Purbach. The little which was taught about astronomy at Leipsic was just enough to give to this gifted student a desire to learn more. When Purbachius' reputation came to his ears, he thought that this distinguished professor was the man who could satisfy his desire, and determined at once to leave Leipsic for the capital of Austria. Immediately after his arrival in this city, he went to Purbachius, to whom he explained the reasons which had induced him to the step he had taken, adding that he felt confident that the learned professor would return his own confidence with kindness, and not send away a boy entirely devoted to the liberal arts, and who had concentrated all his hopes in the result of this undertaking; that he would place himself entirely at the disposal of his master, and that for whatever he might learn in the whole course of his life, he would, with the most grateful feelings, give credit to him.

These noble sentiments, which, be it said, by the way, Regiomontanus never changed, moved the professor; he admired the courage of the youth, and discovering in his face the stamp of a genius, born for great things, he received him most kindly, promising that he would not neglect any thing in his power which could facilitate the fulfilment of so praiseworthy a purpose. Nor did either master or disciple ever find any difficulty in keeping the mutual promises made at their first meeting; the latter venerated the former as a father, and was loved by him as a son.

How consoling it is to find, in the history of times as little distinguished for the purity of morals as for the love of science, two such hearts adopting each other, and two such intellects uniting their strength in a common effort for the increase of human knowledge. From this day, Purbachius and Regiomontanus never separated; all their labors were in common, and even after the death of the master, the pupil never failed to attribute to him the chief merits of what he himself achieved.

Purbachius was at that time occupied with writing an interpretation of the "Magna Composita Ptolemæi," for a guide to the Latin translation, from the Arab text of that work. He had himself never seen the original Greek text, nor was he master of the Greek language, but his astronomical knowledge had convinced him that the existing Latin versions were very inaccurate. He prepared Regiomontanus for the perusal of Ptolemæus by teaching him the spherical theory

of the planets. Besides, he invited him to join in his mathematical researches and in his observations, directing his attention to his most important discoveries, and especially to the accurate determination of the chief points of the ecliptic, and all those stars to which the planets are usually referred.

It was about this time that the study of the Greek language began to be revived in Italy, where lately a great number of erudite Greeks had arrived. Some of these were well acquainted with the works of Ptolemæus. Among them Cardinal Bessarion deserves to be mentioned here, for the influence he had on the future direction of the studies of Regiomontanus. He had come from Greece to the council of Florence, where he established so high a character for talents, as well as for learning, that he was entrusted by the pope with some missions of the most delicate nature. One of these missions brought him to Vienna. Here he becaine connected with Purbachius and his studies. Desiring most earnestly to contribute to the study of astronomy, and knowing how deficient were the translations of Ptolemæus, he engaged Purbachius to accompany him to Italy, where he would aid him with all his means in the study of the Greek language, provided that young astronomer would undertake a translation of Ptolemæus from the Greek text. bachius accepted the cardinal's proposition on condition that his young friend would go with him, which was readily agreed to. But before he had made his preparations he fell sick, and died in the arms of his beloved disciple, who gives the following as his last words: "Farewell," he said, "farewell, my Joannes, and i the memory of thy master (pii præceptoris) has any power over thee, finish the work of Ptolemæus which I leave unaccomplished."-(Pur. et Reg. Vit. 73.)

Pur

These words of the astronomer, dying at the age of thirtyseven years, show, as every thing which we know of him through his disciple does, that he considered himself as designed by God to kindle the study of astronomy in his country. He was buried in the cathedral of Vienna. On his tomb the following lines, said to have been composed by himself, were inscribed:

"Extinctum dulces quid me fletis, amici ?
Fata vocant; Lachesis sic sua fila trahit,
Destituit terras animus, cœlumque revisit,
Quæ semper coluit, liber et astra petit."

Shortly after the death of his honored master, Regiomontanus went to Italy, where he devoted himself to the study of the Greek language, the elements of which he had already learned at Vienna in his intercourse with Cardinal Bessarion, and some learned men of the same country, who were in his suite. As his talents were as great as his ardor, he soon became able to read most of the admirable manuscripts in that language, and to understand the treasures contained in them. On his return to Germany he at once resolved to take as many of these works with him as he could procure, and accordingly he bought as many as he could afford, copied others, and engaged persons to copy those which he could not find time to copy himself. Meanwhile he continued his astronomical studies and observations. He visited several places in Italy, and, like his master, lectured in Padua. The subject of his lecture was the elements of Alfraganus. In 1464 he went to Venice, where he composed his book on the doctrine of triangles, and wrote against Cardinal Cusan's (himself one of the best mathematicians of the day) quadrature of the circle.

Afterwards he returned to Rome, where he excited the enmity of Trapezuntius, a Greek, who had made a Latin translation of Ptolemæus, which was full of errors, owing to the translator's imperfect knowledge of the mathematical sciences, and astronomy. Regiomontanus openly condemned its defects, and thereby called forth the hatred, and a desire of vengeance, in the family of Trapezuntius.

