In the whole range of human science, no subject is calculated to
excite such sublime ideas as astronomy; and to its study, therefore,
the greatest minds have been directed both in ancient and modern
times. Ancient, however, as are the investigations into the relations
of the heavenly bodies, a correct idea of the planetary system was
scarcely known before the sixteenth century of the Christian era. The
theory generally received on that subject by the Chaldeans, Egyptians,
Greeks, and other ancient nations, and which continued predominant
till a comparatively recent period, described the earth as the center
of all bodies occupying space, while the Moon, Venus, Mercury, the
Sun, the planets, and the stars, revolved around it on a succession of
solid spheres, at different distances, and at different rates of
speed, so as to produce the appearances which are daily and nightly
presented to our eyes in the heavens. Six centuries before the
commencement of our era, Anaximander, Pythagoras, and other Grecian
philosophers, had conceived some faint notion of a more correct
system; but when they ventured to suggest that the sun was a fixed
body, and that the earth was only one of a set of planets moving round
it, they experienced so much persecution on account of the
inconsistency of their doctrines with the religious ideas of the
people, that they failed to establish their theory on a permanent
basis. When learning and the arts revived in Italy in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, some attention was paid in the universities
to astronomy; but the system taught was no better than that which
Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other ancient astronomers had sanctioned, and
which represented the sun and planets as moving round the earth. The
time at length arrived for the revival of the correct notions
entertained by Anaximander and Pythagoras.
Nicolas Copernicus, the modern to whom the honor of reviving that
doctrine is due, was born, February 19, 1473, at Thorn, on the
Vistula――a place now included in the dominions of the king of Prussia.
The father of Copernicus was a native of Westphalia, a part of
Germany: he had chanced to settle at Thorn, as a surgeon, about ten
years before the birth of his son. Young Copernicus was educated for
the profession of medicine at the university of Cracow; but his
favorite studies were mathematics, perspective, astronomy, and
painting. At an early age, inspired by an eager wish to distinguish
himself in astronomy, he proceeded to Italy, and studied that science
at the university of Bologna. It is supposed that a discovery of his
teacher Dominic Maria, respecting the changes of the axis of the
earth, was what first awakened his mind to the errors of the planetary
system then taught. From Bologna he proceeded to Rome, where for some
time he taught mathematics with great success――pursuing all the while,
as far as circumstances would permit, his astronomical observations.
When he afterwards returned to his native country, his maternal uncle,
the bishop of Ermeland, appointed him a canon in the cathedral of
Frauenburg and at the same time he was nominated by the inhabitants of
his native town to be archdeacon in one of their churches. He then
resolved to devote his life to three objects――the performance of his
clerical duties, gratuitous medical attendance on the poor, and the
pursuit of his favorite studies. His residence was established in one
of the houses belonging to the canons of Frauenburg, on the brow of a
height near the cathedral, where astronomical observations could be
conducted under very favorable circumstances; and in its walls are
still to be seen the openings which he made, in order to observe the
passage of stars across the meridian. It is supposed to have been
about the year 1507 that he first became convinced of the superiority
of the planetary theory of Pythagoras. He determined, however, to be
very cautious in adopting, and still more cautious in announcing, an
opinion so much at variance with the ordinary ideas of mankind.
Mathematical instruments were in that age very rude, and the telescope
had not been invented. The only implements which Copernicus had for
making observations were two, coarsely framed of firwood, with
measures marked by lines of ink. Thus provided, he devoted himself for
several years to the inquiries necessary for proving his theory; and
at length, about the year 1530, he had completed a work, in which the
whole system was expounded――namely, the immobility of the sun in the
centre of the planetary system; while its apparent motion, and the
alternations of day and night, were to be attributed to the annual and
diurnal movements of the earth. The real distances of the planets, and
the declination of the pole of the earth, were also explained.
