COPEUXICUS, NICOLAU8. 



COPERNICUS, KIOOLACS 



(who** Latin has oertcin'.r b-on mi printed, bjt In a mmner which 

 1 T. th meaning mff.cicn ly clear*. " I could determine the true 

 plaoM of the heavenly b*li.i within Un McouoV of a degree, I should 

 not Klory less) in thu than iu the rule which Pjthagorm* bu left u." 



Cuperuieiu w*s truck by th* complexity of the I'tulrinaic nyntem. 

 and imrclied all auciml aulbon to find one of a more simple chancier. 

 The earth stationary in the centre ol the universe, the planet* moving 

 round it carried on rnonuoui cryUllitie spheres (for though many 

 might tue thu at mere hypothesis, the refutation of Tyoho Brah<5 

 from the nature of the orbiu of comeU thowi that be considered the 

 matirial iphefw u one of tlie opinion* of bu day), and finally, the 

 normoui >pber of tlie flVd sUn, carried round once in eveiy 

 24 hour*, (truck bim with a feeling that such a tystem could not be 

 that of nature. U* found in Martianus Capella, and others, proofs 

 that an opinion had formerly prevailed to some extent that Mercury 

 aod Venus at least moved round the sun ; that the Pythagoreans held 

 the rotation of the earth ; and that Philoluus had even imagined the 

 earth to hate an orbit round the sun. It U very doubtful to what 

 point tbeae si-veral opinions were carried, or on what grounds they 

 were supported ; it U luffioirnt for our purpose here that Copernicus 

 found such doctiiuea attributed to the sects and persons above men- 

 tioned, and took them into consideration, with a view to see how far 

 phenomena could be made to follow from them with more simplicity 

 than in the iysUm of Ptolemy. At what time he 6oally adopted his 

 own system is not very clear ; hu work was completely written in 

 1530, and from that time he did nothing except to add and alter; and 

 since Copernicus says, in hu epistle to Paul III., that he had been 

 very long pressed by his friends to publish, the above date is not 

 improbable. In the mean while his opinion was circulated even 

 """"g the vulgar ; and he was satirised on the stage at Elburg. His 

 reasons had convinced lieiuhold, Kheticus, Gysius, and others ; and 

 upon the representations made to him, Cardinal Schonberg wag 

 desirous of having the work printed, and wrote to Copernicus to that 

 effect from Rome in 153(i. But though backed by a cardinal, a bishop, 

 and two of the most learned astronomers of the age, Copernicus wag 

 well aware of the odium which an attempt to disturb established 

 opinions would excite; and it was not it seems till about 1541 that a 

 tardy concent was extorted from him. The work was accordingly 

 delivered to Gyaius, and by him to Uheticus, who, thinking that it 

 would be best printed at Nuremberg, entrusted it to Andrew Oeiunder, 

 who superintended the printing, and wrote tlie remarkable preface, 

 which U always attributed, and even by Delambre, to Copernicus 

 hjmlf This U explicitly stated by Gassendi, and the reason 

 assigned is the obvious one that Osiander (besides thinking it neces- 

 sary to print the cardinal's request) was afraid of shocking public 

 opinion, and thought it best to represent the scope of the work, not 

 u actually affirming the motion of the earth, but as using such an 

 hypothesis for the more simple and ready calculation of the heavenly 

 motions. 



He says, "It U not necessary that hypotheses should be true or even 

 probable ; it is sufficient that they lead to results of calculation which 

 agree with observations." Ue points out the admitted defects, and 

 admitted unlikelihood, of several points of the Ptolemaic system ; 

 requires that the new hypothesis should be admitted on the eame 

 footing u the ancient ones, and ends thus " Neither let any one, so 

 far as hypotheses are concerned, expect anything certain from astro- 

 nomy, fiuce that science can afford nothing of the kind ; lest, iu case 

 he should adopt for truth things feigned for another purpose, he 

 should leave this study more foolish than he came." 



With such safeguards, headed by the urgent request of a cardinal, 

 and dedicated, probably by permission, to the pope, the work was 

 ushered into the world, of which it was the ultimate destiny to help 

 largely in overthrowing submission to authority in matters of science, 

 whether to the doctrines of the Greeks or to the reputed interpretation 

 of the sacred writings. The title-page is as follows : 



NICOLAI CO- 

 PERNICI TORINENSIS 



01 REVOLVTIONIBVS OBBI- 



um ccolestium libri vi. 



Habts in boo opera iam reccns nato A adito, 

 studiose lector, Motus stollarum, tarn fixarum 

 quatn erratioarum, cum ex utteribus turn etiaui 

 ex reocntibu. obseruatiouibus restitutes : & no- 

 uis insuper ao admirabilibua hypothesibus or- 

 natoa, Habes etiam tabula* expedituaimas, ex 

 quibus eoedem ad quoduis tempus quam facilli 

 UM calculare poteria. Igitur erne, lege, fruere. 



'A7(p4rpirrot luitts fiolru 

 Korimbergas spud loh. Petreium. 



The taste of what we now should call the puff In the title-peg* 

 doubtless that of Oiiauder, to whom it U due that the great work c 



Copornicm contains an expression of recommendation to buy it in 

 thu title-pago, being the only instance of the kind we know. The 

 second edi.ion, suited by Rimticui, wan published at Basel, 15G6, nnd 

 lit'le esteemed ; the third, edited by Muler, was printed at 

 Amsterdam in 1617, and axain in 1840, with notes : it is the most 

 oorreot of the three. This same Mul.-r, in hi* 'Tabulae Frisicte,' 

 Alcmaar, 1611, has reduced the hypotheses of Copernicus to the form 

 of tables. 