From Rome he returned to Germany with a collection of all the great works on mathematics which were then to be found in Italy. He went first to Vienna, where he professed mathematics for a short time. But he was shortly after induced, by the generous offers of King Matthias, of Hungary, who was a great lover of astronomy, to abandon his professorship and remove to his court. He received, in the king's service, a salary of two hundred gold pieces, but it was not so much the generosity of the king, as his collection of Greek manuscripts, which induced the young astronomer to leave Vienna. Of the Greek manuscripts which the conquest of Constantinople and Athens had scattered over the east of Europe, King Matthias had collected as many as he could find, and formed a very valuable library, which, as it appears, Regiomontanus arranged. The treatment which the latter experienced while he remained with the king, proves

both the high regard which was at that time paid to men of erudition, and the love for science of the Hungarian sovereign. Joannes was a constant companion of the latter at table and in his moments of leisure; he had the good fortune to cure him of a severe hypochondria, under which he had been suffering for a long time. To effect this, he is said to have resorted to astrology, in which the king had a great belief, and by it to have wrought a moral cure of the disease, while he contributed, by his own liveliness, to the relief of the patient. And it is easy to conceive, that a young man, who at the age of fourteen years had shown so much resolution and character-who had travelled so widely in his country, and spent in the most civilized parts of Europe, and among the most enlightened men of his age, those years in which the deepest impressions are made, should be an agreeable companion, particularly if, in addition to all these advantages, he was justly regarded as the most learned and erudite man of his time.

But the wars in which the king found himself implicated, induced Regiomontanus to ask leave to withdraw to a place where he could devote himself more entirely to the mission he had to fulfil. He retired to Nuremberg in the year 1471, at that time thirty-six years old. The city of Nuremberg was then one of the most opulent and populous in Europe. Besides being a great metropolis of commerce, where merchants from France and Italy, from Holland, and all parts of Germany, as well as from Bohemia, Hungary, and England, constantly met, this ancient imperial town was a kind of centre of science and arts. A great number of inventions originated within its walls, and all those of other countries were soon introduced and encouraged there. Then, as now, the custom prevailed in Germany for the young mechanic and artizan, after his apprenticeship was over, to visit the places in which he might expect to improve himself in his art, and Nuremberg was the city in which the greatest number of such young men met. From the earliest times, its chief resources, as its soil was not fertile, had been in manufactures; no place exhibited greater activity and industry. Foundries, and mills of various kinds, had excited a general taste for those sciences which facilitate the judicious use of mechanical power, while the numerous gold and silversmiths gradually produced artists of a higher order. The year in

which Regiomontanus arrived in this wealthy city, is remarkable as that in which the great Albert Dürer was born. These advantages which Nuremberg presented, determined Regiomontanus to fix his abode there. His object was to publish, besides several works of his own, all the manuscripts which he had taken so much trouble, and spent so much money in collecting. The art of printing began to be known throughout Germany. In that city he felt confident that he would find greater facilities to carry out his intentions than any where else. Besides, there he would be able to find artists to execute the various astronomical instruments, whose construction he had projected for a long time. His reputation preceded him, and his own qualities very soon gained him friends in his new country. Amongst them was B. Walther, a rich patrician, who, being devoted to astronomy, offered to furnish the money necessary for the acquisition of a press, and the projected astronomical instruments. Through the active and generous co-operation of this man, he was enabled to publish, in the year 1473, his first work. It was a German calendar cut in wood, and consisting of twelve leaves, printed on both sides. In the following year he published his " Ephemerides quas vulgo vocant Almanach." He had dedicated it to his former protector, King Matthias, who acknowledged the honor with a present of eight hundred Hungarian gold pieces. In addition to this considerable sum, the sale of the work was very productive to its author. Every copy was sold at the price of twelve Hungarian gold ducats, and carried from Nuremberg to all countries by the merchants who constantly met there. In the space of three years he published four works, besides a list of those he intended to print successively, showing his extraordinary enterprise for the time in which he lived. Besides about twenty works of his own, it contains the titles of more than an equal number of works of Greek mathematicians. The last in the list is "On the Miraculous Art of Making Types."+

* Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst, by Dr. Th. Falkenstein, 1840. Doppelmayer, in his "History of the Mathematicians and Artists of Nuremberg," states, that as early as 1472, J. R. published " Marii Manilii Astronomica."

+ He advertises it in the following words: "Postremo omnium artem illam mirificam litterarum formatricem monimentis stabilibus mandare decretum est, (Deus, bene faveas.) Quâ re explicatâ, si mox obdormiet opifex, mors acerba non erit; cum tantum munus posteris in haereditatem reliquerit, quo ipsi se ab inopiâ librorum perpetuo poterunt vindicare."