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HISTORICAL VIEW OP THE
due to the light reflected from the earth. Rothmann wasthe first to point out the error of Copernicus respect-ing the precession of the equinoxes, and the trepidationbefore spoken of: this was in a letter to Kepler ,1590.
The middle of the sixteenth century, we have seen,was rendered memorable by the publication of the greatwork of Copernicus : the close of it was adorned by thediscoveries of Tycho Brahe . He was born in 1546,of a noble Danish family : and while at the universityof Copenhagen , the occurrence of a great solar eclipse,in 1560, is said to have excited in his mind an irresist-able desire for astronomical pursuits. For these hequitted the legal profession ; and going to Augsburg,he inspired with a similar love of science Peter Hain-zell, an opulent citizen of that place, who, at his ownexpense, erected an observatory, in which Tycho con-tinued his labours for several years. In 1570, hereturned to Copenhagen , and in a retreat near that cityhad the good fortune to observe, through all its vari-ations, the brilliant new star which appeared in 1572, inCassiopeia, and disappeared in the following year. Hishigh reputation now attracted the notice, and securedfor him the liberal patronage, of Frederic, king of Den-mark , who conferred on him a munificent pension, gavehim the island of Huene in the Baltic, and erected uponit a splendid observatory, which was named Uranibourg.Here he continued for twenty years, amassing an inva-luable collection of observations, made with instru-ments constructed upon a far larger and more accuratescale than had been hitherto attempted. The arcs weredivided up to parts containing ten seconds : the besthitherto made did not extend to divisions of as manyminutes.
After the death of Frederic, the enemies of Tycho induced the minister of his successor to withdraw from