Abstract
In this contribution, we will examine Stepling's description of Johann Engelbrecht's universal horizontal sundial, which ended up in the Oxford library, and focus in more detail on the specimen from the museum in Beroun. We will describe the method of its settings according to latitude and the method of reading time.
We will present Stepling's description of the geocentric orrery on Johann Klein's cabinet clocks from the so-called Mathematical Museum in the Klementinum, which contained astronomical and physical instruments as well as natural history collections. In the second part, we will introduce James Short, Stepling's only British correspondent, a Scottish astronomer, a member of the Royal Society of London and a candidate for the position of Royal Astronomer, who became famous for the hypothetical discovery of the satellite of Venus in 1741.
We will present mutual correspondence on the topics of earthquakes and meteorites, which Stepling still considered to be rocks of volcanic origin.