Page:Tycho brahe.djvu/419

Rh in which δ is the apparent declination, h the observed altitude corrected for refraction, and φ the latitude of Uraniborg, 55° 54′ 26″. The computed and observed azimuths were found to be in excellent agreement, the differences only in nine cases exceeding 3′. Thirty-six observations of nine stars gave the correction to the observed azimuths (counted from 0° to 360° from south through west) = -0′.4 ± 0′.30. Of course this result is affected by the errors of observation in the altitudes, but at any rate it shows most conclusively that Tycho Brahe's azimuth circles were adjusted with the same care which we have seen he bestowed on his other instruments; and the assertion that Tycho from 1579 to 1586 had all his instruments set 15′ wrong in azimuth is hereby proved to have been utterly without foundation.

[From P. D. Huetii Commentarius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus, Amsterdam, 1718, 12mo. After describing the great celestial globe, the author relates how he started for Hveen, with only one companion, on the 26th May 1652, and after telling the story about the origin of the name of Insula Scarlatina and praising the hospitable reception by the Lutheran clergyman, he continues on p. 86.]

Humaniter ergo excepti, postquam paululum interquievimus, multa ab hospite nostro, aliisque adstantibus Huenæ incolis percontatus sum de Tychone, deque Vraniburgica arce, cujus visendæ gratia istuc venissem: quodque mirere, incognita sibi esse hæc nomina uno ore professi sunt omnes, nec quicquam se de iis accepisse. At cum virum quemdam valde senem superesse rescivissem in insula, misi qui eum ad me adducerent. Rogatus ille a me numquid de Tychone Braheo inaudisset aliquando, deque condita olim ab eo istic arce quam Vraniburgi nomine decorasset, &amp; per annos unum &amp; viginti incoluisset; se vero respondit non Tychonem modo &amp; Vraniburgum nosse, sed &amp; in Tychonis famulatu fuisse per aliquod tempus, &amp; operam quoque suam ad hanc exstruendam arcem contulisse. Tychonem autem referebat hominem fuisse violentum, impotentem, iracundum, famulos &amp; villicos male multantem, ebriosum quoque et mulierosum; cum uxorem duxisset ex infima natalis villæ suæ Knudstrupii plebe rustica, ex qua liberos multos suscepisset, atque hac affinitate, velut sibi probrosa, magnopere offensam fuisse illustrem Braheorum gentem. Tum subjecit bonus ille vir, si istuc venissem spectandi Vraniburgi causa, irritum me laborem suscepisse, quippe solo æquata omnia, vixque superesse parietinarum vestigia. Cujus rei causas cum ab eo, &amp; jam ante Hafniæ a viris doctis exquisivissem, varias ac plane discrepantes commemorabant. Hi enim Tychonem ipsum, e Dania excedentem opus suum diruisse dicebant, cum satis tamen constet res suas Huenicas &amp; Vraniburgicas colono &amp; famulis aliquot procurandas reliquisse; quippe fundi hujus fructus in totum vitæ tempus fuisse ei a Frederico Rege concessos. Erant qui dicerent hostiles Suecorum copias pervasisse in insulam, stragemque