Chapter I: Front Matter

THE
MARTYRS OF SCIENCE,
OR
THE LIVES
OF
GALILEO, TYCHO BRAHE, AND KEPLER.

BY

SIR DAVID BREWSTER, K.H. D.C.L.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE UNITED COLLEGE OF ST SALVATOR AND ST LEONARD,
ST ANDREWS; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; VICE-PRESIDENT
OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH; CORRESPONDING MEMBER
OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE; AND MEMBER OF THE
ACADEMIES OF ST PETERSBURG, STOCKHOLM,
BERLIN, COPENHAGEN, GOTTINGEN,
PHILADELPHIA, &c. &c.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1841.

G. S. TULLIS, PRINTER, CUPAR.

TO THE
RIGHT HON. FRANCIS LORD GRAY,
F.R.S., F.R.S.E.

MY LORD,

In submitting this volume to the public under your Lordship's auspices, I avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded me of expressing the deep sense which I entertain of the friendship and kindness with which your Lordship has so long honoured me.

Although in these days, when Science constitutes the power and wealth of nations, and encircles the domestic hearth with its most substantial comforts, there is no risk of its votaries being either persecuted or neglected, yet the countenance of those to whom Providence has given rank and station will ever be one of the most powerful incitements to scientific enterprise, as well as one of its most legitimate rewards. Next to the satisfaction of cultivating Science, and thus laying up the only earthly treasure which we can carry along with us into a better state, is that of having encouraged and assisted others in the same beneficent labours. That your Lordship may long continue to enjoy these sources of happiness is the earnest prayer of,

MY LORD,

Your Lordship's

Most faithful and obedient servant,

DAVID BREWSTER.

ST LEONARDS, ST ANDREWS,

October 12, 1840.

CONTENTS.

LIFE OF GALILEO.

Page.
CHAPTER I. 1

Peculiar interest attached to his Life--His Birth--His early
studies--His passion for Mathematics--His work on the Hydrostatic
Balance--Appointed Lecturer on Mathematics at Pisa--His antipathy
to the Philosophy of Aristotle--His contentions with the
Aristotelians--Chosen Professor of Mathematics in Padua--Adopts the
Copernican system, but still teaches the Ptolemaic doctrine--His
alarming illness--He observes the new Star in 1604--His Magnetical
experiments,

CHAPTER II. 20

Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, invites Galileo to Pisa--Galileo
visits Venice in 1609, where he first hears of the Telescope--He
invents and constructs one, which excites a great
sensation--Discovers Mountains in the Moon, and Forty Stars in the
Pleiades--Discovers Jupiter's Satellites in 1610--Effect of this
discovery on Kepler--Manner in which these discoveries were
received--Galileo appointed Mathematician to Cosmo--Mayer claims the
discovery of the Satellites of Jupiter--Harriot observes them in
England in October 1610,

CHAPTER III. 42

Galileo announces his discoveries in Enigmas--Discovers the
Crescent of Venus--the Ring of Saturn--the Spots on the
Sun--Similar Observations made in England by Harriot--Claims of
Fabricius and Scheiner to the discovery of the Solar
Spots--Galileo's Letters to Velser on the claims of Scheiner--His
residence at the Villa of Salviati--Composes his work on Floating
Bodies, which involves him in new controversies,

CHAPTER IV. 56

Galileo treats his Opponents with severity and sarcasm--He is aided
by the Sceptics of the day--The Church Party the most
powerful--Galileo commences the attack, and is answered by Caccini,
a Dominican--Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in
support of the motion of the Earth and the stability of the
Sun--Galileo visits Rome--Is summoned before the Inquisition--And
renounces his opinions as Heretical--The Inquisition denounces the
Copernican system--Galileo has an audience of the Pope, but still
maintains his opinions in private society--Proposes to find out the
Longitude at Sea by means of Jupiter's Satellites--His negotiation
on this subject with the Court of Spain--Its failure--He is unable
to observe the three Comets of 1618, but is involved in the
controversy to which they gave rise,

