The British Museum possesses a small terrestrial globe 7 cm. in diameter, signed N. Lane and dated 1776. Over a sphere of wood has been pasted the engraved gore map, which gives but little geographical information. It has not been possible to obtain a biographical reference to this globe maker, who probably was an unimportant printer of maps in London at this time. Charles Messier (1730-1817), a French astronomer, map, and globe maker, was a native of Lorraine.[173] In the year 1751 he went to Paris, where he soon became associated with Delisle, first as his secretary, during which period he gave striking proof of his abilities, and later as his trusted assistant. His fame quickly extended to other lands, and he became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Berlin, also of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, each of which organizations published a considerable number of his scientific papers. It appears that his fame as an astronomer rested chiefly on his investigations of the nature and the movements of comets, becoming known as “le furet des comètes.” Messier’s contemporary and intimate associate was Jean Fortin (1750-1831), whose fame as a scientist rests primarily upon his work as a maker of mathematical instruments. Like Bonne and Lalande, who labored jointly in the construction of terrestrial and celestial globes, Messier and Fortin were active in the same field. In the year 1780 they placed on sale at the shop of Fortin in Rue de la Harpe pairs of their globes, each having a diameter of about 31 cm. Lalande refers to them as “Globes d’un pied de diamètre. Chez Fortin. Paris 1780. Le Globe céleste par Messier: Les étoiles réduites à 1800, d’après les tables que j’avais faites pour mon Globe. Le Globe terrestre par Fortin d’après les nouvelles découvertes géographiques.” It has not been possible to locate a copy of Fortin’s terrestrial globe, but an example of Messier’s celestial may be found in the Osservatorio Meteorico of the University of Parma, in the Istituto di Fisica of the University of Siena, in the Biblioteca S. Scolastica e S. Benedetto in Subiaco, and in the Liceo Machiavelli of Lucca. Copies of a celestial globe by Fortin, each about 22 cm. in diameter, may be found in the Convento dei Frati della Missione of Chieri, in the Biblioteca Comunale of Correggio, and in the Liceo Andrea Doria of Novi.