328 Prowe's Life of Copernicus. Oct.
upon him the duty of unreserved publication. The meet earnest and persistent among them was Bishop Gysius ; but it was not until his arguments were reinforced by the eager protests of Rheticus that Copernicus, worn out by their united importunities, at length consented to place the manuscript, upon the fate of which depended the whole future of astronomy, in the hands and at the absolute disposal of the Bishop of Culm. By him it was jubilantly despatched to Rheticus (then in Saxony), and preparations were made for its immediate publication at Nuremberg.
Not a moment was to be lost, were any spark of joy to be derived by the writer from the permanence secured to his work. For already he stood on the verge of the years allotted to him. Towards the close of 1542 he was seized with apoplexy, accompanied by paralysis of the right side. It was his first recorded illness, and it proved his last. For many months death lingered at his threshold; he made no rally from the enfeebled state of mind and body into which he had fallen ; but it seemed as if there were still something to be waited for before he could depart in peace. On May 24, 1543, the first printed copy of 'De Revolutionibus ' arrived at Frauenburg. It was brought to the bedside of Copernicus ; it met his eyes, and his dying hands touched it ; but it may be doubted whether memory any longer retained its hold of the associations which gave to an insignificant object such profound and pathetic import. A few hours later he expired, thus quitting life to find a twofold immortality.[1]
If, however, he did not survive to enjoy the full privileges of authorship, he was at least spared some of its troubles. Under the cover which his trembling fingers had no longer strength to open, lurked a hidden sting. The principal conduct of the book through the press had been delegated by Rheticus [2] to Andrew Osiander, a man not destitute of mathematical attainments, but better known as a zealous preacher of Lutheran doctrines. A stormy petrel of reform in religion, in matters of science he nevertheless claimed the peaceful
- ↑ 'Exitus vitae fuerit immortalitatis ortus'. — Sniadecki.
- ↑ It seems to us that Rheticus is not exempt from at least a suspicion of neglect in the matter. Indeed, if we rightly judge of his character, the successful completion of his undertakings was continually impeded by the volatility of his mind. We can scarcely forgive him for omitting to print his biography of Copernicus (alluded to at the opening of this article), which, if the wish of Bishop Gysius had been attended to, would have been prefixed to the Copernican magnum opus.
