KEPLER. 



415 



Hence at Sagan in Silesia, where he spent the remaind- 

 er of his life. Here be published, in liestmntio 

 ad Epittolam J . '' pra-fia'* Kpkenteridi ami 

 ISSQ df computalioMf et rtiilimt E-iliemeridinn ; and, in 

 the same year, hi* Sporlula Gcnelhliadt mitta de Tab. 

 Rudvliihi ut* M eompnlaiioniiiui astrologicu cum modo 

 diri[>e*di nofo et naturali. 



In this remote situation, Kepler suffered great incon- 

 venience from the irregular payment of his pension. 

 He was therefore obliged, in 1630, to make a journey 

 to Ratisbon, to solicit the arrears which were due to 

 him ; and, in contequence of the fatigue (06 ttimiam 

 tfrilalionem ) which he experienced, he was seized with 

 a fever, of which he died, on that city, on the 30th of 

 November 1 630, in the 59th year of his age. 



A* we have already given a brief view of Kepler's 

 dieeoverie^ in our History of ASTRONOMY, and in the 

 part of that article which treat* of Physical ASTRONO- 

 MY, we have directed the reader's attention, in the pre- 

 ceding sketch, principally to the events of his life, and 

 the title* and general object of hi* various work*. The 

 abstracts which we' have given, tun I and imperfect aj 

 they are, are not uninstructive. 



l't is a very difficult matter to form an estimate of the 

 true character of Kepler's genius. The ingenious ab- 

 surdities with which he began hi* career, were a very 

 unfavourable omen of hi* future success. But he seems, 

 from his infancy, to have been impressed with the con- 

 viction, that there were analogies or laws to be diaco- 

 vered with regard to the distance* of the planet* ; and 

 every view which nteeented itteef to hi* ardent fancy, 

 s to have been embraced a* the real law of the uni- 

 The advice of Tycho, however, seemi to have 

 right direction to hi* inquiries ; and the obeer- 

 vatMn* of that illutnous astronomer en the planet 

 Man, and on the other planetary bodies, presented him 

 with the teet* by which hi* speculations could be tried. 



L. , j_^.i -7iuiantdi*eoverie* to which 



k i* impossible to restrain 

 those wild and almost insane 

 in which he afterward* chose to indulge. 

 That be was a believer in astrology it is impossible to 

 doubt ; and though, in order to eave hi* reputation. La 

 Lend* ha* affirms*! that Kepler published hi* reverie* 

 merely in order to procure sale for hi* work*, by flat- 

 tering the prejudice* of the vulgar ; yet, in drawing the 

 character of thi* great man, we should be unwilling to 

 apologise for hi* superstition, by such a heavy im- 

 putation upon hia integrity. The physical notions 

 of Kepler respecting the planet*, are Kill more ri- 

 than hi* astrological conviction*. In hi* 



1 lie endeavour* 

 with the bea- 



by a natural instinct,' perceives the posi- 

 tion of the stars. He maintains alto, that the earth is 

 vmt animal, breathing oat the wind* from hole* in 

 the mountain! ; and that all the planet* arc animated, 

 and have muede* proportioned to their bulk, by mean* 

 of which they move through abeolute space. He even 

 oppose*, that the beaky of the earth i* terrified at 

 " a comet, that it " sweat* out a 

 through terror, and that 



vme. 



iby whi 

 Hut while we admire 

 Kepler waa thiu 



Harmonic t Mundi. (tab. IT. cap. vii.) he 

 to prove, that the earth has a sympathy wit 

 ven*, and, by a natural instinct, perceive 



asm**** mmM*i i 



In the year 1(04, appiand a porthumoui work of 

 Kepler.entitfcd,./. Krpleri fiomnium, tea ojna nonkumum 

 de Auroimmut I.uari, in which he treat* of the pheno- 

 mena which will be seen by the inhabitants of the moon 

 d the other planets. Kepler himself died during the 



printing of this work; and his son-in-law Bartschius, 

 who took the charge of the impression, did not live to 

 complete it. Lewis Kepler, the son of our author, who 

 was a physician at Koningsberg, was with difficulty 

 prevailed upon to finish an undertaking, during which 

 his father and his brother-in-law had died. 



Kepler left behind him many volumes of MSS. He- 

 velius purchased these from his representatives, and 

 has given a list of them in the Plii/oso/thical Trantac- 

 /foiufor 167-1. No. 1<)2, with the following remarks: 

 " As to the MSS. of the celebrated Kepler, 1 purcha- 

 sed them ail from his representatives fur a certain sum, 

 a* well of those that have been published, as those thai 

 have never yet been published ; among which are a 

 great many letters that passed between him and other 

 celebrated persons. Among these MSS. are found se- 

 veral well deserving to be published, not only many 

 letters, but some works also ; among which is his Hip- 

 purchus, which, though not quite digested, might be 

 easily put in sufficient order for that purpose. I have 

 also his MSS. Chronology ; but I do not find a written 

 account of his life, though there are numerous facts and 

 traits, from which a clear account of it might be given. 1 ' 

 These MSS. were, after the death of Hevelius, purcha- 

 ed from his heirs by M. Gottlieb Hansch, a zealous 

 mathematician. 



U'ith the view of giving them to the world, Hansch 

 was prevented to the emperor Charles VI. and obtain- 

 ed from him a thousand ducats to defray the expence, 

 and a pension of 300 florins during the life of the em- 

 peror. With this pecuniary aid, he published at I.eip- 

 sic, in 1718. in one volume folio, Epittolcc ad Joan urn 

 rum, mathematicmm (.'iriarrum, tcripltf, inscrlu ad 

 tfidcm mptmiomitiu Kepleritmt, quotnunt hactemis re* 

 pertri poiuenmt, oput notwm, Sfe. cum Jo. Kepleri vita ; 

 juttu et axtr.iciit Caroli VI. Roman Imp. Having spent 

 all the I (XX) ducats on this volume, nnd being obliged 

 even to pledge the reat of the MSS. ti>r S'.'s florins, 

 Hansch was unable to publish the rest of the MSS. He 

 addreseed himself to the celebrated \\olfius to no pur- 

 pose, and was equally unsuccessful in his application to 

 the Royal Society of London, and to other quarters. At 

 this time, M. de Murr l Nuremberg, happening to be 

 in London in 1761, made great efforts to acquire the 

 \I>V and Dr. Bradley han almost determined to pur- 

 chase them. In 1 77:*, 4000 francs were asked for them ; 

 and some time afterwards, M. de Murr succeeded in 

 purchasing them for the Imperial Academy of St. IV- 

 mnburg. The following are the content* of the 22 vo- 

 lumes of M.vv I'uur of which were published by Hansch. 



I. Hipparchu* Kepleri, 279 leave*. 



9. KepifH Adversaria tabularum lunarium, &c. cum 

 Calendario in annum 1 tX)S, 1 53 leave*. 



3. De stell.i nova Kepleri annotata et observations, 

 alionimque epi*tolte. 



i. Commentaria in IHolenupi Harmonicorum li- 

 brum tertium. Aristoxcni, musici antiqui, Harmonico- 

 rum elemcntorum libri ti 



5. De genesi magnitudinum. 



6, 7, 8. The letters which have been published and 

 deposited in the imperial library. 



9, Epistoln- Kepleri, partly in Latin and partly in 

 German, with many calculations. 



10. Epistole Davidis Fabricii ad Keplerum cum re. 

 sponsionibus irJOl, Iti09. 



II. Littera. 



12. Letter* which have been published. 



18. DanoBttmiones motuum Mcrcurii et Vetwrfe. 





