the Age of Imperialism’, in New Trends in the History of Science, edited by R. P. W. Visser et al. (Amsterdam, 1989), 209–78 (274–5).

⁶ On the lack of a specific programme of scientific observations devised by Jesuit superiors, see Agustín Udías, S.J., ‘Meteorology in the observatories of the Society of Jesus’, Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu, 65 (1996), 157–70; Agustín Udías, S.J., Searching the Heavens and the Earth. The History of Jesuit Observatories (Dordrecht, 2003), 1–14. For the development of transnational networks of Jesuit scientists to understand cyclones, see Gregory Cushman, ‘The imperial politics of hurricane prediction: From Calcutta and Havana to Manila and Galveston, 1839–1900’, in New Approaches to International Environmental History, edited by Erika Marie Bsumek, David Kinkela and Mark Atwood Lawrence (New York, 2013), 137–62.

⁷ For an illuminating review of the criteria used in the studies on the transmission of Western science, including a proposal for the Ibero-American context, see Antonio Lafuente and José Sala Catalá, ‘Ciencia y mundo colonial: el contexto iberoamericano’, in Ciencia colonial en América, edited by Antonio Lafuente and José Sala Catalá (Madrid, 1992), 13–24. For an introduction to the relationship between Jesuits and the geophysical sciences in peninsular and overseas Spain, see Aitor Anduaga, Geofísica, economía y sociedad en la España contemporánea (Madrid, 2009), 143–76; Aitor Anduaga, Meteorología, ideología y sociedad en la España contemporánea (Madrid, 2012), 115–30. As regards the scientific transmission in the Philippines in fields such as geology and forestry engineering, see Jorge Ordaz, ‘Datos acerca de los estudios geológicos realizados en Filipinas en la época colonial’, Llull, 20 (1997), 173–87; and Javier María García López, ‘Forestales españoles en Ultramar: La labor de los Ingenieros de Montes en las Islas Filipinas (1863–1898)’, Agricultura y Sociedad, 78 (1996), 237–70.

⁸ For an overview of the Jesuitical pedagogical tradition, see the introduction by Manuel Revuelta, S.J., Los Colegios de jesuitas y su tradición educativa: 1868–1906 (Madrid, 1998), 1–14.

⁹ Pío Pi was the Fr. Superior of the Philippine Mission from 1896 to 1905. The quote can be found in Begoña Cava, ‘Misión de los Padres Jesuitas en el siglo XIX filipino. Memoria histórica del regreso a Mindanao y acción socio-misional’, in Imperios y Naciones en el Pacífico. Volumen I. La formación de una colonia: Filipinas, edited by M. Dolores Elizalde, Josep M. Fradera, and Luis Alonso (Madrid, 2001), I, 619–40 (619).

¹⁰ Royal Charter of 19^th of October, 1852, partially reproduced in Cava (note 9), 623; and in its entirety in the Colección Legislativa de España, 57, 301–7.

¹¹ Pablo Pastells, S.J., Misión de la Compañía de Jesús de Filipinas en el siglo XIX (Barcelona, 1916), 3 vols.; José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘Jesuit Mission Policies in the Philippines, 1859–1899’, Philippine Studies, 27 (1979), 176–97 (176–8); and Horacio de la Costa, S.J., Light Cavalry (Manila, 1997).

¹² José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘The Escuela Pia, Forerunner of Ateneo de Manila’, Philippine Studies, 31 (1983), 58–74.

¹³ Julia Melcón, ‘La geografía en el sistema de instrucción primaria en España, Cuba, Puerto Rico y Filipinas (1838–1898)’, in Ciencia, vida y espacio en Iberoamérica, edited by José Luis Peset (Madrid, 1989), III, 267–93 (287).

¹⁴ Letter from the City Council of Manila to the Governor General of the Philippines, 5 August 1859, Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Roma (ARSI), Phil, 1001-I, 8–10. For a description in detail of the municipal request for creating a Jesuit school, see José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘From Escuela Pia to Ateneo Municipal, 1859–1900’, in 150 Years of Engaging the Nation, edited by Josefina Dalupan (Manila, 2010), 2–31 (8–14).

¹⁵ On the failed efforts of Governors to organize a system of public schools in the Philippines in the 1850s, see Encarnación Alzona, A History of Education in the Philippines, 1565–1930 (Manila, 1932), 48–51.

¹⁶ José Manuel Cano Pavón, Estado, enseñanza industrial y capital humano en la España Isabelina (1833–1868). Esfuerzos y fracasos (Málaga, 2001), 78–9.

