little book he dedicated to Tycho Brahe.[1] He seems to have studied medicine in his youth, for his second publication, in 1575, was a translation of Simon Musæus' book against melancholy. He must have entered Tycho's service in the beginning of 1578, and did so (according to Longomontanus) on account of the supposed intimate connection between medicine and astronomy.[2] That Tycho had great confidence in him may be seen from the fact that he sent him to Cassel in 1586 to deliver a letter to the Landgrave and report to Tycho on the new instruments lately mounted there. In June 1579 he received by royal letter a promise of the first vacant canonry in Roskilde Cathedral, on condition that "he shall be bound to let himself be used in studiis mathematicis at Tyge Brahe's." He had, however, to wait a long time for this reward of his services at Hveen, as he did not obtain the canonry till 1590, when he had left Tycho, after more than ten years' service in the observatory, and had become physician to Axel Gyldenstjern, one of the two noblemen whom the king had sent to Hveen to report on the affairs of the tenants, and who had since been made Governor-General of Norway. Flemlöse died suddenly in 1599, just when about to proceed to Basle to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine.[3] Whether his medical studies had derived much benefit from his astronomical labours is not known, but while at Uraniborg, he not only spent his time on "pyronomic" (i.e., chemical) and astronomical matters, but also compiled a little book which was printed there in 1591, some years after his
- ↑ "Æcloga de eclipsi solari anno 1574 mense Novembri futura et tempore plenilunii ecliptici anno 1573 conspecti, Succularum ortu obiter descripto, breuique Meliboei pastoris querela. . . . Autore Petro Jacobo Flemlossio." Hafniæ, 1574, 4to.
- ↑ He made observations with the sextant on the 15th March 1578, and the distance measures on and after January 21 are possibly also by him.
- ↑ See N. M. Petersen, Den Danske Literaturs Historie, iii. pp. 176-179, and the preface by Friis to the reprint of Flemlöse's book (1865).
