308 



KEPPEL KESSELSDORF. 



Mecklenberg, but did not receive the promised com- 

 pensation. He therefore went to Ratisbon, where 

 lie died, in lf>30. Kepler was small of stature, thin, 

 and of a weak constitution, und short-sighted. His 

 manners were frequently gay and sportive. He was 

 attached to his science with the deepest love : he 

 sought after truth with eagerness, but forgot, in the 

 search, the maxims of worldly prudence; and there was 

 a certain love of mystery about him, which too often 

 manifested itself in idle astrological visions. He. had 

 but a small share of what are commonly esteemed the 

 pleasures of life, but he endured all calamities witli 

 firmness. " Kepler," says Lalande, " is as famous 

 in astronomy, for the sagacious application which lie 

 made of Tycho's numerous observations (he was not 

 himself an observer), as the Danish astronomer for 

 the collection of such vast materials." The laws of 

 the courses of the planets, deduced by Kepler from 

 those observations, are known in astronomy under 

 the name of Uie three laws of Kepler (regulee Kep- 

 ieri), and on them were founded Newton's subsequent 

 discoveries, as well as the whole modern theory of the 

 planets. The first of these laws is, that the planets 

 do not move, as Copernicus had imagined, in circles, 

 but in ellipses, of which the sun is in one of the foci. 

 For this, Kepler was indebted to the observations 

 which Tycho had made on the planet Mars, whose 

 eccentricity is considerable, and agrees particularly 

 with this rule, in determining which, Kepler went 

 through an indescribably laborious analysis. (See 

 the astronomical works of Lalande, Schubert, and 

 others.) The second law is, that an imaginary 

 straight line from the sun to the planets (the radius 

 vector) always describes equal sectors in equal times. 

 By this rule, Kepler calculated his tables, imagining 

 the whole plane of revolution divided into a number 

 of such sectors, and, from this, investigated their 

 respective angles at the sun. This was called Kep- 

 ler's problem. The third law teaches that, in the 

 motion of the planets, the squares of the times of 

 revolution are as the cubes of the mean distances 

 from the sun; one instance of the application of 

 which law, in the want of other means, is in the 

 determination of the distance of the planet Herschel 

 from the sun, it having been ascertained, that its 

 time of revolution amounts to little more than eighty- 

 two years. Kepler's services in the cause of astronomy 

 have placed him high among the most distinguished 

 men of science on record. In Ratisbon, a monument 

 was erected to his memory in 1808, by Charles Theo- 

 dore von Dalberg. It consists of a Doric temple, in 

 which is placed the bust of Kepler. The most im- 

 portant of his works is his Astronomia nova, seu 

 Physica Coelestis tradita Commentariis de Motitus 

 Stella Martis (Prague, 1609, folio) a work which 

 secures immortality to the author, and is still regarded 

 as classical by astronomers. An account of Kepler's 

 life is prefixed to his Letters (printed at Leipsic, in 

 1718, in folio). We annex the epitaph which he 

 composed for himself : 



Meniai eram ctelot, nunc terrce metior umbras ; 

 Men* cosleitit erat, corpori* umbra jacet. 



See the article Harmony of the Spheres. 



KEPPEL, AUGUSTUS, a British admiral, was the 

 second son of William, earl of Albemarle, entered 

 the sea service at an early age, and accompanied 

 admiral Anson round the world. In 1778, he, was 

 appointed to the command of the Channel fleet. 

 July 12, in that year, he fell in with the French fleet, 

 under count D'Orvilliers, oft" Ushant, when a short 

 but warm engagement ensued. A short delay be- 

 coming necessnry to repair damages, when that 

 labour was accomplished, the admiral made signal 

 for his van and rear divisions to assume their proper 



stations. Sir Hugh Palliser, commanding the rear, 

 took no notice of the signal, and refused to join his 

 commander, until night prevented a renewal of the 

 battle. Tile conduct of the rear-admiral being 

 fiercely attacked, and Keppei refusing a disavowal 

 of the charges brought against him, Palliser imme- 

 diately exhibited articles of accusation against him. 

 Keppei was honourably acquitted, and received the 

 thanks of both houses of parliament for his services. 

 Palliser was next tried, and reprimanded ; but the 

 public indignation was so great that he was obliged to 

 resign his seat in the house of commons, and to 

 vacate several offices which he held under govern- 

 ment. In 1782, admiral Keppei was raised to a 

 peerage, under the title of viscount Keppei, baron 

 Eldcn, and was, at two different periods, appointed 

 first lord of the admiralty. He died in October, 

 1780, unmarried. He was regarded as very able 

 in his profession, and a man of great integrity and 

 humanity. 



KERGUELEN TREMAREC, IVES JOSEPH DE; 

 an eminent French navigator, born at Brest, about 

 1745. He entered young into the navy, and obtained 

 the rank of lieutenant in 1767. After being employed 

 on an expedition to the coast of Iceland, to protect 

 the whale fishery, he was sent, by his government, 

 on a voyage of discovery, to the south sea. On his 

 return, he gave a flattering account of a supposed 

 continent towards the south pole, some points of 

 which he had visited. He was sent, in 1773, to 

 make farther discoveries : but the result of his 

 researches only served to show the little value of the 

 country he discovered; and he was arrested and con- 

 fined in the castle of Saumur, after his return to 

 France, on the charge of having ill-treated one of 

 his officers. In his prison, he wrote several memoirs 

 relative to maritime affairs ; and, having at length 

 obtained his liberation, he again engaged in the sea 

 service. He died in 1797. Kerguelen published 

 accounts of his voyage to Iceland, and likewise of 

 his southern expeditions. His name is preserved in 

 the appellation of an island in the southern hemi- 

 sphere Kerguelen's Land, or the Isle of Desolation. 



KERKE, or KERQUE (the Flemish corruption of 

 the German kirche, the Scottish kirk}; a church. 

 It occurs in proper names; for instance, Steenkergue, 

 Dunkerque, &c. 



KERMES, in zoology. See Coccits. 



KERMES MINERAL. See Antimony. 



KERTSCH, or KERCH; a fortress on a peninsula 

 of the same name, in Eastern Taurida, on the bay of 

 Taman, with a safe harbour, important for the com- 

 merce of the Black sea and the sea of Azoph, and 

 which Alexander ordered to be opened in 1822. 

 Kertsch and Jenikale, not far distant from it, have 

 a common municipal administration, and contain 

 together 4000 inhabitants, mostly emigrant Greeks. 

 The environs are very fertile, and produce the caper 

 tree without cultivation. The best wine of the 

 Crimea is also made there. Horses, Angora and 

 Astrachan goats, black and Astrachan sheep, are 

 raised. Considerable quantities of salt are manu- 

 factured. This new place enjoys equal privileges 

 with Taganrock and Feodosia. (See Cajfa.) In the 

 neighbourhood are the ruins of Panticapasum, where 

 Mithridates the Great died, and Nymphasum. Even 

 to this day, the highest hill near Kerch is called the 

 Chair of Mithridates, and the whole peninsula Taman, 

 where the opulent cities of Cimmeria and Phanagoria 

 formerly flourished, contains a treasure of antiquities 

 for future investigators. 



KESSELSDORF; a village about five miles distant 

 from Dresden, celebrated for the battle fought there, 

 Dec. 15, 1745, in which the Prussians, commanded 

 by prince Leopold of Dessau, defeated the Saxons. 