¹⁷ Regulations for the regime of establishments of secondary education in the Philippines were adapted from the Cuban plan. Schools were classified as public (only the University of Santo Tomas), and private (Ateneo and Letrán). Private ones might be first class (if they offered a full programme leading to the B. A. degree), or second class (if not). See Fundación Santa María, Historia de la Educación en España y América. Vol. 3. La educación en la España contemporánea (1789–1975) (Madrid, 1994), 510.

¹⁸ For the provisions relating to the studies of application, see Regulations on secondary education on 15^th July, 1867. Gaceta de Madrid, 206 (198) (17 July 1867), 1–2, art. 118–21.

¹⁹ For a list of subjects, see Evaristo Arias, Memoria histórico-estadística sobre la enseñanza secundaria y superior en Filipinas escrita con motivo de la Exposición Colonial de Amsterdam por encargo de la Subcomisión de estas Islas (Manila, 1883). See also: José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘Ateneo de Manila: Problems and Policies, 1859–1939’, Philippine Studies, 32 (1984), 377–98 (385); Frederick Fox, ‘Philippine Vocational Education: 1860–1898’, Philippine Studies, 24 (1976), 261–87 (284).

²⁰ Arcilla (note 19), 385.

²¹ Although the diploma programme was not at first as popular as the General Studies one, it later gained the importance that the promoters sought. From 1875 to 1924, the Ateneo granted 1509 Bachelor titles, while granting 767 in Master Businessman and 115 in Mechanics. Miguel Saderra Masó, S.J., Misiones jesuíticas de Filipinas, 1581–1768 y 1859–1924 (Manila, 1924), 94. The first diplomas were awarded in 1875. See Fox (note 19), 284.

²² José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘La Escuela Normal de Maestros de Instrucción Primaria, 1865–1905’, Philippine Studies, 36 (1988), 16–35; Melcón (note 13), III, 286–8.

²³ Although P. A. Bergsma, as a state-salaried geographical engineer in Batavia, recorded geophysical data from 1862, the Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory at Batavia was not officially founded until 1866. See: J. Veldkamp, History of Geophysical Research in The Netherlands and its former Overseas Territories (Amsterdam, 1984), 31, 68; J.A.C. Oudemans, ‘Levensschets van Dr. P.A. Bergsma’. In: Jaarboek (Amsterdam, 1882), 98–152 (112).

²⁴ Although there were earlier observatories, such as the Imperial Russian one in Beijing and several customs stations in China and some private stations in Japan, either they did not exist any longer or their observations were limited to studies of magnetism or local climate. See Miguel Saderra Masó, S.J., Historia del Observatorio de Manila (Manila, 1915), 23. On magnetic campaigns in the period 1830–1850, see John Cawood, ‘The Magnetic Crusade: Science and Politics in Early Victorian Britain’, Isis, 70 (254) (1979), 493–518.

²⁵ The standard historiography of the Manila Observatory is essentially based on two only sources: Saderra Masó (note 24), who had at his disposal the archives of the Observatory, subsequently destroyed in 1945; and Pastells (note 11). For the events until 1870, Pastells made use of the account written for him by Fr. Jaime Nonell, S.J. in Manresa in September 1912. See also John N. Schumacher, S.J., ‘One Hundred Years of Jesuit Scientists: The Manila Observatory, 1865–1965’, Philippine Studies, 13 (1965), 258–86; Costa (note 11), 92–6; and Udías (note 6), 269–72. See also James Hennessey, S.J., ‘The Manila Observatory’, Philippine Studies, 8 (1960), 99–129; W.C. Repetti, S.J., The Manila Observatory (Ann Arbor, 1948).

²⁶ This privileged situation has been commonly emphasized by Jesuit scientists. See, e.g. the introduction by José Algué in Saderra Masó (note 24), 5–6; or Ángel Hidalgo, S.J., El P. Federico Faura S.J. y el Observatorio de Manila (Manila, 1974), 4.

²⁷ On this variety and the importance of having a central institution, see José Algué, S.J., The Climate of the Philippine Islands (Washington, DC, 1904).

²⁸ Miguel Saderra Masó, S.J. and Warren D. Smith, ‘The Relation of Seismic Disturbances in the Philippines to the Geologic Structure’, The Philippine Journal of Science: A. Chemical and Geological Sciences and the Industries, 8 (4) (1913), 199–233 (199–200). See also William C. Repetti, S.J., ‘Catalogue of Philippine Earthquakes, 1589–1899’, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 36 (3) (1946), 133–322.