The doctrines of Copernicus were already known to a considerable
number of learned and comparatively enlightened persons, who received
them with due respect; and it is creditable to the Romish church that
several of its dignitaries were among the number. But the bulk of
mankind, including their religious teachers, were then comparatively
ignorant, and accordingly prejudiced; and however firm the conviction
of the astronomer as to the truth of his theory, he yet hesitated to
make it public, dreading the opposition it would have to
encounter――seeing that it opposed the inveterate prejudices of the
learned, and the illusory testimony of the senses. In reasoning, they
acted under the guidance of rules which made it scarcely possible for
them to ascertain truth, or to acknowledge it when it was presented to
them in the clearest light. If anything had been said in former times
by a person whose memory they respected, they would not willingly
listen to anything which contradicted, or seemed to contradict it.
They walked, in short, by authority, and not by the dictates of
reflection; and the consequence was, that every new truth which
experience or the inquiries of the best minds brought forth, had to
contend with the less worthy notions which had come down from earlier
and darker ages. Amongst the opinions received by them, was that which
represented the earth as the immovable centre of the universe. It was
sanctioned by the greatest men of ancient times; it had long been
taught; it was conformable to the common appearances of things; and
various passages in the Scriptures were believed to assert it, though
in reality those passages only do not contradict (and this probably
for wise purposes) the ordinary ideas of mankind respecting the
stability of the earth. Copernicus only acted, therefore, with
necessary caution, when he hesitated to publish the work which had
cost him the labor of so many years.
Rheticus, one of the friends to whom he had communicated his theory,
at length, in 1540, ventured to give an outline of it to the world in
a small pamphlet, which he published without his name. As this excited
no disapprobation, the same person reprinted it next year with his
name. In both publications the doctrines were ascribed openly to
Nicolas Copernicus. About the same time, a learned man, Erasmus
Reinhold, in a work which he published, spoke of the new doctrines
with the greatest respect, and styled their author a second Ptolemy;
for it often happens that the greatest compliment that can be paid to
the discoverer of truth, is to mention him in the same breath with
some founder of error. Copernicus now allowed himself to be pursuaded
by his friends to publish his work; and it was accordingly put to
press at Nuremburg, under the care of some learned persons of that
city. But he was now an old man, and it was not his lot to live to see
the book published. As soon as it was printed, a copy of it was sent
to him by his friend Rheticus, but it only reached him, May 23, 1543,
a few hours before he expired. He appeared to be scarcely conscious of
the object to which so many years of his life had been devoted. But
his mission was accomplished. Committed to the perpetuating operations
of the infant printing-press, all danger was over of losing the germ
of those great and fertile truths which in our days render astronomy
the most perfect of sciences.
The theory of Copernicus was thus brought before the world; but,
whether from the death of the philosopher, or because little
disturbance of popular notions was anticipated from so learned a work,
or from whatever other circumstances, it was visited with no marks of
reprobation from any quarter at the time. In proportion, however, as
it became known, so did its opponents increase. Those were the days
when the fagot and stake made short work with those who presumed to
strike out a course of thinking for themselves; and though the author
of the system and its immediate adopters passed unmolested, yet during
the century which ensued were its followers and supporters persecuted
with all the zeal and cruelty that bigotry and ignorant prejudice
could devise. Truth, however, is imperishable; and, though repressed
and retarded for a season, is ever sure to take its right place among
the established beliefs of mankind. And thus it has been with the
Copernican theory, whose importance to the progress of accurate
science we cannot in reality over-estimate. To form anything like an
adequate idea of the value of its author’s services to the cause of
science, we must place ourselves back in the time and circumstances
which saw their birth. Then, it must be remembered, the want of
telescopes rendered all appearances in the sky much more difficult of
explanation than they would have been a century later. The accumulated
errors and superstitions of fourteen centuries were not to be easily
shaken and removed; neither were the prejudices and dogmas of the
learned to be disturbed with impunity. What might have been
astronomical science, was, even in the writings of the fathers, little
better than a mass of absurd and subtle disquisitions on the substance
of the heavens and the heavenly bodies. All these Copernicus had to
surmount; and the elaboration of his theory presents an ever-memorable
example of the power of patient and earnest thought in the
investigation of a complicated subject, and acuteness of
discrimination between the true and the fallacious.