586 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.' 



was Peter Apian. He was one of the great mathematical and 

 astronomical scholars of the time. His brilliant ahilities had 

 made him the astronomical teacher of the Emperor Charles V ; 

 his work on geography had brought him a world-wide reputa- 

 tion ; his work on astronomy brought him a patent of nobility ; his 

 improvements in mathematical processes and astronomical instru- 

 ments brought him the praise of Kepler and a place in the history 

 of science : never had a true man a better opportunity to do a 

 great deed. When Copernicus's work appeared, Apian was at the 

 height of his reputation and power : a quiet, earnest plea from 

 him, even if it had been only for ordinary fairness and a suspen- 

 sion of judgment, must have carried much weight. His devoted 

 pupil, Charles V, who sat on the thrones of Germany and Spain, 

 must at least have given a hearing to such a plea. But, unfortu- 

 nately, Apian was a professor in an institution of learning under 

 the strictest Church control— the University of Ingolstadt. ^ His 

 foremost duty was to teach safe science— to keep science within 

 the line of scriptural truth as interpreted by theological pro- 

 fessors. His great opportunity was lost. Apian continued to 

 maunder over the Ptolemaic theory and astrology in his lecture- 

 room. As to the attacks on the Copernican theory, he neither 

 supported nor opposed them ; he was silent ; and the cause of his 

 silence should never be forgotten so long as any church asserts 

 its title to control university instruction.* 



Doubtless, many will exclaim against the Koman Catholic 

 Church for this; but the simple truth is that Protestantism 

 was no less zealous against the new scientific doctrine. All 

 branches of the Protestant Church— Lutheran, Calvinist, Angli- 

 can—vied with each other in denouncing the Copernican doctrine 

 as contrary to Scripture; and, at a later period, the Puritans 

 showed the same tendency. 



Said Martin Luther : " People gave ear to an upstart astrologer 

 who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or 

 the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to ap- 

 pear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is 

 of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire 

 science of astronomy ; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua 

 commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth." Melanch- 

 thon, mild as he was, was not behind Luther in condemnmg 

 Copernicus. In his treatise on the Elements of Physics, pub- 

 lished six years after Copernicus's death, he says : " The eyes are 

 witnesses that the heavens revolve in the space of twenty-four 



* For Peter Apian, see Madler, Geschichte der Astrouomie, Braunschweig, 1873, vol. i, 

 p. 141. For evidences of the special favor of Charles V, see Delarabre, Histoire de I'Astrono- 

 mie du Moyen Age, p. 390 ; also Briihns, in the AUgemeine deutsche Biographic. For an 

 attempted apology for him, see Giinther, Peter and Philipp Apian, Prag, 1882, p. 62. 