²⁹ On the favourable situation for the magnetic installation in Manila, see Saderra Masó (note 24), 7–8; and especially, Ricardo Cirera, S.J., El Magnetismo Terrestre en Filipinas (Manila, 1893), 3–4.

³⁰ Saderra Masó (note 24), 5.

³¹ Pastells (note 11), I, 171–83, was less emphatic and preferred to stress the autonomy of the Jesuits.

³² Juan Salcedo, S.J., ‘The Manila Observatory and Philippine science, world science, and Nationalism’, Science, Bulletin of the Science Foundation of the Philippines, 10 (1965), 4–11 (5).

³³ Manila Observatory Archives (MOA), INS S1, ‘The Manila Observatory’ by William C. Repetti, 7–34 (7–8).

³⁴ Pastells (note 11), I, 172.

³⁵ Born in the province of Barcelona, F. Faura (1840–1897) studied at the College of the Overseas Missions in Loyola and the seminaries in Vich, Balaguer and Tortosa, before being assigned to the Philippines in 1866. In Manila, he taught physics and mathematics, and was the director of the Manila Observatory from 1867 to 1870. Having taken Holy Orders in 1874 and finishing Theology in France, Faura was trained at the Jesuit Observatories in Rome and Stonyhurst. As regards Faura, see: Hidalgo (note 26); J. Oriol Cardús, ‘El P. Frederic Faura, S.J. Meteoròleg a Filipines', in III Jornades de Meteorologia Eduard Fontserè (Barcelona, 1997), 63–8; José S. Arcilla, S.J., ‘Faura, Federico. Misionero, científico’, in Diccionario histórico de la Compañía de Jesús: biográfico-temático, edited by Charles E. OR'Neill and Joaquín M^a Domínguez (Madrid, 2001), 1381–2; Saderra Masó (note 24), 121–3; Udías (note 6), 148–50.

³⁶ These students were boys ten to twelve years old. See Arcilla (note 19), 381–2; for a list of the subjects taught at the Ateneo, see Arias (note 19).

³⁷ Miguel Saderra Masó, S.J., ‘El Observatorio de Manila’, Cultura Social, 2 (1914), 421–31 (422–3).

³⁸ Melcón (note 13), III, 267–292 (291); and Arcilla (note 22), 19.

³⁹ Juan Ricart was Fr. Provincial of the Jesuit Province to which the Manila Mission belonged, that of Aragon.

⁴⁰ F. Faura to J. Ricart, 12 June 1889, Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Aragón de la Compañía de Jesús, Barcelona (AHPA), CF 4/5/48.

⁴¹ F. Faura to J. Ricart, 12 June 1889, Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Aragón de la Compañía de Jesús, Barcelona (AHPA), CF 4/5/48. Another example illustrates the importance of this symbiosis. In a letter dated December 1878, José Batlle, the head of Inspection of Telegraphers in the Philippines, informed Faura that all the meteorological observations made at the telegraphic stations in Luzon would be placed at the disposal of the Manila Observatory. In making this decision, Batlle took into consideration the scientific and educational skills of the Manila Jesuits. Batlle to Faura, December 8, 1878, according to MOA, INS S1, ‘The Manila Observatory’, by William C. Repetti, 7–34 (14).

⁴² The French Jesuits at Zikawei established a boarding college, a seminary and two orphanages. It was not until 1903 that they founded the Aurora University at Zikawei, offering instruction in mathematics and civil engineering, among others. Udías (note 6), 158.

⁴³ Although officially associated with the Marine Department of Chinese Customs, the Zikawei Observatory never played a similar role to that of the Manila Observatory. This Department was in reality run by British administrators. They installed and paid for the first class meteorological stations established in all the Treaty ports. Under this plan, Zikawei received and handled the weather observations made at these stations. In 1890, it began making weather maps for the entire coast of China. Although the Imperial Chinese regime officially recognized Zikawei's status, the plan was initiated, driven and fueled by British administrators. Fr. Marc Dechevrens, its first director, proposed to the British authorities of Hong Kong a project of collaboration among all the meteorological stations in China, centralized in Zikawei, a proposal that was not accepted. See Wu Yan, ‘Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory (1873–1950). Under the territorial expansion of European modern science’. Ph.D. thesis, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2009, 50–86.

⁴⁴ In drafting this section, we have particularly drawn on the file ‘Establecimiento y organización de un servicio meteorológico en las Islas Filipinas’. Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid (AHN), Overseas 603, file 14; and Saderra Masó (note 24), 63–86.

