The Sleepwalkers (280 page)

5

In
England,
the
significance
of
Copernicus
was
recognized
earlier
than
on
the
Continent,
mainly
thanks
to
two
works:
firstly
Thomas
Digges'
A
Perfit
Description
of
the
Caelestiall
Orbes
according
to
the
most
aunciente
doctrine
of
the
Pythagoreans,
latelye
reuiued
by
Copernicus
and
by
Geometricall
Demonstrations
approued
,
which
he
added,
in
1576,
to
a
new
edition
of
his
father
Leonard
Digges'
Prognostication
euerlasting
;
and
secondly,
Giordano
Bruno
La
cena
de
le
ceneri,
which
Bruno
wrote
during
his
English
sojourn,
and
which
was
first
published
by
Charlewood
in
London
in
1584.

6

Cap.
13.

7

By
inscribing
Mercury's
sphere
not
into
the
faces
of
the
octahedron,
as
it
ought
to
be
done,
but
into
the
square
formed
by
the
four
median
edges.
Cap.
13,
Note
4.

8

Cap.
15.

9

Cap.
18.

10

Ibid.,
Note 8.

11

Cap.
20.

12

Ibid.,
Notes 2 and 3.

13

The
law
resulting
from
this
first
attempt
was:
R
₁
:
R
₂
=
P
₁
:
P
₁
+
P
₂
,
where
P
₁
,
P
₂
are
the
periods,
R
₁
,
R
₂
the
mean
solar
distances
of
two
planets.
The
correct
law
(
Kepler's
"Third
Law")
is,
of
course:
R
₁
:
R
₂
=
P
₁
2/3
:
P
₂
2/2.

14

Cap.
21.

15

Ibid.,
Note 7.

16

Ca.,
p. 78.

17

Mysterium
Cosmographicum,
Dedication
of
the
2nd
Edition.

18

Astronomia
Nova,
summary
of
Cap.
45.

19

"Letter
to
Maestlin,
3".10.
1595.
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
33
ff.

20

Tertius
Interveniens.

21

Harmonice
Mundi, Lib. IV, Cap. I. G. W., Vol. VI.

22

Mysterium
Cosmographicum, Cap. XXI, Notes 8 and II.

23

It
is
curious
to
note
that
no
authority
writing
on
Kepler
seems
to
have
noticed
this
stubborn
omission
of
the
word
"ellipse";
perhaps
because
historians
of
science
recoil
from
the
irrationality
of
their
heroes,
as
Kepler
himself
recoiled
from
the
apparent
irrationality
of
the
elliptic
orbits
which
he
discovered.

24

Burtt,
The
Metaphysical
Foundations
of
Modern
Physical
Science
,
London,
1932
(rev.
ed.),
p.
203.
Burtt
is
a
notable
exception
from
the
attitude
referred
to
in
the
previous
note.

25

Tertius
Interveniens.

26

Mysterium
Cosmographicum, Preface to the Reader.

26a

Ibid.,
Note 8.

Part
IV Chapter III. GROWING PAINS

1

Letter
to
Friedrich
,
Duke
of
Wuerttemberg,
27.2.
1596.
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
50
ff.

2

G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
162
ff.

3

Letter
to
Maestlin
,
11.6.
1598.
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
218
seq
.

4

"Horoscope."
Cf.
also
Letter
to
Maestlin
,
10.2.
1597,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
104
seq.

5

Letter
to
Maestlin
,
9.4.
1597,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
113
seq.

6

Letter
to
Herwart
,
9/10.4.
1599,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
305
seq.

7

Letter
to
an
anonymous
woman,
c
.
1612,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XVII,
p.
39
seq.

8

Ibid.

9

Letter
to
Maestlin
,
15.3.
1598,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
185.

10

E.
Reicke,
Der
Gelehrte,
Monographien
zur
deutschen
Kulturgeschichte,
Vol.
VII,
Leipzig,
1900,
p.
120.

11

G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
84
f.

12

G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
207.

13

Letter
to
Herwart
,
16.12.
1598,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
264
seq.

14

From
the
failure
of
his
efforts,
Kepler
concluded
that
the
parallax
of
the
Polar
Star
must
be
smaller
than
8',
"because
my
instrument
does
not
allow
me
to
measure
angles
smaller
than
this.
Hence
the
semi-diameter
of
the
earth's
orbit
must
be
smaller
than
1/500
of
the
semi-diameter
of
the
sphere
of
the
fixed
stars."
(
Letter
to
Herwart,
G.
W.
,
Vol.
XIII,
p.
267
f.).