The Sleepwalkers (59 page)

It
was
toward
the
end
of
his
Italian
studies
that
the
heliocentric
system
began
to
take
shape
in
Nicolas'
mind.
The
idea
was,
of
course,
not
new,
and
it
was
much
discussed
in
Italy
at
that
time;
I
shall
return
to
this
point
later
on.
Nicolas
had
taken
an
active
interest
in
astronomy
at
an
early
stage
of
his
Italian
studies;
it
became
the
main
solace
of
his
frustrated
life.
When
he
became
acquainted
with
the
Aristarchian
idea
of
the
sun-centred
universe,
he
grasped
at
it
and
never
let
go
again.
For
thirty-six
years,
on
his
own
testimony,
he
hugged
his
theory
to
his
anxious
heart,
and
only
agreed,
reluctantly,
to
divulge
its
secret
on
the
doorstep
of
death.

In
1506,
at
the
age
of
thirty-three,
Canon
Koppernigk,
Doctor
of
Canon
Law,
terminated
his
studies
in
Italy
and
returned
home
to
Prussia.
The
next
six
years
he
spent
with
Uncle
Lucas
at
Heilsberg
Castle,
the
residence
of
the
Bishops
of
Ermland.

Thirteen
years
had
gone
by
since
he
had
been
elected
a
Canon
of
Frauenburg
Cathedral,
and
he
had
as
yet
neither
exercised
his
functions,
nor
paid
more
than
two
fleeting
visits
to
his
Chapter.
The
new,
indefinite
leave
of
absence
was
granted
on
the
official
grounds
that
he
should
act
as
private
physician
to
Uncle
Lucas.
In
fact,
the
Bishop
wanted
his
fidus
Achates
in
constant
attendance,
and
to
the
end
of
his
life
kept
Nicolas
at
his
court.

However,
the
appointment
of
Nicolas
as
a
house
physician
was
not
solely
an
official
pretext.
Though
he
never
took
his
medical
degree,
he
had
studied
medicine,
as
befitting
in
those
days
for
a
gentleman
of
the
clergy,
at
the
renowned
University
of
Padua.
One
of
his
teachers
had
been
the
famed
Marcus
Antonius
de
la
Torre,
for
whom
Leonardo
had
drawn
his
anatomical
studies
of
horses
and
men.
Whether
Nicolas
had
occasion
to
minister
as
a
physician
to
Uncle
Lucas,
is
not
recorded;
but
later
on
he
did
treat
Lucas'
successors,
Bishops
Ferber
and
Dantiscus,
for
various
ailments
–
partly
in
person,
partly
by
mail;
and
he
was
summoned
by
Duke
Albert
of
Prussia
to
attend
one
of
his
counsellors.
In
fact,
Copernicus
was
far
better
known
in
Ermland
as
a
physician
than
as
an
astronomer.

The
nature
of
his
approach
to
medicine
one
can
gather
from
the
prescriptions
he
copied
out
from
various
text-books.
It
was
as
conservative
as
his
approach
to
science
in
general;
he
believed
as
unquestioningly
in
the
doctrines
of
Avicenna,
as
he
believed
in
the
physics
of
Aristotle,
and
in
the
epicycles
of
Ptolemy.
One
of
the
prescriptions
which
he
copied
out
twice
(once
on
the
back
cover
of
Euclid
Elements
of
Geometry
,
and
a
second
time
on
the
margin
of
a
surgical
volume)
contains
the
following
ingredients:
Armenian
sponge,
cinnamon,
cedar
wood,
bloodroot,
dittany,
red
sandalwood,
ivory
shavings,
crocus
(or
saffron),
spodumene,
camomile
in
vinegar,
lemon
rind,
pearls,
emerald,
red
jacinth
and
sapphires;
a
deer's
heart-bone
or
pulped
heart,
a
beetle,
the
horn
of
a
unicorn,
red
coral,
gold,
silver
and
sugar.
¹⁶
It
was
a
typical
prescription
of
the
age,
together
with
lizards
boiled
in
olive
oil
and
earthworms
washed
in
wine,
calf's
gall
and
donkey's
urine.
But
it
was
also
the
age
which
saw
the
rise
of
Paracelsus,
Servetus
and
Vesalius,
the
overthrow
of
Avicenna
and
the
medieval
Arab
school.
There
is
a
type
of
genius:
Bacon
and
Leonardo,
Kepler
and
Newton,
who,
as
if
they
were
charged
with
electricity,
draw
an
original
spark
from
any
subject
they
touch,
however
remote
from
their
proper
field;
Copernicus
was
not
one
of
them.

His
main
duties,
however,
during
his
six
years
at
Heilsberg
Castle
were
not
of
a
medical,
but
of
a
diplomatic
nature.
Little
Ermland,
a
border
territory,
was
an
object
of
constant
friction,
intrigues
and
wars
–
as
the
neighbouring
Danzig
was
to
be
four
hundred
years
later.
The
principal
cities
of
Ermland
were
Frauenburg,
the
Cathedral
town;
Heilsberg,
where
the
Bishop
resided;
and,
further
inland,
Allenstein
–
each
of
them
centred
on
a
medieval
castle
on
a
hill,
and
fortified
by
wall
and
moat.
It
was
the
largest
of
the
four
Prussian
dioceses,
and
the
only
one
which,
thanks
to
Bishop
Lucas'
astuteness,
successfully
maintained
its
independence
both
against
the
Teutonic
Order
and
the
Polish
King.
While,
politically,
he
sided
with
the
latter,
Bishop
Lucas
never
surrendered
his
autonomous
rights,
and
ruled
his
remote
territory
in
the
grand
style
of
a
Renaissance
Prince.