⁴⁵ Signed by the Overseas Minister, Manuel Aguirre de Tejada, R.D. of 28^th of April, 1884, Gaceta de Madrid, 223 (121) (30 April 1884), 263–4.

⁴⁶ John P. Hennessy to the Governor-General of the Philippines, 25 May 1880 (a letter translated in Manila by Ramón Blanco on June 7, 1880), AHN, Overseas 603, file 14. See also the favourable response by Faura to Hennessy about cooperation, 3 July 1881, in Saderra Masó (note 24), 65–6.

⁴⁷ There were three stations on the Western coast (Laoag, Vigan and Bolinao), six south of Manila (Albay, Daet, Atimonan, Tayabas, Punta Santiago and Restinga), and four in northern Luzon (Aparri, Tuguegarao, La Cruz de Caraballo and San Isidro). A new station was later added in Tabaco, and, in 1897, after establishing the cable between Luzon and Visayas, the stations in Tuburan, Cebú, Hoilo and Cápiz. See R.D. of 28^th of April, 1884, Gaceta de Madrid, 121 (30 April 1884), 263–4.

⁴⁸ Ed. Bustillo, Governor-General of the Philippines, 27 August 1881, AHN, Overseas 603, file 14. See also ‘Organización del servicio meteorológico en Filipinas’, Revista General de Marina, 7 (1880), 907–11.

⁴⁹ F. Faura to the Director-General of the Civil Administration, 22 June 1880, AHN, Overseas 603, file 14.

⁵⁰ ‘Memoria-proyecto y presupuesto de la red eléctrico-meteorológica en la Isla de Luzón’, signed by Rafael Rodríguez of Arias and José Batlle, president and secretary, respectively, of the Board. Manila, 10 November 1880, AHN, Overseas 603, file 14 — also reproduced by Saderra Masó (note 24), 174–82.

⁵¹ Saderra Masó (note 24), 174.

⁵² The Royal Order of 22^nd of December, 1883, stipulated that naval and semaphore stations in the Philippines should communicate their observations to the Manila Observatory.

⁵³ For example, the mentioned report of the General Board says: ‘were the telegraphic network to be spread throughout the Archipelago and beyond […], with relatively insignificant expenses, it would attain the same results that Washington achieves by expending millions of pesos’.

⁵⁴ F. Faura to the Director-General of the Civil Administration, 22 June 1880, AHN, Overseas 603, file 14.

⁵⁵ Saderra Masó (note 24), 110. For the collections of instruments in the Manila Observatory magnetic and seismic sections, see: Josep Batlló, Catálogo inventario de magnetómetros españoles (Madrid, 2005), 271–87; Josep Batlló, Catálogo inventario de sismógrafos antiguos españoles (Madrid, 2004), 341–61.

⁵⁶ Like other observatories, the Manila Observatory installed a Dollond meridian telescope (from London), indicating when the ball should be raised and dropped; then the cannon enabling the synchronization of the clocks of Manila and the boats in the bay with that of the Observatory, was fired. This service also included the comparison of the chronometers of the seamen and the daily dispatch of the time to telegraphic stations. Saderra Masó (note 24), 82, 127; Pastells (note 11), II, 81.

⁵⁷ Udías (note 6), 147–52; and Saderra Masó (note 24), 94–100.

⁵⁸ As stated in the mentioned report of the Board. AHN, Overseas 603, file 14.

⁵⁹ John Doyle was an Irish Jesuit who had been trained and ordained in Spain, and worked in the seismic and geomagnetic sections.

⁶⁰ ‘Presupuesto de 1896–97: Nómina de los haberes que corresponden en el citado mes al personal del Observatorio de Manila’, 30 September 1896, National Archives of the Philippines, Manila (NAP), ‘Servicio Meteorológico’.

⁶¹ The author of the first magnetic map of the Philippines, Cirera, would be the founder and director of the Ebro Observatory (1904–1919) and the editor of the journal Ibérica (1913–1917). See E. Galdon, ‘Cirera Salse, Ricardo’, in Diccionario histórico de la Compañía de Jesús. Biográfico-temático, edited by Charles E. O'Neill and Joaquín M. Domínguez (Madrid, 2001), I, 819.

⁶² Coronas was the director of the meteorological section in 1897–1901 and 1907–1931 (at the Weather Bureau). His most important contribution to meteorology in the Philippines is: José Coronas, S.J., ‘The Climate and Weather of the Philippines, 1903 to 1918’, in Census of the Philippine Islands, 1918 (Manila, 1920), I, 291–474. As regards his life and works, see ‘Coronas, Fr. José’, in E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography (Quezon City, 1955), II, 129–31.

