To Translate or Not to Translate: The Case of Halley in the Philosophical Transactions, May 25, 1686

The Philosophical Transactions was founded in 1665, two months after the Journal des Sçavans. It was edited by Henry Oldenburg from that date until his death in 1677. During that time he regularly printed translations of items from the Journal des Sçavans, 17 in total over that period. Grew, who took over the editorship after Oldenburg's death, continued the tradition printing four translations in the two years that he edited the journal. The Philosophical Transactions then disappeared for several years when Hooke replaced them by his own Philosophical Collections. The Philosophical Transactions were revived in 1682, but the practice of translating from the Journal des Sçavans had seriously waned. Under the joint editorship of Ashton, Plot, and Musgrave (1682–1686), there were none; Halley (1686–1693) printed one; Waller (1693–1696) printed none; and the only others before the end of the century were four in 1696–1697, under the editorship of Hans Sloane. The item Halley translated provides an interesting case study. The source text is a piece by Cassini, one of the leading astronomers of his day, and concerns his discovery and observation of the satellites of Saturn. The text is relatively long (2,960 words) and is divided into 11 sections of variable length. Halley chooses not to translate all of these: two are not translated at all, and his translation diverges significantly from the source text in the first and final sections. The sections that are not translated are those which deal with theoretical and historical matters, and it may be possible to explain Halley's choice by his adherence, along with other members of the Royal Society, to a Baconian agenda. This would be a case of context influencing discourse. An analysis using the tools of systemic functional linguistics (transitivity, theme, etc.) will bring out these features.