erto uniform movements of their primary. His
affections were ever turning to Germany, where astronomers of kindred
views, and artists of surpassing talent were to be found in almost every
city. The want of money alone prevented him from realizing his wishes;
and it was in the hope of attaining the means of travelling, that he in
a great measure forsook his sextants for his crucibles. In order,
however, that he might have one good instrument in his observatory, he
constructed a sextant similar to, but somewhat larger than, that which
he had presented to Hainzel. Its limb was made of solid brass, and was
exquisitely divided into single minutes of a degree. Its radii were
strengthened with plates of brass, and the apparatus for opening and
shutting them was made with great accuracy.

The possession of this instrument was peculiarly fortunate for Tycho,
for an event now occurred which roused him from his golden visions, and
directed all his faculties into their earlier and purer current. On the
11th November 1572, when he was returning to supper from his laboratory,
the clearness of the sky inspired him with the desire of completing some
particular observations. On looking up to the starry firmament he was
surprised to see an extraordinary light in the constellation of
Cassiopeia, which was then above his head. He felt confident that he had
never before observed such a star in that constellation, and
distrusting the evidence of his own senses, he called out the servants
and the peasants, and having received their testimony that it was a huge
star such as they had never seen before, he was satisfied of the
correctness of his own vision. Regarding it as a new and unusual
phenomenon, he hastened to his observatory, adjusted his sextant, and
measured its distances from the nearest stars in Cassiopeia. He noted
also its form, its magnitude, its light, and its colour, and he waited
with great anxiety for the next night that he might determine the
important point whether it was a fixed star, or a body within, or near
to, our own system.

For several years Tycho had been in the practice of calculating, at the
beginning of each year, a sort of almanac for his own use, and in this
he inserted all the observations which he had made on the new star, and
the conclusions which he had drawn from them. Having gone to Copenhagen
in the course of the ensuing spring, he shewed this manuscript to John
Pratensis, a Professor, in whose house he