⁶³ Y. Tsuchihati, the first Japanese Jesuit, worked in the geomagnetic section (1894–95), and he was later the president of the University of Sophia. Solà worked in the seismic section (1897–1903). See ‘Scholastics of the Pre-1945 Manila Observatory’, by Víctor L. Badillo, MOA, Ins S2.

⁶⁴ The Dutch Jesuit A. Renkin became the Manila Observatory Deputy Director during his brief stay (1885–1886). His successor, M. Juan, helped to establish the geomagnetic section between 1887 and 1888, and he was the author of the posthumous work, Observaciones magnéticas verificadas en la Paragua, Joló y Mindanao (Manila, 1890). See Saderra Masó (note 24), 94–5.

⁶⁵ Faura to Juan Capell, Fr. Provincial of Aragon, n.d. ––reproduced by Costa (note 11), 146.

⁶⁶ Juan Capell to Faura, 10 January 1883 ––reproduced by Pastells (note 11), I, 182.

⁶⁷ Faura to Juan Capell, 30 April 1883 ––reproduced by Pastells (note 11), I, 182–3.

⁶⁸ The comparison was made with the normal instruments of the Observatory. This service was free for the public, in particular for seamen and naval officers. See El Archipiélago Filipino (Washington, 1900), II, 16.

⁶⁹ In 1890, the salaries of the Observatory employees were (in Filipino Pesos): director (1,500), assistant director (1,000), first-class observer (800), first-class calculator (300), first-class draftsman (300), mechanic (300) and porter (96). National Archives of the Philippines, ‘Manila Complex’, SDS 019167, 019161.

⁷⁰ Bulletin des observations magnétiques et météorologiques, Observatoire de Zikawei, 1874–1904. As regards this Observatory, see Udías (note 6), 276–8.

⁷¹ Hong Kong Observatory Magnetic Results (monthly), 1884–1939.

⁷² The Manila Observatory Boletín grew in size and contents: from 1865 to 1869, it was a simple sheet providing tables, six graphs and a summary of atmospheric phenomena; from 1870 to 1879, four pages including tables and a plate with data from a Secchi Meteorograph; from 1880 to 1883, eight pages containing the foregoing data as well as a discussion and a summary of baguios and a map of their trajectories; from 1884 to 1890, twelve pages divided into two journals (one concerned with the Observatory, and another with the fourteen secondary stations); and from 1890 to 1897, thirty-two pages containing three journals (meteorological, seismic and magnetic), as well as observations from secondary stations and volunteer observers. Saderra Masó (note 24), 195.

⁷³ ‘A Bibliography of Typhoons’, by M. Selga, 31 December 1936, MOA.

⁷⁴ Selga was able to gather 4676 files, containing the source and a summary of their contents. A part of this material was used in his work, Miguel Selga, S.J., Charts of Remarkable Typhoons in the Philippines, 1902–1934. Catalogue of Typhoons, 1848–1934 (Manila, 1935).

⁷⁵ Ángel Hidalgo, S.J., ‘Miguel Selga, 1879–1956: Priest and Scientist’, Philippine Studies, 15 (2) (1967), 307–47 (322).

⁷⁶ Selga also includes references from the Bulletin of the Japanese Meteorological Observatory of Kobe (created in 1896), though all of them date from the twentieth century. See Masaya Nakatsu, ‘The First Instrumental Meteorological Observation at Kobe’. Kobe University, an unpublished document.

⁷⁷ For a list of the Manila Observatory seismological publications, see ‘Seismology in the Manila Observatory. Manila, P.I. 1865–1934’, by W.C. Repetti, MOA, INS S2, p. 21.

⁷⁸ It was not until 1921 that the Hong Kong Observatory began to publish the Seismological Bulletin monthly (1921–1970).

⁷⁹ In this period the Hong Kong Observatory published four monographic works on meteorology, all of them authored by its director W. Doberck. See Kevin MacKeown, Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong, 1882–1912 (Hong Kong, 2010), 231–4.

⁸⁰ José Algué summarized meteorologist Julius von Hann's physical theory of cyclone propagation in his chapter ‘On the origins of baguios or typhoons’, as well as Fr. Benito Viñes' laws of cyclone circulation. See J. Algué, S.J., Baguios o Tifones de 1894 (Manila, 1895), 143–5, 148–51. Algué is considered to be the principal disseminator of the nephological-predictive ideas of Viñes at the turn of the century.

