great
merit is that he dared to look at the facts of Nature with his own eyes,
unhampered by the prejudice of centuries. A system venerable with age,
and supported by great names, was universally believed, and had been
believed for centuries. To doubt this system, and to seek after another
and better one, at a time when all men's minds were governed by
tradition and authority, and when to doubt was sin--this required a
great mind and a high character. Such a mind and such a character had
this monk of Frauenburg. And it is interesting to notice that the
so-called religious scruples of smaller and less truly religious men did
not affect Copernicus; it was no dread of consequences to one form of
truth that led him to delay the publication of the other form of truth
specially revealed to him. In his dedication he says:--

"If there be some babblers who, though ignorant of all mathematics, take
upon them to judge of these things, and dare to blame and cavil at my
work, because of some passage of Scripture which they have wrested to
their own purpose, I regard them not, and will not scruple to hold their
judgment in contempt."

I will conclude with the words of one of his biographers (Mr. E.J.C.
Morton):--

"Copernicus cannot be said to have flooded with light the dark places of
nature--in the way that one stupendous mind subsequently did--but still,
as we look back through the long vista of the history of science, the
dim Titanic figure of the old monk seems to rear itself out of the dull
flats around it, pierces with its head the mists that overshadow them,
and catches the first gleam of the rising sun,

"'... like some iron peak, by the Creator
Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn.'"

DATES AND SUMMARY OF FACTS FOR LECTURE II

Copernicus lived from 1473 to 1543, and was contemporary with Paracelsus
and Raphael.

Tycho Brahe from 1546 to 1601.
Kepler from 1571 to 1630.
Galileo from 1564 to 1642.
Gilbert from 1540 to 1603.
Francis Bacon from 1561 to 1626.
Descartes from 1596 to 1650.

_A sketch of Tycho Brahe's life and work._ Tycho was a Danish noble,
born on his ancestral estate at Knudstorp, near Helsinborg, in 1546.
Adopted by his uncle, and sent to the University of Copenhagen to study
law. Attracted to astronomy by the occurrence of an eclipse on its
predicted day, August 21st, 1560. Began to construct astronomical
instruments, especiall