adopted by all civilized nations, and the amount of al- 

 loy should be known and plainly stated, and this alloy 

 should simply be the seigniorage, or what was taken 

 out to cover the cost of mintage. 



King Sigismund circulated this book by Copernicus 

 among all the courts of Europe, and it need not be 

 stated that the suggestions made by Copernicus have 

 been adopted by all civilized nations. 



LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



'HE humdrum duties of a country clergy- 

 man did not still the longing of Coperni- 

 cus to know and understand the truth. 

 He visited the sick, closed the eyes of the 

 dying, kept his parish register, but his 

 heart was in mathematics, and so there is 

 shown at Thorn an old church register kept by Co- 

 pernicus, where, in the back, are great rows of figures 

 put down by the Master as he worked at some astro- 

 nomical problem. In the upper floor of the barn, back of 

 the old dilapidated farmhouse where he lived for forty 

 years, he cut holes in the roof, and also apertures in 

 the sides of the building through which he watched the 

 movements of the stars. He lived in practical isolation 

 and exile, for the Church had forbidden him to speak 

 in public excepting upon themes that the Holy Fathers 

 in their wisdom had authorized. None were to invite 

 him to speak, read his writings or hold converse with 

 him, excepting on strictly church matters. 

 Copernicus knew the situation he was a watched 



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