ASTRONOMY. 



formation of the calendar by Julius Ccesar, 

 and a more exact knowledge of the flux 

 and reflux of the ocean. We pass over 

 the dark ages, and observe that Frederic 

 II. about 1230, set himself to restore some 

 decayed universities, and founding a new 

 one at Vienna. He also caused the works 

 of Aristotle, and Ptolemy's Almagest, to 

 be translated into Latin; from which lat- 

 ter circumstance we may date the revival 

 of astronomy in Europe. Two years after 

 this, John of Halifax, commonly known 

 by the name of Sacro Bosco, compiled, 

 from Ptolemy, Albategnius, Alfraganus, 

 and other Arabic astronomers, his work 

 " De Sphsera," which continued in great 

 estimation for more than 300 years after- 

 wards, and was honoured with commen- 

 taries by Clavius, and other learned men. 

 Alphonsus, King of Castile, may also be 

 reckoned as one of the most zealous en- 

 couragers and protectors of this science ; 

 though, being but ill seconded by the 

 astronomers of that time, the tables which 

 he published were not found to answer 

 the great expense which attended them. 

 See ALMAGEST. 



About the same period also Roger Ba- 

 con, an English monk, besides many learn- 

 ed works of various kinds, wrote several 

 treatises on astronomy ; after which but 

 little progress was made in the science 

 till the time of Purbacfe, Regiomontanus, 

 and Walther, who all flourished about the 

 end of the fifteenth century, and by their 

 labours prepared the way for the great 

 discoveries which followed. Regiomon- 

 tanus, in particular, who was born at Ko- 

 ningsberg, a town of Franconia, in 1426, 

 and whose proper name was John Muller, 

 rendered considerable services to astro- 

 nomy, not only by his observations and 

 writings, but by his trigonometrical tables 

 of sines and tangents, which he computed 

 to a radius of 1,000,000 for every minute 

 of the quadrant, and by this means great- 

 ly facilitated astronomical computations. 

 Next after these was Nicholas Coperni- 

 cus, the celebrated restorer of the old 

 Pythagorean system of the world, which 

 had been now set aside ever since the 

 time of Ptolemy. He was born at Thorn, 

 inPolishPrussia, in 1743, and having- gone 

 through a regular course of studies at 

 Cracow, and afterwards at Rome, he was 

 made, by the interest of his uncle, who 

 was bishop of Wormia, a canon of Fraw- 

 enberg : in which peaceful tetreat, after 

 36 years of observations and meditations, 

 he established his theory of the motion of 

 the earth, with such new and demonstra- 

 tive arguments in its favour, that it has 

 gradually prevailed from that time, and is 



now universally received by the leacned 

 throughout Europe. This great man, 

 however, had not the satisfaction of wit- 

 nessing the success of his undertaking ; 

 being threatened by the persecution of 

 religious bigots on the one side, and witli 

 an obstinate and violent opposition from 

 those who called themselves philosophers 

 on the other, it was not without the great- 

 est solicitations that he could be prevail- 

 ed upon to give up his papers to his 

 friends, with permission to make them 

 public ; but, from continued importunities 

 of this kind, he at length complied, and 

 his book, " De Revolutionibus Orbiurn 

 Ccelestium," after being suppressed for 

 many years, was at length published, and 

 a copy of it brought to him a few hours 

 before his death. From Copernicus we 

 proceed to Tycho Brahe, the celebrated 

 Danish astronomer, who was born in 1546, 

 and began to manifest his taste for this 

 science at the early age of 14. An eclipse 

 of the sun, wuich happened in 1560, first 

 attracted his attention, and the justness 

 of the calculation which announced this 

 phenomenon inspired him with a strong 

 desire of understanding the principles 

 upon which it was founded. But meet- 

 ing with some opposition from his tutor, 

 and a part of his family, to these pursuits, 

 which probably served only to increase 

 his attachment to them, he made a jour- 

 ney into Germany, where he formed con- 

 nections, and entered into a correspon- 

 dence with some of the most eminent 

 astronomers of that country, particularly 

 with the landgrave of Hesse, who receiv- 

 ed him in the most flattering manner, and 

 recommended him to the notice of his 

 sovereign. Becoming by this means bet- 

 ter known, on his return to Denmark, 

 Frederic II. gave him the little island of 

 Huen, at the entrance of the Baltic, where 

 he built an observatory, under the name 

 of Uraniburg, and in which, during a 

 course of 20 years, he made a prodigious 

 number of observations. His tranquillity, 

 however, in this happy retreat, was at 

 length interrupted; for soon after the 

 death of Frederic, which happened in 

 1596, he was deprived, through the as- 

 persions of some envious and malevolent 

 persons, of his pension and establishment, 

 awd was not allowed even to follow his 

 pursuits at Copenhagen, a minister of 

 that time, of the name of Walchemiurp, 

 having forbid him to continue his obser- 

 vations. Happily, however, he found a 

 powerful protector in the Emperor Ro- 

 dolphus II. who ordered him to be pro- 

 perly provided for at his own expr >sc, 

 and gave him a commodious house at 



