the whole presented such a cohe-twenty-four hours around the earth rent scheme for the explanation of at the centre. Ptolemy himself must the heavenly movements, that the have felt, indeed we know that he did Ptolemaic theory was not seriously feel, the extraordinary difficulty inquestioned until the great work of volved in the supposition that so stuCopernicus appeared. No doubt oth- pendous a fabric as the celestial sphere, ers, before Copernicus, had from time should spin in the way supposed. to time in some vague fashion sur- Such movements required that many of mised, with more or less plausibility, the stars should travel with almost inthat the sun, and not the earth, was conceivable velocity. Though Ptolemy the centre about which the system was not unmindful of these difficulties, really revolved. It is, however, one yet they appeared to him less grave thing to state a scientific fact; it is than those which would arise from the quite another thing to be in possession alternative supposition that the celesof the train of reasoning, founded on tial sphere stood still and that the earth observation or experiment, by which revolved in the centre. Copernicus that fact may be established. Pythag- also saw that the daily rising and setoras, it appears, had indeed told his ting of the heavenly bodies could be disciples that it was the sun, and not accounted for either by the supposition the earth, which was the centre of that the celestial sphere moved round movement, but it does not seem at and that the earth remained at rest, or all certain that Pythagoras had any by the supposition that the celestial grounds which science could recognize sphere was at rest while the earth for the belief which is attributed to him. So far as information is available to us, it would seem that Pythagoras associated his scheme of things celestial with a number of preposterous notions in natural philosophy. He may certainly have made a correct statement as to which was the most important body in the solar system, but he certainly did not provide any rational demonstration of the fact. Copernicus, by a strict train of reasoning, convinced those who would listen to him, that the sun was the centre of the system. It is useful for us to consider the arguments which he used, and by which he effected that intellectual revolution which is always connected with his name.

turned round in the opposite direction. He weighed the arguments on both sides as Ptolemy had done, and, as the result of his deliberations, Copernicus came to an opposite conclusion from Ptolemy. To Copernicus it appeared that the difficulties attending the supposition that the celestial sphere revolved were vastly greater than those which appeared so weighty to Ptolemy as to force him to deny the earth's rotation.

Copernicus shows clearly how the observed phenomena could be accounted for just as completely by a rotation of the earth as by a rotation of the heavens. He alludes to the fact that, to those on board a vessel which is moving through smooth water, the The first of the great discoveries vessel itself appears to be at rest, while which Copernicus made relates to the the objects on shore seem to be movrotation of the earth on its axis. That ing past. If, therefore, the earth were general diurnal movement by which rotating uniformly, we dwellers upon the stars and all other celestial bodies the earth, oblivious of our own moveappear to move completely round the ment, would wrongly attribute to the heavens once every twenty-four hours, stars the displacement which was actuhad been accounted for by Ptolemy, on ally the consequence of our own mothe supposition that the apparent move-tion.

ments were the real movements. In Copernicus saw the futility of the his view, the whole celestial sphere, arguments by which Ptolemy had encontaining all the stars stuck on its deavored to demonstrate that a revolusurface, did in reality rotate once every tion of the earth was impossible. It

was plain to him, that there was noth- | same distance from the earth.

Of

ing whatever to warrant any refusal to course no one will say that this or any believe in the rotation of the earth. In other arbitrary disposition of the stars his clear-sightedness on this matter we is actually impossible, but as there was have specially to admire the sagacity of no known physical reason why the disCopernicus as a natural philosopher. | tances of all the stars, from the earth, It had been urged that, if the earth should be identical, it seemed in the moved round, its motion would not be very highest degree improbable that imparted to the air, and that therefore the stars should be so placed. the earth would be uninhabitable by the terrific winds which would be the result of our being carried through the air. Copernicus convinced himself that this deduction was preposterous. He proved that the air must accompany the earth, just as his coat remains round him, notwithstanding the fact that he is walking down the street. In this way he was able to show that all a priori objections to the earth's movements were absurd, and therefore he was able to compare together the plausibilities of the two rival schemes for explaining the diurnal movement.

-

Once the issue had been placed in this form, the result could not be long in doubt. Here is the question: Which is it more likely that the earth, like a grain of sand at the centre of a mighty globe, should turn round once in twenty-four hours, or that the whole of that vast globe should complete a rotation in the opposite direction in the same time? Obviously the former is far the more simple supposition. But the case is really much stronger than this. Ptolemy had supposed that all the stars were stuck on the surface of a sphere. He had no ground whatever for this supposition, except that otherwise it would have been well-nigh impossible to have devised a scheme by which the rotation of the heavens around a fixed earth could have been arranged. Copernicus, however, with the just instinct of a philosopher, considered that the celestial sphere, however convenient from a geometrical point of view, as a means of representing apparent phenomena, could not actually have a material existence. For, see all that the existence of the celestial sphere would involve. In the first place it required that all the myriad stars should be exactly at the

Doubtless, also, Copernicus felt a considerable difficulty as to the nature of the materials from which Ptolemy's wonderful sphere was to be constructed. Nor could a philosopher of his penetration have failed to observe that, unless that sphere were infinitely large, there must have been space outside it, which consideration would open up other difficult questions. Whether infinite or not, it was obvious that the celestial sphere must have a diameter hundreds or thousands of times as great as the earth. Copernicus observed that this fact showed that the stars and other celestial bodies must be all vast objects. He was thus enabled to put the question in a still more conclusive form : Which is it more rational to suppose, that the carth should turn round on its axis once in twenty-four hours, or that thousands of mighty stars should circle round the earth in the same time, many of them having to describe circles a thousand times greater in circumference than the circuit of the earth at the equator? The obvious answer pressed upon Copernicus with so much force that he was compelled to reject Ptolemy's theory of the sta tionary earth, and to attribute the diurnal rotation of the heavens to the revolution of the earth on its axis.

