THE NEW COSMOLOGY 



Copernicun ttjegry of the univc-rsr, since this theory 

 was opp Sed 1 >y thepagacy. Such, however, was not 

 the case. Luth^rtan^elf pointed out with great 

 strenuousness, as a final and demonstrative argument, 

 the fact that Joshua commanded the sun and not the 

 earth to stand still; and his followers were quite as 

 intolerant towards the new teaching as were their 

 ultramontane opponents. Kepler himself was, at 

 various times, to feel the restraint of ecclesiastical 

 opposition, though he was never subjected to direct 

 persecution, as was his friend and contemporary, 

 Galileo. At the very outset of Kepler's career there 

 was, indeed, question as to the publication of a work 

 he had written, because that work took for granted 

 the truth of the Copernican doctrine. This work ap- 

 peared, however, in the year 1596. It bore the title 

 Mysterium Cosmo graphium, and it attempted to ex- 

 plain the positions of the various planetary bodies. 

 Copernicus had devoted much time to observation of 

 the planets with reference to measuring their distance, 

 and his efforts had been attended with considerable 

 success. He did not, indeed, know the actual distance 

 of the sun, and, therefore, was quite unable to fix the 

 distance of any planet; but, on the other hand, he 

 determined the relative distance of all the planets 

 then known, as measured in terms of the sun's distance, 

 with remarkable accuracy. 



With these measurements as a guide, Kepler was 

 led to a very fanciful theory, according to which the 

 orbits of the five principal planets sustain a peculiar 

 relation to the five regular solids of geometry. His 

 theory was this: "Around the orbit of the earth de- 



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