INDUCTION OF COPERNICUS. 399 



serve that, in the time of Copernicus, when the 

 motion of the earth had not been connected with 

 the physical laws of matter and motion, it could 

 not be considered so distinctly real as it necessarily 

 was held to be in after times. 



The delay of the publication of Copernicus's 

 work brought it to the end of his life : he died 

 in the year 1543, in which it was published. His 

 system was, however, to a certain extent, promul- 

 gated, and his fame diffused before that time. Car- 

 dinal Schomberg, in his letter of 1536, which has 

 been already mentioned says, "Some years ago, 

 when I heard tidings of your merit by the constant 

 report of all persons, my affection for you was 

 augmented, and I congratulated the men of our 

 time, among whom you flourish in so much honour. 

 For I had understood that you were not only 

 acquainted with the discoveries of ancient mathe- 

 maticians, but also had formed a new system of 

 the world, in which you teach that the earth 

 moves, the sun occupies the lowest, and conse- 

 quently, the middle place, the sphere of the fixed 

 stars remains immoveable and fixed." He then 

 proceeds to entreat him earnestly to publish his 

 work. The book appears to have been written 

 in 1539 9 , and is stated to have been sent in 1540 

 by Achilles P. Gessarus of Feldkirch to Dr. Voge- 

 linus of Constance, as a Palingenesia, or New Birth 

 of Astronomy. At the end of the De Revolutioni- 



9 Ma3stlin. 