Once this tremendous step had been taken, the great difficulties which beset the monstrous conception of the celestial sphere vanished, for the stars need no longer be regarded as all situated at the same distances from the earth. Copernicus saw that they might lie at the most varied degrees of remoteness, some being hundreds of thousands of times further away than others. The complicated structure of the celestial sphere as a material object, disappeared altogether, it remained only as a geo

metrical entity, whereon we find it which he is himself advancing forconvenient to indicate the places of the wards. By an application of this prinstars. Once the Copernican doctrine ciple, we can account for all the had been fully set forth, it was impos- phenomena of the movements of the sible for any one who had both the planets, which Ptolemy had so ingeninclination and the capacity to under- iously represented by his moving cirstand it, to withhold their acceptance cles. Let us take, for instance, the of its truth. The doctrine of a station- most characteristic feature in the irregary earth had gone forever. ularities of the outer planets. It is Copernicus having established a the- well known that Mars, though generory of the celestial movements which ally advancing from west to east among deliberately set aside the stability of the stars, occasionally pauses, retraces the earth, it seemed natural that he his steps for a while, again pauses, and should endeavor to extend this doctrine then resumes his ordinary onward still further. It had been universally progress. Copernicus showed clearly admitted that the earth lay unsup- how this effect was produced by the ported in space. Copernicus had real motion of the earth, combined with further shown that it possessed a the real motion of Mars. If it so hapmovement of rotation. Its want of pened that the earth was moving with stability being thus recognized, it the same speed as Mars, then the apparseemed reasonable to inquire whether ent movement would exactly neutralize the earth might not also have some the real movement, and Mars would other kind of movements as well. In seem to be at rest relatively to the this, Copernicus essayed to solve a surrounding stars. Under the actual problem far more difficult than that circumstances, however, the earth is which had hitherto occupied his attention. It was a comparatively easy task to show how the diurnal movements could be accounted for by the rotation of the earth. It was a much more difficult undertaking to demonstrate that the planetary movements which Ptolemy had represented with such success, could be completely explained by the supposition that each of those planets revolved uniformly round the sun, and that the earth was also a planet, accomplishing a complete circuit of the sun once in the course of a year.

moving faster than Mars, and the consequence is, that the apparent movement of the planet backwards exceeds the real movement forwards, the net result being the apparent retrograde movement.

With consummate skill, Copernicus showed how the applications of the same principles could account for the characteristic movements of the planets. His reasoning in due time bore down all opposition. The supreme importance of the earth in the system vanished. It had now merely to take rank as one of the planets.

It would be impossible in a sketch The same great astronomer now for like the present to enter into any detail the first time rendered something ike as to the geometrical propositions on a rational account of the changes of which this beautiful investigation of the seasons. Nor did certain of the Copernicus depended. We can only more obscure astronomical phenomena just mention a few of the leading prin- escape his attention, but we must forciples. It may be laid down in general bear to enter into further details. that, if an observer is in movement, he He delayed publishing his wonderful will, if unconscious of his movement, discoveries to the world until he was attribute to the fixed objects around quite an old man. He had a wellhim a movement equal and opposite to founded apprehension of the storm of that which he actually possesses. A opposition which they would arouse. passenger on a canal-boat sees the ob- However, he yielded at last to the enjects on the banks appear to move treaties of his friends, and his book backward with a speed equal to that by was sent to the press. Ere it made its

From The Sunday Magazine. SYDNEY SMITH AND SOCIAL REFORM.

BY A. W. W. DALE.

appearance to the world, Copernicus | had been wealthy, but he was a roamwas seized by mortal illness. A copying and restless man, who so far recogof the book was brought to him on nized his duty towards his children as May 23, 1543. We are told that he to relieve them of all the temptations was able to touch it and to see it, but that come with riches. And so it came no more, and a few hours afterwards about that the best years of Sydney he died. He was buried in that cathe- Smith's life were spent in a poor Yorkdral of Frauenburg, with which his life shire parish, Foston-le-Clay, which till had been so closely associated. then had not known a resident clergyman for more than a century and a half; where he had to build himself a parsonage, and to furnish it, with the scantiest of resources. Then, twenty years later, promotion came in the shape of a prebendary's stall at Bristol, to which he was appointed, not by IT is just fifty years since Sydney his own political friends, but by a Tory Smith died. His name still keeps its chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, who had place in the roll of our famous men, the wisdom to recognize and the courbut the noblest part of what he was and of what he did has been practically genius of one of the brightest ornaage to reward the devotion and the forgotten. His jests are still repeated; ments of the English Church. The some, not of his making, are fathered stall brought with it the living of upon him. But comparatively few Combe-Florey, near Taunton, and bepeople remember that he was a cham-fore long the Whig government, under pion of causes once unpopular and apparently hopeless; that he was denounced by the supporters of oppression and iniquity; that he was for years an object of cruel calumny, and that for his courage and genius he was condemned for most of his days to live "on the north side of the wall." Such

