Of the prose writers of this time, the one most deserving of notice is Mauro Orbini, who died in 1601. His chief work, which is written in Italian, is entitled _Storia del Regno degli Slavi_. It is of no great historic value, but it is important as being the first attempt to deal with the history of all the Slaves as a comprehensive whole. Other historians are Niccolò Ragnina, author of the _Annali di Ragusa_, Giacomo Luccari, whose _Copioso Ristretto degli Annali di Ragusa_ contains much interesting information about the constitution of the Republic, and Giunio Resti, author of the very detailed _Cronaca Ragusina_, in thirteen books, a most unreliable work. None of these writers have shown any conspicuous qualities as historians of their native city, being inspired by a strong political bias, and are only to be consulted with caution. Ragusa gave birth to several men of science, of whom two deserve to be remembered—Marino Ghetaldi and Ruggiero Bosković.[534] Ghetaldi was born in 1566, and studied in Rome and Paris. After travelling about Europe he obtained the professorship of mathematics at Louvain. He subsequently returned to Ragusa, and served in the Government offices. In summer he would retire to his villa by the sea to meditate and make experiments in a cave on his estates. He was regarded by the people as a magician, and his experiments in setting fire to boats out at sea by means of mirrors and burning-glasses were considered quite diabolical. He wrote _Promotus Archimedes, seu de variis corporum generibus gravitate et magnitudine comparatis_ (Rome, 1603), and many other mathematical works. He is said to have applied geometry to algebra before Des Cartes, and to have been the first to discover equations of the fourth degree. He died in 1627. Bosković was born in 1711, and became a Jesuit at an early age. He obtained the professorship of mathematics in Rome, and measured the meridian between Rome and Rimini with the Englishman Maire. He made a map of the Papal States, and wrote a work on the molecular theory of matter, _Theoria Philosophiæ Naturalis redacta ad unicam Legem Virium in Natura existentium_. In 1759 he was sent to England on a diplomatic mission, where he made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, to whom he dedicated his Latin poem _De Solis et Lunæ Defectus_. He afterwards travelled in Turkey for scientific purposes, and was then appointed Professor of Mathematics at Pavia (1764) and Director of the Brera Observatory. His vanity and egoism made him many enemies, and in 1770 he left Italy for Paris, where he was made Director of Optics to the Ministry of Marine, an office which he held for ten years. In 1783 he returned to Italy and published all his works. His health was failing, his reputation on the wane, and he soon fell into melancholy and madness, and died in 1787. Besides other works, he wrote the _Elementa Universæ Mathesos_, published in 1754. CHAPTER XV