The Astronomy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost', Thomas Nathaniel Orchard [best selling autobiographies .TXT] 📗

from each other by delicately constructed screws, to which they are attached. Each revolution, or part of a revolution, of a screw indicates the distance by which the wires are moved.

This apparatus, when placed in the focus of a lens, gives very accurate measurements of the diameters of celestial objects. It was successfully used by Gascoigne in determining the apparent diameters of the Sun, Moon, and several of the planets, and the mutual distances of the stars which form the Pleiades.

Crabtree, after having paid Gascoigne a visit in 1639, describes in a letter to Horrox the impression created on his mind by the micrometer. He writes: ‘The first thing Mr. Gascoigne showed me was a large telescope, amplified and adorned with new inventions of his own, whereby he can take the diameters of the Sun or Moon, or any small angle in the heavens or upon the earth, most exactly through the glass to a second.’

The micrometer is now regarded as an indispensable appliance in the observatory; the use of a spider web reticule instead of wire having improved its efficiency. Gascoigne was one of the earliest astronomers who recognised the value of the Keplerian telescope for observational purposes, and Sherburn affirms that he was the first to construct an instrument of this description having two convex lenses. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that he applied the micrometer to the telescope, and was the first to use telescopic sights, by means of which he was able to fix the optical axis of his telescope, and ascertain by observation the apparent positions of the heavenly bodies.

Crabtree, in a letter to Gascoigne, says: ‘Could I purchase it with travel, or procure it with gold, I would not be without a telescope for observing small angles in the heavens; or want the use of your device of a glass in a cane upon the movable ruler of your sextant, as I remember for helping to the exact point of the Sun’s rays.’

It was not known until the beginning of the eighteenth century that Gascoigne had invented and used telescopic sights for the purpose of making accurate astronomical observations. The accidental discovery of some documents which contained a description of his appliances was the means by which this became known.

Townley states that Gascoigne had completed a treatise on optics, which was ready for publication, but that no trace of the manuscript could be discovered after his death. Having embraced the Royalist cause, William Gascoigne joined the forces of Charles I., and fell in the battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644.

The early death of this young and remarkably clever man was a severe blow to the science of astronomy in England.

The invention of logarithms, by Baron Napier, of Merchistoun, was found to be of inestimable value to astronomers in facilitating and abbreviating the methods of astronomical calculation.

By the use of logarithms, arithmetical computations which necessitated laborious application for several months could with ease be completed in as many days. It was remarked by Laplace that this invention was the means of doubling the life of an astronomer, besides enabling him to avoid errors and the tediousness associated with long and abstruse calculations.

Thomas Harriot, an eminent mathematician, and an assiduous astronomer, made some valuable observations of the comet of 1607. He was one of the earliest observers who made use of the telescope, and it was claimed on his behalf that he discovered Jupiter’s satellites, and the spots on the Sun, independently of Galileo. Other astronomers have been desirous of sharing this honour, but it has been conclusively proved that Galileo was the first who made those discoveries.

The investigations of Norwood and Gilbert, the mechanical genius of Hooke, and the patient researches of Flamsteed—the first Astronomer Royal—were of much value in perfecting many details associated with the study of astronomy.

The Royal Observatory at Greenwich was founded in 1675. The building was erected under a warrant from Charles II. It announces the desire of the Sovereign to build a small observatory in the park at Greenwich, ‘in order to the finding out of the longitude for perfecting the art of navigation and astronomy.’ This action on the part of the King may be regarded as the first public acknowledgment of the usefulness of astronomy for national purposes.

Since its erection, the observatory has been presided over by a succession of talented men, who have raised it to a position of eminence and usefulness unsurpassed by any similar institution in this or any other country. The well-known names of Flamsteed, Halley, Bradley, and Airy, testify to the valuable services rendered by those past directors of the Greenwich Observatory in the cause of astronomical science.

If we take a general survey of the science of astronomy as it existed from 1608 to 1674—a period that embraced the time in which Milton lived—we shall find that it was still compassed by ignorance, superstition, and mystery. Astrology was zealously cultivated; most persons of rank and position had their nativity or horoscope cast, and the belief in the ruling of the planets, and their influence on human and terrestrial affairs, was through long usage firmly established in the public mind. Indeed, at this time, astronomy was regarded as a handmaid to astrology; for, with the aid of astronomical calculation, the professors of this occult science were enabled to predict the positions of the planets, and by this means practised their art with an apparent degree of truthfulness.

Although over one hundred years had elapsed since the death of Copernicus, his theory of the solar system did not find many supporters, and the old forms of astronomical belief still retained their hold on the minds of the majority of philosophic thinkers. This can be partly accounted for, as many of the Ptolemaic doctrines were at first associated with the Copernican theory, nor was it until a later period that they were eliminated from the system.