an experience is not unfrequent. It is not always the most solid elements of a man's work and character that most easily survive. Father Thomas Burke, the great Dominican preacher, even in the pages of his biography, appears as the jester and not as the orator; and Sydney Smith's reputation has suffered in the same way. He has retained his fanic as a wit and a humorist, while his title to rank among the pioneers of social and political reform has been suffered to lapse and to fade. The occasion, therefore, seems a fit one for recalling some of the services which he rendered to his fellow-countrymen.

As regards his personal history a very few words will suffice. He was not born to luxury; he had his own way in the world to make. His father

1 Sydney Smith: born June 3rd, 1771; died Feb

ruary 22nd, 1845.

the leadership of Earl Grey, conferred on him a canonry at St. Paul's. But prosperity, though it came at last, was slow in coming. Sydney Smith during his early and mature manhood, had known what it was to endure privation, had been harassed by anxiety, and at

times had almost sunk under the bur

den and the strain. There is a passage in one of his own sermons—it rose to his lips during his last hours — which reveals the bitterness of the experience through which he had passed. "We talk of human life as a journey, but how variously is that journey performed! There are some who come forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is arrested, and every beam is tempered. There are others who walk on the Alpine paths of life, against driving misery, and through stormy sorrows, over sharp afflictions; walk with bare feet, and naked breast, jaded, mangled, and chilled." Struggle and adversity had been the lot of his earlier years, and he knew well that the "happy valleys" might have been his portion long before, if he had chosen to avoid "dan

gerous subjects, and to use his powers was not only the village parson, but to amuse rather than to mend the the doctor, the magistrate, and the world. But for a brave man silence was impossible. Abroad, the accumulated crimes of generations had avenged themselves in blood. At home, the whole sky was dark with signs of storm. England had to choose between reform and ruin; Sydney Smith had no small share in guiding the nation to a wise decision.

comforter as well. He was not merely the centre of civilization in the place; he was also the link that united class with class, so destroying one of the most fruitful causes of estrangement and suspicion. The system even as he handled it, may not represent the noblest type of social development. A despot, however benevolent, must be autocratic and may sometimes be hasty and obstinate. But in those days such an influence was invaluable, and could only make for good.

Like a wise man, the rector of Foston began the work of reform at home. General principles are excellent, but personal and particular application is more effectual. He practised what he Efficient and energetic as Sydney preached. By the exercise of tact and Smith was in his own parish, he never good sense he succeeded in making forgot that he had larger duties outside. friends among all classes. He concil- As one of the most powerful contribuiated the squire by not "smiting the tors to the Edinburgh Review, which partridge," and by taking a kindly in- he had founded and for a short time terest in his kennels. To his poor edited, he could speak to the men who parishioners his doors were always led the nation. Periodical literature open; he had medicine for both soul has now become so plentiful that it is and body. He became known as the difficult adequately to appreciate its doctor-parson. When called out to importance in the opening years of the baptize a baby that was very ill, he century. Steam and electricity have comes back and says that he baptized it transformed the conditions of life. first and gave it a dose of castor-oil Public opinion is shaped by the daily afterwards, so preparing it for either newspapers and not by quarterly reworld. He sits on the Bench and views. And as taste has altered with administers justice, not with undue the times, it has become the fashion to severity, making the best of bad laws; depreciate the merits of the earlier voland if some youthful offender is umes of the Edinburgh Review; for we brought before him, he calls out to his are all more or less apt to disparage attendant, "Johu, bring me my private both men and books that have done gallows; an order which melts the their work. But such criticism is culprit into a flood of tears, while he essentially trivial; in sum and subpromises that if he escapes hanging stance it practically amounts to this: this time he will never break the law that the Edinburgh articles were not again. He provided milk for the chil- written by the man of the moment for dren, then as now one of the hardest the whim of the hour. The review had things to obtain in country places. He a creed. It was based on social and also let out part of his glebe in allot-political principles. It was practical in ment gardens to the laborers, and its efforts. It aimed at something defiencouraged them to grow fruit and nite and hit it. It was a rifle not a vegetables for themselves. Seventy rocket.

years later this boon was still remem

Among the questions which then bered, and Mr. Reid, when he visited agitated the public mind, Roman Caththe place, found "the gnarled branches olic Disabilities held the first place. of the old trees" in "Sydney's Or- Any suggestion of relief was fiercely chards," as they are still called, resented. Even during the years in "richly laden with pink and white blossoms." 1 In fact Sydney Smith

The Life and Times of Sydney Smith, by Stuart

J. Reid, to whose work I am largely indebted for

the substance of this and the succeeding para

graphs.