The Sleepwalkers (140 page)

____________________

It
was,
except
for
some
details,
the
same
system
which
Tycho
had
worked
out
in
secret,
but
had
not
published
yet,
since
he
wanted
more
data
to
elaborate
it.
In
both
systems
the
earth
was
reinstated
as
the
centre
of
the
world,
but
the
five
planets
were
now
circling
round
the
sun
and,
with
the
sun,
round
the
earth.
¹³
This
was
obviously
a
revival
of
the
intermediary
system
between
those
of
Herakleides
and
Aristarchus
of
Samos
(
see
Fig.
C,
p.
46).

Tycho's
system
was,
therefore,
by
no
means
very
original;
but
it
had
the
advantage
of
a
compromise
between
the
Copernican
universe
and
the
traditional
one.
It
automatically
recommended
itself
to
all
those
who
were
reluctant
to
antagonize
academic
science,
and
yet
desirous
to
"save
the
phenomena",
and
was
to
play
an
important
part
in
the
Galileo
controversy.
Actually,
the
Tychonic
system
was
"discovered"
quite
independently
by
yet
a
third
scholar,
Helisaeus
Roeslin,
as
it
so
often
happens
with
inventions
that
"lie
in
the
air".
But
Tycho,
who
was
as
proud
of
his
system
as
Kepler
of
his
five
perfect
solids,
was
convinced
that
Ursus
had
stolen
it,
by
snooping
through
his
manuscripts
during
that
visit
in
1584.
He
collected
evidence
to
prove
that
Ursus
had
been
prying
among
his
papers;
that
he
had
taken
the
precaution
of
letting
his
pupil
Andreas
share
a
room
with
Ursus;
that
while
Ursus
was
asleep,
the
faithful
pupil
"had
taken
a
handful
of
papers
out
of
one
of
his
breeches
pockets,
but
was
afraid
to
search
the
other
pocket
for
fear
of
waking
him";
and
that
Ursus,
on
discovering
what
had
happened,
"behaved
like
a
maniac",
whereupon
all
papers
which
did
not
concern
Tycho
were
restored
to
him.

According
to
Ursus,
on
the
other
hand,
Tycho
had
been
haughty
and
arrogant
to
him;
had
tried
to
shut
him
up
by
remarking
that
"all
these
German
fellows
are
half-cracked";
and
had
been
so
suspicious
about
his
observations
"which
he
was
able
to
take
through
his
nose,
without
needing
other
sights"
that
he
got
somebody
to
search
his,
Ursus',
papers
the
night
before
his
departure.

The
long
and
short
of
it
is
that
the
Bear
had
probably
been
snooping
among
Tycho's
observations,
but
there
is
no
proof
that
he
had
stolen
Tycho's
"system",
nor
that
there
was
any
need
for
him
to
steal
it.

It
was
into
this
hornets'
nest
that
young
Kepler
blundered,
when
he
had
just
hit
upon
the
idea
of
the
Mysterium
and
felt
the
urgent
need
to
share
his
joy
with
the
whole
world
of
learning.
Ursus
was
then
the
Imperial
Mathematicus
at
Prague;
so
Kepler
dashed
off
a
fan
letter
to
him,
starting
in
typical
fan-mail
style:
"There
exist
curious
men
who,
unknown,
write
letters
to
strangers
in
distant
lands";
and
continuing
with
Keplerian
effusion
that
he
was
familiar
"with
the
bright
glory
of
thy
fame
which
makes
thee
rank
first
among
the
mathematici
of
our
time
like
the
sun
among
the
minor
stars".
¹⁴

This
was
written
in
November,
1595.
The
Bear
never
answered
the
unknown
young
enthusiast's
letter;
but
two
years
later,
when
Kepler
was
already
well
known,
Ursus
printed
the
letter,
without
asking
for
Kepler's
permission,
in
a
book
¹⁵
in
which
he
claimed
the
priority
of
the
"Tychonic"
system,
and
abused
Tycho
in
most
ferocious
language.
The
book
bore
the
motto
"I
will
meet
them
[meaning
Tycho
and
Co.]
as
a
bear
bereaved
of
her
whelps
–
Hosiah
¹³
".
Thus
Tycho,
of
course,
got
the
impression
that
Kepler
was
siding
with
the
Bear
–
which
was
precisely
what
the
Bear
had
intended.
The
situation
was
all
the
more
embarrassing
for
poor
Kepler,
as
he
had
in
the
meantime
also
written
a
fan
letter
to
Tycho,
in
which
he
called
him
"the
prince
of
mathematicians
not
only
of
our
time
but
of
all
times".
¹⁶
Moreover,
unaware
of
the
Homeric
battle
between
the
two,
he
had
asked
Ursus,
of
all
people,
to
forward
a
copy
of
the
Mysterium
to
Tycho!