K E P 



443 



K E P 



Kentucky 

 Kepler. 



~ ~ ~* 

 Govern- 



II :, ry. 



opolition. 



rechosen annually. A member of the senate must be 

 35 years old, and a citizen of the United States ; and he 

 must have resided six years in the state, and the last 

 year in the district. The members of the house of re- 

 presentatives, who are limited to 100, are elected on 

 the first Monday of every August. They must be 24 

 years old, and citizens of the United States ; and must 

 have redded the two preceding years in the state, and 

 the last of them in the county or town which they re- 

 present. The governor, to whom the executive go- 

 vernment is entrusted, is elected by the people once in 

 four years and must be out of office at least seven years 

 before he can be chosen again. He must be an Ame- 

 rican citizen, and 35 years of age, and must have resi- 

 ded in the state for the six preceding years. The lieu- 

 tenant-governor is similarly chosen, and must have si- 

 milar qualifications, fie is president of the senate. If 

 thi- governor dissents from any bill, it cannot become a 

 law unless it is again agreed to by majority of both 

 houses. 



Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, are the lead- 

 ing sects in Kentucky ; the Baptists being the most, and 

 the Methodists the least numerous. There are a few 

 Catholics, who have a bishop at Bardstown, and still 

 fewer Episcopalian*. The Presbyterians have fifty 

 clergymen, whose doctrines are, with a few exceptions, 

 strictly Calvinistic. 



This pan of America was well known to the India 

 traders many year* before it was colonized. A map of 

 it was made from their description in 1 ?."iJ ; and it was 

 afterwards explored in 1 754 and 1769. It was again 

 explored by Col. Daniel Boon in 1770. The first fa- 

 mily settled" in it in 177'>. In 1777, it was erected into 

 separate county by Virginia, and into a separate dis- 

 trict in l7*-2. In 17*'>, it was entirely separated from 

 Virginia ; and on the 1st June 179A it was received 

 into the union. The first settlers were harassed by 

 the Indian., till General Clarke, in 1778, took their 

 posts, as well as those of the French and English. 

 The population of Kentucky was, in 



1790 73,677 



1800 220,955 



1810 . . . . 400,511 

 The distance of Philadelphia by land to Kentucky, 

 u between 700 and 800 miles. 



See Morse's America* Geography, 8ro. Boston, 1817, 

 p. 45 Thf Medical Itepotilory for February 1815, 



first admitted to the degree of bachelor, and afterwards 

 to that of master of philosophy ; and after studying the- 

 ology, he undertook the duties of the ministry for a short 

 time. His passion for science, however, induced him 

 to withdraw his views from the church, and to devote 

 his whole leisure to his favourite studies. In 1594, he 

 was invited to Gratz in Siyria, to fill the mathematical 

 chair in the university of that city ; and it seems to 

 have been after he accepted of the appointment, that 

 he embodied those speculations respecting the analogies 

 and harmonies of nature, which he published at Tubin- 

 gen in 1 596, under the title of, Prodromm disserlatio- 

 nnm cosmngraphicnrum, continens inysterium cofmosra- 

 phicum de admirahilt proporlione orbium cae/estium, deque 

 causis calorum numeri, magnitudinis, motvumque perio- 

 dicorvm genuinii et propriis, demonslratum per quinqttc 

 rtgularia corjxtra geometrica. To this work is added a 

 paper by Kheticus, on the Copernican system, and ano- 

 ther by Maestlinus. In order to discover why the pla- 

 nets were six in number, and why the dimensions of 

 their orbits were such as Copernicus had described 

 them, he studied the properties of numbers and plane 

 figures with success. It, however, occurred to him, 

 that while thu plane regular figures may be infinite in 

 number, the number of regular solids was limited to 

 five ; and he attempted to discover a relation between 

 their dimensions and the distances of the planetary or- 

 bits. A cube, for example, if inserted in the sphere of 

 Saturn, would, he supposed, touch by its six planes the 

 sphere of Jupiter ; and, in like manner, the other regu- 

 lar solids would determine the intervals of the other 

 orbits. When Kepler was afterwards asked by Thomas 

 Lansiut to which of his own works he gave the prefe- 

 rence, he replied, that when he discovered the sublime 

 secret of the five regular bodies, he valued it more than 

 he would have done the possession of the whole electo- 

 rate of Saxony. 



Kepler sent a copy of his work to the celebrated Ty- 

 cho Brahe, who had been too long familiarised with ce- 

 lestial observations, to place any value on such wild spe- 

 culations. He wrote to Kepler, and urged him " first to 

 lay a solid foundation for his views by actual obser- 

 vations, and then by ascending from these, to strive to 

 reach the causes of things." This advice, which con- 

 tains the whole substance of what is called the Baco- 

 nian philosophy, no doubt induced Kepler to renounce 

 these visionary speculations, and thus to lay the tbun- 



Kepler. 



published at New York, vol. jj. p. 391 ; n<l The Tran- dation of those substantial discoveries, to which he was 



taclitmt iftlie .Socirtit "/' I fie Anliiiiiaifi ofSco'lan'l, vol. afterwards conducted. 



1, 68, Sec. F'.dinb. 1818. Very copious informs- In the same year on which that work appeared, Kep- 

 tion respecting this state, may also be found in Mi- 



i respecting this state, may 

 chaux's Travel* to the Westward of the Allegheny 



17, &C 



K I is, a celebrated astronomer, was born 



at \Viel, in the duchy of Wirtemlierg, on the 87th Dec. 

 1571, and was the son of Henry Kepler, a mpectable 

 officer in the army, whom misfortunes had reduced to 

 indigent circumstances. Notwithstanding this reverse 

 of fortune, he was desirous to give his son the het edu- 

 cation in his power ; and though young Keplrr was 

 to different schools, and placed under different 

 yet his avidity for knowledge was so great, 

 that he made the most rapid profmrm-y in his early 

 studies. He was sent in the year 1589 to Tubingen ; 

 and in 1591, he studied mathematics at the un'versity of 

 that city, under the celebrated Maestlinus, who had in 

 his early lifr, made an oration in favour of the Coperni- 

 can hypothesis, which is said to have turned the attention 

 of Galileo to the true system of the universe. He was 



ler married a lady of a noble family ; but in the year 

 1598, he was persecuted for his religious principles, 

 and was driven from Gratz. He was, however, recall- 

 ed by toe states of Styria; but as he did not think his 

 situation sufficiently secure against future molestations, 

 he accepted of a very pressing invitation from Tycho 

 to settle in Bohemia, and to assist him in his calcula- 

 tions; and he accordingly removed thither with his fa* 

 mily and books in the year l600. During this journey, 

 he was seized with a quartan ague, which lasted eight 

 months. 



Tycho introduced Kepler to the acquaintance of the 

 Emperor Rodolph, which led to disappointment as ma- 

 thematician to the emperor, a title which he retained 

 under the successive reigns of Matthias and of Ferdi- 

 nand. Notwithstanding this kindness, Kepler com- 

 plained of an unwillingness on the part of his friend, 

 either to promote his interest, or to make him acquaint- 

 ed with his discoveries and improvements. The death, 