Though Copernicus deserved the credit of having transferred the centre of our system from the Earth to the Sun, yet his theory was imperfect in its details, and contained many inaccuracies. He believed that the planets could only move round the Sun in circular paths, nor was he capable of conceiving of any other form of orbit in which they could perform their revolutions. He was therefore compelled to retain the use of cycles and epicycles, in order to account for irregularities in the uniformly circular motions of those bodies.

We are indebted to the genius of Kepler for having placed the Copernican system upon a sure and irremovable basis, and for having raised astronomy to the position of a true physical science. By his discovery that the planets travel round the Sun in elliptical orbits, he was enabled to abolish cycles and epicycles, which created such confusion and entanglement in the system, and to explain many apparent irregularities of motion by ascribing to the Sun his true position with regard to the motions of the planets.

After the death of Kepler, which occurred in 1630, the most eminent supporter of the Copernican theory was the illustrious Galileo, whose belief in its accuracy and truthfulness was confirmed by his own discoveries.

Five of the planets were known at this time—viz. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; the latter, which revolves in its orbit at a profound distance from the Sun, formed what at that time was believed to be the boundary of the planetary system. The distance of the Earth from the Sun was approximately known, and the orb was observed to rotate on his axis.

It was also ascertained that the Moon shone by reflected light, and that her surface was varied by inequalities resembling those of our Earth. The elliptical form of her orbit had been discovered by Horrox, and her elements were computed with a certain degree of accuracy.

The cloudy luminosity of the Milky Way had been resolved into a multitude of separate stars, disclosing the immensity of the stellar universe.

The crescent form of the planet Venus, the satellites of Jupiter and of Saturn, and the progressive motion and measurement of light, had also been discovered. Observations were made of transits of Mercury and Venus, and refracting and reflecting telescopes were invented.

The law of universal gravitation, a power which retains the Earth and planets in their orbits, causing them year after year to describe with unerring regularity their oval paths round the Sun, was not known at this time. Though Newton was born in 1642, he did not disclose the results of his philosophic investigations until 1687—thirteen years after the death of Milton—when, in the ‘Principia,’ he announced his discovery of the great law of universal gravitation.

Kepler, though he discovered the laws of planetary motion, was unable to determine the motive force which guided and retained those bodies in their orbits. It was reserved for the genius of Newton to solve this wonderful problem. This great philosopher was able to prove ‘that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force proportioned to the mass of the attracting body, and inversely as the square of the distance between them.’ Newton was capable of demonstrating that the force which guides and retains the Earth and planets in their orbits resides in the Sun, and by the application of this law of gravitation he was able to explain the motions of all celestial bodies entering into the structure of the solar system.

This discovery may be regarded as the crowning point of the science of astronomy, for, upon the unfailing energy of this mysterious power depend the order and stability of the universe, extending as it does to all material bodies existing in space, guiding, controlling, and retaining them in their several paths and orbits, whether it be a tiny meteor, a circling planet, or a mighty sun.

The nature of cometary bodies and the laws which govern their motions were at this time still enshrouded in mystery, and when one of those erratic wanderers made its appearance in the sky it was beheld by the majority of mankind with feelings of awe and superstitious dread, and regarded as a harbinger of evil and disaster, the precursor of war, of famine, or the overthrow of an empire.

Newton, however, was able to divest those bodies of the mystery with which they were surrounded by proving that any conic section may be described about the Sun, consistent with the law of gravitation, and that comets, notwithstanding the eccentricity of their orbits, obey the laws of planetary motion.

Beyond the confines of our solar system, little was known of the magnitude and extent of the sidereal universe which occupies the infinitude of space by which we are surrounded. The stars were recognised as self-luminous bodies, inconceivably remote, and although they excited the curiosity of observers, and conjectures were made as to their origin, yet no conclusive opinions were arrived at with regard to their nature and constitution, and except that they were regarded as glittering points of light which illumine the firmament, all else appertaining to them remained an unravelled mystery. Even Copernicus had no notion of a universe of stars.

Galileo, by his discovery that the galaxy consists of a multitude of separate stars too remote to be defined by ordinary vision, demonstrated how vast are the dimensions of the starry heavens, and on what a stupendous scale the universe is constructed. But at this time it had not occurred to astronomers, nor was it known until many years after, that the stars are suns which shine with a splendour resembling that of our Sun, and in many instances surpassing it. It was not until this truth became known that the glories of the sidereal heavens were fully comprehended, and their magnificence revealed. It was then ascertained that the minute points of