[33] The English edition was reprinted at London in 1714, 1721, and
1730, and the Latin one at London in 1706, 1719, 1721, 1728, at
Lausanne in 1740, and at Padua in 1773.
[34] When James I. went to Copenhagen in 1590, to conclude his marriage
with the Princess Anne of Denmark, he spent eight days under the roof
of Tycho at Uraniburg. As a token of his gratitude, he composed a set
of Latin verses in honour of the astronomer, and left him a magnificent
present at his departure. He gave him also his royal license for the
publication of his works in England, and accompanied it with the
following complimentary letter:—
“Nor am I acquainted with these things on the relation of others, or
from a mere perusal of your works, but I have seen them with my own
eyes, and heard them with my own ears, in your residence at Uraniburg,
during the various learned and agreeable conversations which I there
held with you, which even now affect my mind to such a degree, that it
is difficult to decide whether I recollect them with greater pleasure
or admiration.”
[35] The cube, the sphere, the tetrahedron, the octohedron, the
dodecahedron, and the icosahedron.
[36] Simon Marius, mathematician to the Marquis of Brandenburg, assures
us that he discovered the satellites of Jupiter in November, 1609.
[37] It is distinctly stated in the sentence of the Inquisition, that
Galileo’s enemies had charged him with having abjured his opinions in
1616, and affirmed that he had been punished by the Inquisition. In
order to refute these calumnies, Galileo applied to Cardinal Bellarmine
for a certificate to prove that he neither abjured his opinions nor
suffered any punishment for them; but that the doctrine of the motion
of the earth and the stability of the sun was only denounced to him
as contrary to Scripture, and as one which could not be defended or
maintained. Cardinal Bellarmine drew up such a certificate in his own
handwriting.
[38] _Theoricæ Medicearum planetarum ex causis physicis deductæ._ Flor.
1666, 4to.
[39] M. Delambre maintains that these views of Borelli are only those
of Kepler slightly modified. Newton and Huygens have attached to them
a greater value. The last of these philosophers remarks, “Refert
Plutarchus, fuisse jam olim qui putaret ideo manere lunam in orbe suo,
quod vis recedendi a terra, ob motum circularem, inhiberetur pari vi
gravitatis, qua ad terram accedere conaretur. Idemque ævo nostro, non
de luna tantum sed et planetis ceteris statuit Alphonsus Borellus,
ut nempe primariis eorum gravitas esset solem versus; lunis vero ad
terram, Jovem ac Saturnum quos comitantur.”—Huygen, _Cosmotheor_, lib.
ii.; _Opera_, t. ii. p. 720.
[40] _Hist. de l’Astronomie aux Dix-huitieme Siècle_, p. 9.
[41] “But for the duplicate proportion, I gathered it from Kepler’s
theorem about twenty years ago.”—Newton’s _Letter to Halley_, July 14,
1686.
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