CHAPTER V. 72

Urban VIII., Galileo's friend, raised to the Pontificate--Galileo
goes to Rome to offer his congratulations--The Pope loads Galileo
with presents, and promises a Pension to his Son--Galileo in
pecuniary difficulties, owing to the death of his patron,
Cosmo--Galileo again rashly attacks the Church, notwithstanding the
Pope's kindness--He composes his System of the World, to
demonstrate the Copernican System--Artfully obtains a license to
print it--Nature of the work--Its influence on the public mind--The
Pope resolves on suppressing it--Galileo summoned before the
Inquisition--His Trial--His Defence--His formal Abjuration of his
Opinions--Observations on his conduct--The Pope shews great
indulgence to Galileo, who is allowed to return to his own house at
Arcetri as the place of his confinement,

CHAPTER VI. 102

Galileo loses his favourite Daughter--He falls into a state of
melancholy and ill health--Is allowed to go to Florence for its
recovery in 1638--But is prevented from leaving his House or
receiving his Friends--His friend Castelli permitted to visit him
in the presence of an Officer of the Inquisition--He composes his
celebrated Dialogues on Local Motion--Discovers the Moon's
Libration--Loses the sight of one Eye--The other Eye attacked by
the same Disease--Is struck Blind--Negociates with the Dutch
Government respecting his Method of finding the Longitude--He is
allowed free intercourse with his Friends--His Illness and Death in
1642--His Epitaph--His Social, Moral, and Scientific Character,

* * * * *

LIFE OF TYCHO BRAHE.

CHAPTER I. 123

Tycho's Birth, Family, and Education--An Eclipse of the Sun turns
his attention to Astronomy--Studies Law at Leipsic--But pursues
Astronomy by stealth--His Uncle's Death--He returns to Copenhagen,
and resumes his Observations--Revisits Germany--Fights a Duel, and
loses his Nose--Visits Augsburg, and meets Hainzel--Who assists him
in making a large Quadrant--Revisits Denmark--And is warmly
received by the King--He settles at his Uncle's Castle of
Herritzvold--His Observatory and Laboratory--Discovers the new Star
in Cassiopeia--Account of this remarkable Body--Tycho's Marriage
with a Peasant Girl--Which irritates his Friends--His Lectures on
Astronomy--He visits the Prince of Hesse--Attends the Coronation of
the Emperor Rudolph at Ratisbon--He returns to Denmark,

CHAPTER II. 145

Frederick II. patronizes Tycho--And resolves to establish him in
Denmark--Grants him the Island of Huen for Life--And Builds the
splendid Observatory of Uraniburg--Description of the Island, and
of the Observatory--Account of its Astronomical Instruments--Tycho
begins his Observations--His Pupils--Tycho is made Canon of
Rothschild, and receives a large Pension--His Hospitality to his
Visitors--Ingratitude of Wittichius--Tycho sends an Assistant to
take the Latitude of Frauenburg and Konigsberg--Is visited by
Ulric, Duke of Mecklenburg--Change in Tycho's fortunes,

CHAPTER III. 160

Tycho's Labours do honour to his Country--Death of Frederick
II.--James VI. of Scotland visits Tycho at Uraniburg--Christian IV.
visits Tycho--The Duke of Brunswick's visit to Tycho--The Danish
Nobility, jealous of his fame, conspire against him--He is
compelled to quit Uraniburg--And to abandon his Studies--Cruelty of
the Minister Walchendorp--Tycho quits Denmark with his Family and
Instruments--Is hospitably received by Count Rantzau--Who
introduces him to the Emperor Rudolph--The Emperor invites him to
Prague--He gives him a Pension of 3000 Crowns--And the Castle of
Benach as a Residence and an Observatory--Kepler visits Tycho--Who
obtains for him the Appointment of Mathematician to Rudolph,

