well as of individuals, the interest which it excited was as
intense as it was general. Tycho watched its arrival with peculiar
anxiety. He read the astrological diaries of the day, in which its
phases and its consequences were described; and when he saw the sun
darkened at the very moment that had been predicted, and to the very
extent that had been delineated, he resolved to make himself master of a
science which was capable of predicting future events, and especially
that branch of it which connected these events with the fortunes and
destinies of man. With this view he purchased the _Tabulae Bergenses_,
calculated by John Stadius, and began with ardour the study of the
planetary motions.

When Tycho had completed his course at Copenhagen, he was sent, in
February 1562, under the charge of a tutor to study jurisprudence at
Leipsic. Astronomy, however, engrossed all his thoughts; and he had no
sooner escaped from the daily surveillance of his master, than he rushed
with headlong impetuosity into his favourite pursuits. With his pocket
money he purchased astronomical books, which he read in secret; and by
means of a celestial globe, the size of his fist, he made himself
acquainted with the stars, and followed them night after night through
the heavens, when sleep had lulled the vigilance of his preceptor. By
means of the Ephemerides of Stadius, he learned to distinguish the
planets, and to trace them through their direct and retrograde
movements; and having obtained the Alphonsine and Prutenic Tables, and
compared his own calculations and observations with those of Stadius, he
observed great differences in the results, and from that moment he seems
to have conceived the design of devoting his life to the accurate
construction of tables, which he justly regarded as the basis of
astronomy.

With this view, he applied himself secretly to the study of arithmetic
and geometry; and, without the assistance of a master, he acquired that
mathematical knowledge which enabled him to realise these early
aspirations. His ardour for astronomy was still farther inflamed, and
the resolution which it inspired still farther strengthened, by the
great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which took place in August
1563. The calculated time of this phenomenon differed considerably from
the true time which was observed; and in determining the instant of
conjunction Tycho felt in the strongest manner the imperfection of the
instruments whic