⁸¹ Hébert to Faura, December 5, 1881 ––quoted in Hidalgo (note 26), 21. The dissertation, Études sur les lois des grands mouvements de l'atmosphère et sur la formation et la translation des tourbillons aériens, was published by Hébert in Versailles in 1882.

⁸² Faura to Hébert, February 12, 1882, Manila ––in Hidalgo (note 26), 21–2.

⁸³ When Algue returned to the Philippines, after a three-year training period in Europe and the US, he published a monograph entitled Baguios o cyclones Filipinos (Manila, 1897). The first edition contained three parts. The first was theoretical and dealt with the nature of typhoons (genesis, trajectories, and classification). He also gave some practical norms to diagnose their presence. The book was well received in Spain and abroad. Shortly after, the meteorological offices of France, England and Germany requested the formal translation of the book, leading to a revised edition in 1904, The Cyclone of the Far East.

⁸⁴ Literature on seismology at the Manila Observatory is abundant. Two indispensable sources of that time are: Miguel Saderra Masó, S.J., La sismología en Filipinas: datos para el estudio de terremotos del Archipiélago Filipino (Manila, 1895), 2–16; and W.C. Repetti, S.J., ‘Seventy Years of Seismology in the Manila Observatory’, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 27 (1946), 15–18. See also Josep Batlló, ‘Sismologia colonial: la introducció de la sismologia instrumental a les Illes Filipines (1865–1901)’, in Actes de la VI Trobada d'Història de la Ciencia i de la Técnica, edited by J. Batlló, R. Puig and P. Bernat (Barcelona, 2002), 215–24.

⁸⁵ The Manila Observatory anticipated by more than fifteen years the regular observations carried out in peninsular Spain.

⁸⁶ Batlló (note 84), 222.

⁸⁷ F. Faura, S.J., Observaciones sismométricas de los terremotos del mes de julio de 1880 (Manila, 1880).

⁸⁸ English seismologist John Milne praised Faura's achievement; and the secretary of the Seismological Society of Japan, W.S. Chaplin, translated Faura's work into English and showed his graphs to the Society. See Saderra Masó (note 24), 48.

⁸⁹ Quoted in Hidalgo (note 26), 39; Saderra Masó (note 24), 113.

⁹⁰ R.O. of 18^th March, 1890. Gaceta de Madrid, 80 (21 March 1890), 869. On the work at the Manila Observatory magnetic section, see Cirera (note 29); Saderra Masó (note 24), 101–9; and Pierre Gouin, ‘The magnetic field over the Philippines. Part I: The magnetic survey of the Philippines, 1888–1892: an evaluation and a re-assessment’, MOA.

⁹¹ A magnetometer regularly operated at Zikawei since 1877. Cirera (note 29), 94, lamented the scarcity of data from the Japanese Empire: ‘we only have the [magnetic] variations for the summer months’. As regards Zikawei Observatory, see Udías (note 6), 158–67.

⁹² Th. Moureaux to Fr. Eduardo Capelee S.J., 18 November 1888 –– reproduced by Saderra Masó (note 24), 105–6. Martín Juan died while taking part in the magnetic survey to Mindanao and Joló in 1888.

⁹³ Although the Madrid Observatory carried out magnetic declination and inclination observations from 1879 to 1901 and the so-called ‘Comisión Hidrográfica de la Península’ published, with the help of the Cadiz Observatory, four magnetic reports, these works were all isolated and did not serve as a basis for the peninsular magnetic map. The first peninsular magnetic chart was drawn up by Johann von Lamont in 1859 in Munich as a part of an impressive program of regional magnetic surveys in Europe. See Batlló (note 55), 17–21, and 271–87 for the magnetic instrumental equipment; and José Cubillo, Carta Nacional de Declinaciones Magnéticas (Madrid, 1949).

⁹⁴ As regards the Manila Observatory's astronomical section, see Saderra Masó (note 24), 125–31; and MOA, INS S2, Ángel Hidalgo, S.J., ‘El Observatorio de Manila y la astronomía’.

⁹⁵ According to Luis Cirera, the brother of Ricardo Cirera, who later became the founder and director of the Ebro Observatory. Diario Catalán, 20 February 1897 ––quoted in Pastells (note 11), III, 128.

