Geodetic Surveying with Jacob's Staffs and Quadrant

The engraving features multiple small figures demonstrating surveying techniques in an open landscape. On the left, a figure atop a stone tower holds a large quadrant to calculate an angle toward a rocky outcrop below. Across the field, other figures utilize Jacob's staffs at varying distances to sight a second, smaller tower on the right. At the top of the frame, a diagram labeled with 'maior' and 'minor' segments illustrates the geometric ratios involved in the measurement process.

This illustration originates from Robert Fludd's 'Utriusque Cosmi Maioris scilicet et Minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia' (1617–1621), a seminal work in the Rosicrucian and Hermetic tradition that sought to categorize all natural knowledge as a reflection of the Macrocosm and Microcosm. It exemplifies the early modern integration of practical geometry into a broader encyclopedic philosophy.