We now come to the description of the Copernican system, 1>\ 

 which we mean, the By-torn actually promulgated by Copernicus, and 

 lot the K-plerian, Gallilean, Newtonian, lUlleian, Laplacian, Ac., 

 lystem which bears the name. We hnv before remarked i !' 

 Pit no], that it is customary to call all <-xi-tiiu notions on the systoin 

 of the world, Copernican. This matter* little, considered as a mere 

 method of expression ; but it becomes of consequence when, by means 

 of it, a degree of lustre i.i thrown on the speculations of Copernicus, 

 which, properly considered, they do not need, and, critically examined. 

 hey will not bear. We are accustomed to see Copernicus represented 

 as a man so far in advance of his age, that in the main points of hU 

 system nothing has been added and nothing subtracted. The plates 

 n our elementary works show, under the heading of the ' Coperuicau 

 system,' planets, satellites, and comets, sll with orbite such HU the 

 atest discoveries have assigned. We shall therefore exhibit the 

 Coperuicau system' as far as wo can in the words of its author 

 ^translated, of course), and at greater length than would have been 

 lecessary had no misconception prevailed. It will hardly be supposed 

 ,hat we intend an absolute depreciation of the merits of one of the 

 most original talents that ever existed. Copernicus was a mathema- 

 tician of the first order, a sincere lover of truth, a mind free from 

 rammels to an extent which was then almost unknown, and which 

 we should have deemed almost incredible had we not had the proof 

 Before us. It is no easy thing for us to conceive the state of a bead 

 iurnisbed in youth with theories upon all things in heaven or earth, 

 proved in as many words by the assertion that Aristotle sai I it. 



The work ' De Revolutionism,' &c., consists of an introductory 

 dedication to Paul III., and six books. In the former Copernicus 

 distinctly informs us that, being discontented with the complexity of 

 the prevailing systems, he closely examined all the writings of the 

 ancients, to see if he could find anything better. He found the testi- 

 mony of Cioero and Plutarch, us to the opinions of Nicetas, Pythagoras, 

 and PhiloUus. He thereupon claims for himself the same licence, 

 adverts to his hypothesis as purely fictitious, and says, 'QuaiuvU 

 absurda opinio videbatur, taint n quia sciebam aliis ante me concessaiu 

 libertatom, ut quoslibet fingcrent circulos ad demonstrandum pheno- 

 mena astrorum. Existimuvi mihi quoque facile pennitti, ut experireji, 

 an posito terras aliquo motu firmiores demonstrations, quutn illarmu 

 essent, inveuiri in revolutione orbinm coelestium possent.' WiUi 

 regard to the word demonstration, it must be particularly reuieu. 

 that at this period the term, as applied to astronomy, always meant 

 a showing how the thing would happen if the supposition were true, 

 not a proof of the supposition itself. Thus, in this sense, the suppo- 

 sition of a daily motion of the sun round the earth may be made to 

 yield a perfect demonstration of the phenomena of day aud night ; 

 and it would be legitimate to say that of two hypotheses, one false 

 and one true, the false one might give truer demonstrations of the 

 celestial motions than the other. 



The first book contains the propositions 1. That the universe is 

 spherical ; which is proved by old reasons, such as that a sphere U the 

 most perfect figure, Ac, 2. That the earth is spherical ; for which he 

 gives the same reasons as are now given. 3. That the earth and si a 

 make one globe. 4. That the motions of all the heavenly bodies must 

 be either uniform and circular, or compounded of uniform aud circular 

 motions. Nothing but circular motion, he asserts, could reproduce 

 phenomena periodically ; and he maintains that a .-imj.le body must 

 move circularly. 5. He examines the questions whether the earth 

 can hare an axical and an orbital motion, and satisfactorily shows 

 that, supposing the distance of the fixed stars to be immense, there is 

 no astronomical reason to the contrary. 6. He gives what he imagines 

 to be a proof that the sphere of the fixed stars is immensely distant. 

 It must be observed that he has no notion of a universe of stars 

 unequaUy distributed throughout space. 7 and 8. He examines and 

 argues against the reasons of the ancients for placing the earth in the 

 centre of the universe, by considerations which are as purely imaginary 

 as those against which he was contending. He says that circular 

 motion must bo that of a whole, rectilinear motion that of a part 

 separated from its whole ; and from this assumption h deduces the 

 falling of a body to the earth. That rectilinear and circular motion 

 can exist together is, according to him, a thing of the same kind as 

 the notion of a horse existing with that of on animal, lie is through- 

 out possessed by the opinion that there must be a ' centrum mundi,' 

 or fixed point in the middle of the universe, which however he con- 

 siders to be the sun, not the earth. It i> needless to say that the 

 'centrum muudi' forms no part of the Newtonian system. 9. He 

 contends for the possibility of the earth having several motions. 10. 

 Ue establishes the order of the planets, remarks that it is impossible 

 to explain the motion of Mercury and Venus upon the suppoxition of 

 the earth being their centre, and observes that the motion of the 

 other planets round the sun is perfectly possible, cuneinteuUy with 



