T A U 



105 



T A U 



more than six :' and six seems to be the number generally 

 visible, though there are many more in the cluster. These 

 stars are 17, 19, 20, 23, 25, and 26 of Flamsteed. There is 

 accordingly a supposition that some one star, once visible, 

 has now changed its magnitude, or disappeared altogether. 

 The name has been derived from irXttv, to sail. One of the 

 mythological stories makes these stars the daughters of 

 Pltione and Atlas. 



The principal stars of Taurus are as follows : (g), (b), (m), 

 (e), (c), (d), (/), (h) are not Bayer's letters, but Flamsteed's, 

 by which he distinguished stars in the Pleiades. 



TAURUS PONIATOWSKI, a constellation formed by 

 the AbWPoczobut, a Polish astronomer (born in 1728: we 

 d.; not know the year of his death ; but Lalande mentions 

 his having resumed his observations at Wilna in 1802), in 



3Turi of Kl.-imst.-f, I lias its only existence in a mistaken entry; and 



'i'llE "tt .Ul i, lost; and M. Laland. y.th.t It i, no. 

 ,,,,,,l. It i. however .till in iU place. Probably .1 i> a ramble .tar.' 



t The name a. 23 An r ia ( ft- 



P. C., -No. 1501. 



honour of the reigning king of Poland, and adopted in the 

 French (Fortin's) edition of Flamsteed's maps (or rather 

 added to the plates). Poczobut, in 1778, proposed this 

 constellation to the French and other academies, by whom 

 it was received. Bode conjectures that a resemblance of 

 certain very small stars in it to the figure of the Hyades 

 was the reason for the first word of the name. It is situated 

 between Aquila and Ophiuchus, and the Astronomical 

 Society's Catalogue mentions one star of it, of the sixth 

 magnitude, being 2070 of that catalogue, and (328) of 

 Piazzi. 



TAUSAN, TAUSSEN, or TAGESEN, JOHN, the first 

 Danish theologian who made his countrymen acquainted 

 with the principles of the Lutheran reformation. He was 

 born in 1494, at Birkinde, a village in the island of Fiinen. 

 After he had received his early education in the convent 

 of Antworskow, he wished to continue his studies at some 

 university, and the abbot of the convent fixed upon Co- 

 logne. Here he became accidentally acquainted with 

 some of the earliest works of Luther, which excited in 

 him such a desire to study under the reformer, that he 

 defied the opposition of his superiors, and went to Witten- 

 berg. After having spent some time here he went to 

 Rostock, where he took his degree of M.A., and thence 

 proceeded to Copenhagen, to undertake the office of 

 teacher in one of the public schools, 1521. This sphere 

 of action however did not satisfy him : his wish was to 

 proclaim the new doctrines, which he thought he could do 

 more effectually if he withdrew to his former convent of 

 Antworskow. Here he gained great reputation as a 

 preacher, and at first endeavoured privately to make his 

 brother monks acquainted with the reformed doctrines ; 

 but in 1524, on the occasion of the abbot being absenl, 

 Tausan delivered a sermon, which produced such an effect 

 on his hearers, that most of the monks declared themselves 

 ready to abandon their old belief. The excitement and 

 disturbance arising from such proceedings led to Tausan 

 being transferred to another convent at Wiborg, where 

 however he persevered in his exertions, and again gained 

 a considerable number of followers. King Frederic I. of 

 Denmark, who was favourably disposed towards the doc- 

 trines of the German reformers, and wished to favour 

 Tausan, sent him, in 1526, a letter of protection, gave him 

 the title of court preacher, and assigned to him a church 

 at Wiborg, where he might preach without molestation. 

 The bishop of this place opposed him in everything ; but 

 his attempts were fruitless, as Tausan was supported by 

 the sympathy of the people. The disputes between the 

 two iflisrious parties now became more vehement every 

 day ; and at last the king, in order to save Tausan, invited 

 him, in 1529, to Copenhagen, where he was appointed 

 preacher to the church of St. Nicolas. The reformation 

 m Denmark, the seeds of which had thus been sown, made 

 gradual and steady progress ; and in order to settle the 

 question permanently, the king issued a command that 

 deputies of the Roman Catholics and Protestants should 

 appear on the 8th of September, 1530, before the assembly 

 of the states, and explain their creeds and points of dispute. 

 Tausan and the principal men of his party were present, 

 and it was finally settled that the Protestants should 

 preach and propagate their doctrines. The tranquillity 

 thus restored was interrupted by the king's death in 

 1533, when the Roman Catholic party, and more espe- 

 cially the bishop of Roeskilde, again began to trouble 

 Tausan, who was on the point of being driven out of his 

 country. For a time he absented himself from Copen- 

 hagen ; but Protestantism in the meanwhile made such 

 progress, that the opposition to it in a short time either 

 ceased or became very weak. In 1537, in which year 

 John Bugenhagen was sent by Luther to Denmark to assist 

 in arranging the ecclesiastical affairs of the country, Tausan 

 was appointed preacher and lecturer on theology at Roes- 

 kilde ; and four years later he was made bishop of Ripen, 

 an office which he held until his death, on the 9th of No- 

 vember, 1561. 



Tausan wrote a considerable number of theological 

 works in Danish: some of them are controversial, others 

 exegetical, and a third class consists of translations of 

 portions of the Scripture and of original hymns. His works, 

 as well as the history of his life, show that he was a simple 

 and straightforward man ; but in talent he was far inferior 

 to the great reformers who were his contemporaries. 



(L. Holberg, Dannemarckische, Nbrieegische Staals- 



voi*. XX.1V. I 



