Posted by Georg Künstler (217.2.168.67) on October 28, 2003 at 09:37:58:
In Reply to: Re: 'Warped boards' posted by John Collins on October 28, 2003 at 08:17:42:
: There was some discussion about the 'warped boards' described in JB's wheel. Georg wanted the original German so that he could offer an alternative translation. The original text comes from a letter written by professor Christian Wolff to professor Leibniz on the 19th December, 1715 from Halle. Unfortunately I don't have the original German as some of the research in Germany was carried out on my behalf a few years ago and I never had the original text. The student who did that particular piece of research was a highly competent translator but there are always ambiguities in language translations. For interest I looked up the German word for warp and got several and when I then checked their English translation I got the following possibilities. "Warped, crooked, bent, curved,deformed, damaged, wrinkled,puckered",etc etc. I think that you have to look at the context and the conclusions Wolff drew from what he had seen.
: John Collins
Hi John,
you see what cause a forward and backward translation can do. The meaning may be
totally different. What has he seen, the curved board, or a weight that was warped ?
Nevertheless, both are used in the Besslerwheel. If you are saying it is from the book
of 1715, then I will order the original book and have a look on it.
Best regards
Georg