⁹⁶ José M. Clotet, ‘P. José Algué Sanllei, S.J.’, Cultura Social, 9 (1921), 311–15 (313). The equatorial of 48 cm diameter and 700 cm focal length started working in 1898. The objective was constructed by Merz and the mounting by Saegmuller of Washington. The attachments to the equatorial were a Toepfer spectrograph constructed in Berlin (similar to the one at Potsdam), and another by Hilger in London. The Manila Observatory previously had a Molteni telescope and Algué's zenith reflection telescope. For more details, see: W.F. Rigge, ‘Jesuit Astronomy’, Popular Astronomy, 12 (1904), 230–9 (238).

⁹⁷ These phenomena were: the eclipses of the Sun (18 August 1868 and 19 August 1887); the transit of Mercury (10 May 1891); the transit of Venus (December 1882 and February 1894); the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter (February 1892); the Sawerthal comet (1888); shooting stars (27 November 1885); the Banahao meteorite (1889); the Mati meteorite (1891), and the San Luis meteorite (1898). See Miguel Selga, S.J., Astronomical observations made in the Philippines prior to 1927 (Manila, 1930), 3–33.

⁹⁸ Ángel Hidalgo, S.J., ‘Philippine Chartography and the Jesuits’, Philippine Studies, 29 (1981), 360–74.

⁹⁹ José Algué, S.J., Atlas de Filipinas: Colección de 30 mapas (Washington, DC, 1900).

¹⁰⁰ Saderra Masó (note 84).

¹⁰¹ Cirera (note 29), chap. 6.

¹⁰² An English translation of this work appeared in the Report of the First Philippine Commission to the President, 4 (1901), 113–57. For a summary, see José Coronas, S.J., Interesting climatological data concerning the weather of Manila (Manila, 1900).

¹⁰³ These included a temperature map, a climate map with average rainfall and a map of meteorological stations. José Coronas, S.J., The Climate and Weather of the Philippines, 1903–1918 (Manila, 1920).

¹⁰⁴ Cirera (note 29), 150, gives no information about the lengths of these earth current lines.

¹⁰⁵ In 1892 Moureaux established two orthogonal lines of 15 km each. A year later, he was the first to detect what is nowadays interpreted in terms of telluric currents channeled east-west in the Seine basin. Th. Moureaux, ‘L'installation d'une station d’étude des courants telluriques à l'Observatoire du Parc Saint Maur’, Société Météorologique de France, Annuaire, 4 (1896), 25–38.

¹⁰⁶ MOA, INS, S1, ‘Manila observes ozone a century ago’. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19 June 1994.

¹⁰⁷ The Manila Observatory used the same method and instrumentation developed at the Montsouris Observatory in France; its data series extend over the years 1876–1910. See Santino Sandroni, Domenico Anfossi, ‘Historical data of surface ozone at tropical latitudes’, The Science of the Total Environment, 148 (1994), 23–9.

¹⁰⁸ Another topic little studied was ground temperature. Underground temperatures were regularly observed at the Manila Observatory from 1895. See José Algué, S.J., Ground temperature observations at Manila, 1896–1902 (Manila, 1902), 3.

¹⁰⁹ As early as 1869, Ricart built two simple pendulums or seismoscopes. Faura was highly skilled at assembly ––in fact, he was able to set up the Secchi meteorograph in 1869.

¹¹⁰ Clotet (note 96), 313.

¹¹¹ A description of this instrument, with theory and results, can be found in José Algué, S.J., and Johann G. Hagen, S.J., The reflecting zenith telescope (Washington, DC: Stormont & Jackson, 1893).

¹¹² The true height of the clouds was obtained from photogrametrical results. For a description in detail of this nephoscopy, see: Hidalgo (note 26), 15–16.

¹¹³ For a detailed description of the barocyclonometer, see: Hidalgo (note 26), 22–4; J. Algué, S.J., The Barocyclonometer (Manila, 1898). In 1912, the USA Government asked Algué to adapt it to the Caribbean cyclones: J. Algué, S.J., The barocyclonometer for use in the North Atlantic (Manila, 1913).

¹¹⁴ Federico Faura, S.J., El barómetro aneroide aplicado a la previsión del tiempo en el Archipiélago Filipino (Manila, 1886). The first forty barometers were constructed in Paris and London (Casell), and were warmly received by traders in Manila. Saderra Masó (note 24), 96; Cardús (note 35), 66.

¹¹⁵ Benito Viñes, S.J., Ciclonoscopio de Las Antillas (La Habana, 1888).

¹¹⁶ In 1915, the number of observatories and institutions which had established an exchange of scientific publications with the Manila Observatory came to 309: 165 from Europe –– Spain (19) —; 100 from America; 7 from Africa; and 6 from Asia and Oceania. For the list, see Saderra Masó (note 24), 201–10.

