Professor
Rigaud of Oxford.

[19] Edin. Phil. Journ. 1822, vol. vi. p. 317. See Rigaud's Life of
Bradley, Supplement, p. 31.

[20] Id. It., p. 37, 38.

Another candidate for the honour of discovering the spots of the sun,
was John Fabricius, who undoubtedly saw them previous to June 1611. The
dedication of the work[21] in which he has recorded his observation,
bears the date of the 13th of June 1611; and it is obvious, from the
work itself, that he had seen the spots about the end of the year 1610;
but as there is no proof that he saw them before October, we are
compelled to assign the priority of the discovery to the Italian
astronomer.

[21] Joh. Fabricii Phrysii de Maculis in Sole observatis, et
apparente earum cum Sole conversione, Narratio. Wittemb. 1611.

The claim of Scheiner, professor of mathematics at Ingolstadt, is more
intimately connected with the history of Galileo. This learned
astronomer having, early in 1611, turned his telescope to the sun,
necessarily discovered the spots which at that time covered his disc.
Light flying clouds happened, at the time, to weaken the intensity of
his light, so that he was able to show the spots to his pupils. These
observations were not published till January 1612; and they appeared in
the form of three letters, addressed to Mark Velser, one of the
magistrates of Augsburg, under the signature of _Appelles post Tabulam_.
Scheiner, who, many years afterwards, published an elaborate work on
the subject, adopted the same idea which had at first occurred to
Galileo--that the spots were the dark sides of planets revolving round
and near the sun.[22]

[22] It does not appear from the history of solar observations at
what time, and by whom, coloured glasses were first introduced for
permitting the eye to look at the sun with impunity. Fabricius was
obviously quite ignorant of the use of coloured glasses. He
observed the sun when he was in the horizon, and when his
brilliancy was impaired by the interposition of thin clouds and
floating vapours; and he advises those who may repeat his
observations to admit at first to the eye a small portion of the
sun's light, till it is gradually accustomed to its full splendour.
When the sun's altitude became considerable, Fabricius gave up his
observations, which he often continued so long that he was scarcely
able, for two days together, to see