CHAPTER IV. 179

Tycho resumes his Astronomical Observations--Is attacked with a
Painful Disease--His Sufferings and Death in 1601--His Funeral--His
Temper--His Turn for Satire and Raillery--His Piety--Account of his
Astronomical Discoveries--His Love of Astrology and
Alchymy--Observations on the Character of the Alchymists--Tycho's
Elixir--His Fondness for the Marvellous--His Automata and Invisible
Bells--Account of the Idiot, called Lep, whom he kept as a
Prophet--History of Tycho's Instruments--His Great Brass Globe
preserved at Copenhagen--Present state of the Island of Huen,

* * * * *

LIFE OF JOHN KEPLER.

CHAPTER I. 203

Kepler's Birth in 1571--His Family--And early Education--The
Distresses and Poverty of his Family--He enters the Monastic School
of Maulbronn--And is admitted into the University of Tubingen,
where he distinguishes himself, and takes his Degree--He is
appointed Professor of Astronomy and Greek in 1594--His first
speculations on the Orbits of the Planets--Account of their
Progress and Failure--His "Cosmographical Mystery" published--He
Marries a Widow in 1597--Religious troubles at Gratz--He retires
from thence to Hungary--Visits Tycho at Prague in 1600--Returns to
Gratz, which he again quits for Prague--He is taken ill on the
road--Is appointed Tycho's Assistant in 1601--Succeeds Tycho as
Imperial Mathematician--His Work on the New Star of 1604--Singular
specimen of it,

CHAPTER II. 220

Kepler's Pecuniary Embarrassments--His Inquiries respecting the Law
of Refraction--His Supplement to Vitellio--His Researches on
Vision--His Treatise on Dioptrics--His Commentaries on Mars--He
discovers that the orbit of Mars is an Ellipse, with the Sun in one
focus--And extends this discovery to all the other Planets--He
establishes the two first laws of Physical Astronomy--His Family
Distresses--Death of his Wife--He is appointed Professor of
Mathematics at Linz--His Method of Choosing a Second Wife--Her
Character, as given by Himself--Origin of his Treatise on
Gauging--He goes to Ratisbon to give his Opinion to the Diet on the
change of Style--He refuses the Mathematical Chair at Bologna,

CHAPTER III. 237

Kepler's continued Embarrassments--Death of Mathias--Liberality of
Ferdinand--Kepler's "Harmonies of the World"--The Epitome of the
Copernican Astronomy--It is prohibited by the Inquisition--Sir
Henry Wotton, the British Ambassador, invites Kepler to
England--He declines the Invitation--Neglect of Genius by the
English Government--Trial of Kepler's Mother--Her final
Acquittal--And Death at the age of Seventy-five--The States of
Styria burn publicly Kepler's Calendar--He receives his Arrears of
Salary from Ferdinand--The Rudolphine Tables published in 1628--He
receives a Gold Chain from the Grand Duke of Tuscany--He is
Patronised by the Duke of Friedland--He removes to Sagan, in
Silesia--Is appointed Professor of Mathematics at Rostoch--Goes to
Ratisbon to receive his Arrears--His Death, Funeral, and
Epitaph--Monument Erected to his Memory in 1803--His Family--His
Posthumous Volume, entitled "The Dream, or Lunar Astronomy,"

CHAPTER IV. 252

Number of Kepler's published Works--His numerous Manuscripts in 22
folio volumes--Purchased by Hevelius, and afterwards by Hansch--Who
publishes Kepler's Life and Correspondence at the expense of
Charles VI.--The History of the rest of his Manuscripts, which are
deposited in the Library of the Academy of Sciences at St
Petersburg--General Character of Kepler--His Candour in
acknowledging his Errors--His Moral and Religious Character--His
Astrological Writings and Opinions considered--His Character as an
Astronomer and a Philosopher--The Splendour of his
Discoveries--Account of his Method of Investigating Truth,

LIFE OF GALILEO.