¹¹⁷ Hendrik Gerrit Cannegieter, ‘The history of the International Meteorological Organization 1872–1951’, Annalen der Meteorologie, 1 (1963), 7–280 (20); Pastells (note 11), III, 127.

¹¹⁸ Federico Faura, S.J., and José Algué, S.J., La Meteorología en la Exposición Colombina de Chicago (1893) (Barcelona, 1894), 45.

¹¹⁹ On the contributions of Faura, Algué and Viñes to the Chicago Congress, see Ángel Hidalgo, S.J., The P. José Algué, S.J. Científico, inventor y pacifista (1856–1930) (Manila, 1974), 8–13.

¹²⁰ Three from India (J. Pogson, from Madras; J. Elliot, from Calcutta; and A. Pedler, from Bengal), one from Japan (K. Kobayasui, from Tokyo); and two from China (E. Chevalier, from Zikawei; and W. Doberck, from Hong Kong). Faura and Algué (note 118), 17–22.

¹²¹ One of the three ‘flagship’ projects was the drafting of the international cloud atlas, which was directed and supervised by H.H. Hildebrandsson and M. Hagström. See Cannegieter (note 117), 25–6.

¹²² With this purpose, the Manila Observatory received two phototheodolites constructed in Germany by O. Günther (similar to those set up at the Observatory of Potsdam).

¹²³ José Algué, S.J., Las nubes en el Archipiélago Filipino. Colaboración al trabajo internacional de medición de nubes (1° junio 1896 – 31 julio 1897) (Manila, 1898), v–vii, for R.H. Scott's circular.

¹²⁴ Hildebrandsson to Algué, 22 September 1898. Hidalgo (note 119), 15.

¹²⁵ The plan was published in the Annual report of the director of the Philippine Weather Bureau (Manila, 1901).

¹²⁶ Another proof of recognition is the fact that the US Navy adopted Algué's barocyclonometer as an instrument aboard vessels in the Pacific, at least until the Second World War. I thank Josep Batlló for this information.

¹²⁷ Jesuits remained the owners of the Manila Observatory (which became the central office of the weather bureau), whereas the US government defrayed the costs of the rest of stations.

¹²⁸ On the transfer of the meteorological service during the difficult period of the changeover from Spanish to the US sovereignty, see Saderra Masó (note 24), 132–60; Josep Batlló, ‘¿El primer servicio meteorológico español en 1884?’, AME Boletín, 40 (2013), 32–6 (35); James Francis Warren, ‘Scientific Superman: Fr. Jose Algue, Jesuit Meteorology and the Philippines under American Rule, 1897–1924’, in Colonial Crucible: Transitions and Transformations in American Empire, edited by Alfred Mc Coy and Fransisco Scarano (Madison, 2009), 508–19 (508–10).

¹²⁹ Pyenson (note 3), 390; Pyenson (note 4), 266–7.

¹³⁰ A letter from the Superior of the Manila Mission to the Provincial Father of Aragon in April 1893 vividly expresses the vigor of the demands from the Manila Observatory. The matter concerned the purchase of an equatorial telescope from Washington and the construction of a dome from Barcelona: ‘These extraordinary expenses in America and in Europe for the Observatory will cost us a fortune […] And Fr. Faura, as [the Manila Jesuits] are willing to spend, is still putting pressure on to purchase everything necessary is bought for a complete and well-equipped observatory. For God's sake, my Father, help me contain these observers, prevailing upon them to limit themselves to the purely indispensable terrain’. Pastells (note 11), III, 116.

¹³¹ This is the case with Carl G. Semper, a reputed ethnologist and zoologist at the University of Würzburg who visited Luzon and Mindanao from 1858 to 1865, where he performed climatological observations; or Fedor Jagor, an ethnologist from the University of Berlin who visited the Archipelago from 1850 to 1861, and informed his colleagues about the meteorological observations made at the Manila Observatory. See Carl G. Semper and Gustav Karsten, Die Philippinen und ihre bewohner (Würzburg, 1869); Fedor Jagorn, Reisen in den Philippinen (Berlin, 1873).

¹³² The Manila Jesuits showed little interest in training Filipinos as independent research scientists. However, social justice has multiple dimensions, and is not necessarily limited to the scientific training of native persons. In many texts Faura alluded to the need to help the ‘unfortunate seamen who sail through tempestuous seas’ and the poor people who suffer the effects of the disastrous baguios. See for example Saderra Masó (note 24), 52–3. Faura regarded typhoon warnings service as a duty of social justice: a service that mainly favored all those who had no means or resources.