use of this
unexpected misfortune, it was discovered, that the Porter expired,
neer about the same punctilio of time, wherein the nose grew frigid and
cadaverous. There are at Bruxels yet surviving, some of good repute, that
were eye-witnesses of these occurrences."(18)

(18) Charleton: Of the Magnetic Cure of Wounds, London, 1650, p.
13.

Equally in the history of science and of medicine, 1542 is a starred
year, marked by a revolution in our knowledge alike of Macrocosm and
Microcosm. In Frauenburg, the town physician and a canon, now nearing
the Psalmist limit and his end, had sent to the press the studies of a
lifetime--"De revolutionibus orbium coelestium." It was no new thought,
no new demonstration that Copernicus thus gave to his generation.
Centuries before, men of the keenest scientific minds from Pythagoras on
had worked out a heliocentric theory, fully promulgated by Aristarchus,
and very generally accepted by the brilliant investigators of the
Alexandrian school; but in the long interval, lapped in Oriental
lethargy, man had been content to acknowledge that the heavens declare
the glory of God and that the firmament sheweth his handiwork. There
had been great astronomers before Copernicus. In the fifteenth century
Nicholas of Cusa and Regiomontanus had hinted at the heliocentric
theory; but 1512 marks an epoch in the history of science, since for all
time Copernicus put the problem in a way that compelled acquiescence.

Nor did Copernicus announce a truth perfect and complete, not to be
modified, but there were many contradictions and lacunae which the work
of subsequent observers had to reconcile and fill up. For long years
Copernicus had brooded over the great thoughts which his careful
observation had compelled. We can imagine the touching scene in the
little town when his friend Osiander brought the first copy of the
precious volume hot from the press, a well enough printed book. Already
on his deathbed, stricken with a long illness, the old man must have had
doubts how his work would be received, though years before Pope Clement
VII had sent him encouraging words. Fortunately death saved him from the
"rending" which is the portion of so many innovators and discoverers.
His great contemporary reformer, Luther, expressed the view of the day
when he said the fool will turn topsy-turvy the whole art of astronomy;
but the Bible says that Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still, not
the Earth. T