DISCOVERIES IN THE CELESTIAL SPACES. 30] 



Other. (See my Examen Crit. cle VHist. de la Geographie, 

 t. iii., p. 154-158 and 225-227.) 



GREAT DISCOVERIES IN THE HEAVENS BY THE APPLICATION OF THE 

 TELESCOPE.— PRINCIPAL EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY 

 AND MATHEMATICS, FROM GALILEO AND KEPLER TO NEWTON AND 

 LEIBNITZ. — LAWS OF THE PLANETARY MOTIONS AND GENERAL 

 THEORY OF GRAVITATION. 



After having endeavored to enumerate the most distinctly 

 defined periods and stages of development in the history of the 

 contemplation of the universe, we have proceeded to delineate 

 the epoch in which the civilized nations of one hemisphere be- 

 came acquainted with the inhabitants of the other. The pe 

 riods of the greatest discoveries in space over the surface of 

 our planet was immediately succeeded by the revelations of 



rare manuscript of Bartholome de las Casas, I would wish to embody in 

 this long note what I did not employ in 1839 in my Examen Critique, 

 t. v., p. 178-217. The conviction which I then expressed, in the same 

 volume, p. 217 and 224, has remained unshaken. " Where the desig- 

 nation of a large continent, generally adopted as such, and consecrated 

 by the usage of many ages, presents itself to us as a moiuiment of hu- 

 man injustice, it is natural that we should at first sight attribute the 

 cause to the person who would appear most interested in the matter. 

 A careful study of the documentary evidence has, however, shown 

 that this supposition in the present instance is devoid of foundation, and 

 that the name of America has originated in a distant region (as, for in- 

 stance, in France and Germany), owing to many concurrent circum 

 stances which appear to remove all suspicion from Vespucci. Here 

 historical criticism stops, for the field of unknown causes and possible 

 moral contingencies does not come within the domain of positive his- 

 tory. We here find a man who, during a long life, enjoyed the esteem 

 of his cotemporaries, raised by his attainments in nautical astronomy 

 to an honorable employment. The concurrence of many fortuitous 

 circumstances gave him a celebrity which has weighed upon his memo- 

 ry, and helped to throw discredit on his character. Such a position is 

 indeed rare in the histoiy of human misfortunes, and affords an instance 

 of a moral stain deepened by the glory of an illustrious name. It seems 

 most desirable to examine, amid this mixture of success and adversity, 

 w^hat is owing to the navigator himself, to the accidental errors arising 

 from a hasty supervision of his writings, or to the indiscretion of dan- 

 gerous friends." Copernicus himself contributed to this dangerous 

 celebrity, for he also ascribes the discovery of the new part of the globe 

 to Vespucci. In discussing the " centrum gravitatis^' and " centrvm 

 magnitudinis'^ of the continent, he adds, " magis id erit clarum, si ad 

 dentur insulai setate nostra sub Hispaniarum Lusitaniaeque principibus 

 repertae et prajsertim America ab inventore denominata navium prai- 

 fecto, quem, ob incompertam ejus adhuc magnitndinem, alterum ovbem 

 terrarum putent." (Nicolai Copernici de Revohitionibus Orbium Coeles- 

 Hum, libri sex, 154.3, p. 2, a.) 



