h he used. For this purpose he employed a sort of
compass, one leg of which was directed to one planet and the second to
the other planet or fixed star; and, by measuring the angular opening
between them, he determined the distance of the two celestial bodies. By
this rude contrivance he found that the Alphonsine Tables erred a whole
month in the time of conjunction, while the Copernican ones were at
least several days in error. To this celebrated conjunction Tycho
ascribed the great plague which in subsequent years desolated Europe,
because it took place in the beginning of _Leo_, and not far from the
nebulous stars of _Cancer_, two of the zodiacal signs which are reckoned
by Ptolemy "suffocating and pestilent!"

There dwelt at this time at Leipsic an ingenious artisan named
Scultetus, who was employed by Homelius, the professor of mathematics in
that city, to assist him in the construction of his instruments. Having
become acquainted with this young man, Tycho put into his hand a wooden
radius, such as was recommended by Gemma Frisius, for the purpose of
having it divided in the manner adopted by Homelius; and with this
improved instrument he made a great number of astronomical observations
out of his window, without ever exciting the suspicions of his tutor.

Having spent three years at Leipsic, he was about to make the tour of
Germany, when, in consequence of his uncle's death, he was summoned to
his native country to inherit the fortune which had been left him. He
accordingly quitted Leipsic about the middle of May 1565, and after
having arranged his domestic concerns in Denmark, he continued his
astronomical observations with the radius constructed for him by
Scultetus. The ardour with which he pursued his studies gave great
umbrage to his friends as well as to his relations. He was reproached
for having abandoned the profession of the law; his astronomical
observations were ridiculed as not only useless but degrading, and,
among his numerous connexions, his maternal uncle, Steno Bille, was the
only one who applauded him for following the bent of his genius. Under
these uncomfortable circumstances he resolved to quit his country, and
pay a visit to the most interesting cities of Germany.

At Wittemberg, where he arrived in April 1566, he resumed his
astronomical observations; but, in consequence of the plague having
broken out in that city, he removed to Rostoch in the following autumn.
Here an accident occurred