摘要
The monumental Studies to Fathom Principles(Qiongli xue窮理學;1683)by Ferdinand Verbiest S.J.(Nan Huairen南懷仁,1623–1688)was never printed,and its exact content is not known.A section of the only extant,though incomplete,manuscript deals with fluvial flood prevention and river control measures,a subject that until then had not cropped up in any Chinese-language work of the Jesuits.In this section,Verbiest not only described the already well-known Aristotelian theory of the origin of rivers,but also introduced to China new scientific propositions,concepts,and numerical examples originating from the seminal Renaissance work Della misura dell’acque correnti(Of the Mensuration of Running Waters;1628)by Benedetto Castelli(1578–1643).In addition,Verbiest presented to his readers some noteworthy examples of pertinent Western achievements such as the pound-lock with miter gate,and he provided them with a simple economic analysis of flood control options.The significance and possible influence of Verbiest’s text on further developments in Chinese approaches to water engineering are discussed,highlighting a hitherto largely disregarded facet of Western science and technology transfer in the field of river hydraulics and flood management.
耶稣会士南怀仁(Ferdinand Verbiest S.J.,1623~1688)的巨著《穷理学》从未印行过,其确切内容也不为人所知。目前仅存一份不完整的手稿,部分章节涉及河水防汛和治河措施,而此前耶稣会士所撰写的中文著作从未涉足这一主题。在《穷理学》的该章节中,南怀仁不仅介绍了众所周知的亚里士多德的河流发源理论,还向中国介绍了文艺复兴时期贝内代托·卡斯特利(BenedettoCastelli,1578~1643)的开创性著作《论流水的测量》(Della misura dell’acque correnti,1628)中全新的科学命题、概念和数值算例。此外,南怀仁还向读者介绍了一些与之相关的卓著西方成就,如带人字闸门的船闸,并对各种防洪方案进行了简要的经济分析。本文探讨了南怀仁的文本对当时中国水利工程方法进一步发展的重要意义和潜在影响,强调了一直以来为人忽视的在河流水力学和洪水管理等领域西方科学技术的转移。
作者
Albert KOENIG
Sabine KINK
黄立人;金霞筆(Department of Civil Engineering,The University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong,China;Department of Chinese Studies,University of Tübingen,Tübingen 72074,Germany)
基金
funded by the German Research Foundation(DFG)for the years 2018 to 2022
作者简介
黄立人,Research interests:Transfer of Western water technology to China from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century,history of Chinese water civilization,and environmental engineering.Email:kalbert@hku.hk;金霞筆,Research interests:History of science and technology in premodern China,limits of intercivilizational knowledge transfer.Email:sabine.kink@uni-tuebingen.de
