Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/539

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TEMPERANCE


481


TEMPERANCE


dcfoptive in colour correction but excellent in defi- nition; licnco less adapted for planets, but perfectly suitable for comets, asteroids, and ncbulx, the very programme of Tempcl. Nebula?, however, became now his main field. In Arcetri he picked up only one more comet, "1877 V". The work with the large equatorial proved very slow and laborious. To find and to identify the stars, the observer had to descend from the ladder, use the comet-seeker on the terrace and make triangulations on the small charts at hand, all without electric light. And yet, after four j'ears' work, Tenipel presented to the Royal Academy of the Lincei a collection of th'awings of the more interesting nebula-, which secured him the royal prize given every six years for the best astronomical work in Italy. The Academy even offered to publish the drawings, but the proofs of the Uthographs did not satisfy the author. The designs are the more valuable as they contain many stars, measured with a double ring- micrometer. Tempel discovered many new nebute, observed a number that had been neglected since Herschel's time, WTote a mass of careful notes that are not yet published, occasionally correcting errors. Extracts of his observations are found in the "Astr. Nachr." (vols. 93-113). Drawings of the Orion nebula were published in the "Astr. Nachr.", vol. LVm (1862), and in the Memoirs of the R. Bohemian ■ Society of 1885 (reviewed in the Vierteljahrsschrift, XXII). Tempel was elected foreign associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of England in 1881, together with Gyld6n, Pickering, Tietjen, and Tisserand (Monthly Notices, XLI, 377). In 1886 he was honoured with a letter from King Humbert, handed to him by the Adjutant General, in recogni- tion of his astronomical drawings. In the intercourse with scientific men, the lack of academic training be- trayed itself occasionally, and Tempel himself re- gretted all his fife that he had not learnt Latin. Diffusiveness of style and uncritical assertions pro- voked contradiction. A controversy with Dreyer, the astronomer of Birr Castle, about the reality of spiral forms in many of Lord Rosse's drawings of nebula;, may be found in "The Observatory" (vols. I-II, 1878). The existence of a faint nebula drawn by Tempel (near H. I 55 Pegasi) was denied by Keeler (Astroph. J. XI, 1900).

Tempel's intercourse with old friends in Copen- hagen remained cordial to his end. He received them or friends recommended by them, like brothers, and always regretted that his means did not allow him to revisit Copenhagen. His letters to them breathe a deeply religious spirit. He glories in his honesty from childhood, regrets complaining about injuries received, speaks of the blessings of Providence, of friendship beyond death, gives thanks and praises to God, promises prayers to friends and benefactors, and looks confidently towards eternity. Expres- sions like these made his Protestant friend say in the "Dagbladet": "During the many years' sojourn in Italy his mind, which v/as subject to depressions, had found jieace by entering the Catholic Church". The same friend assured the writer of this article that, on a visit to Arcetri, he had found Tempel very happy in his religious convictions. His dearest company was an old priest who visited him regularly. A Franciscan from the Convent of Quaracchi was his confessor, and the Carthusians of the Certosa were his friends. Towards the end of 1886 Tempel was attacked by a liver complaint and, in the beginning of 1887, by partial paralysis. Unable to observe, he put his notes in order for publication. During his illness he received the sacraments repeatedly. The parish priest of S. Leonardo (now Canon Emilio Nunziati) testifies that Tempel was a thoroughly con\inced Catholic and died a saintly death, having his mind clear to the last. Tempel was hardly sixty- eight years old. He is buried near the tomb of XIV.— CI


Donati, in the cemetery of S. Felice a Elma, a suburb of Florence. He left neither debts nor projicrty, and his widow was provided f(ir by what is called in Italy a "spaccio di sali e tabacchi", this again, as it seems, through SchiapareUi. More than 186 drawings of nebula and stars, with numerous notes, are now the property of the university and deposited in the Tri- bune of Galileo (via Romana). A hst of them is in the "Astron. Nachr.", CII (1882), and in the " Bo- hemian Memoirs" (1885).

DaghladH (Copenhagen. 4 April, 1SS9) ; Monthly Notices R. A.S., h (1890), 179: S( HiAPAKEi.i.i. Aslron. Nachr.. CXXI (1890), 95; Abeiti, Publiamoni. fnso. XXVII (Arcetri. 1909), 163; Idem, Rivista di Astro, iimvi. III (Turin, 1909). Private letters from Copenhagen, .\rniagli, and Florence.

J. G. Hagen.

Temperance (Lat. temperare, to mingle in due pro- portions; to qualify) is here considered as one of the four cardinal virtues. It may be defined as the right- eous habit which makes a man govern his natural ap- petite for pleasures of the senses in accordance with the norm prescribed by reason. In one sense temper- ance may be regarded as a characteristic of all the moral virtues; the moderation it enjoins is essential to each of them. It is also according to St. Thomas (I-II, Q. cxU, a. 2) a special virtue. Thus, it is the virtue which bridles concupiscence or which controls the yearning for pleasures and delights which most powerfully attract the human heart. These fall mainly into three classes: some are associated with the preservation of the human individual; others with the perpetuation of the race, and others still with the well-being and comfort, of human life. Under this as- pect temperance has for subordinate vu-tucs, absti- nence, chastity, and modesty. Abstinence prescribes the restraint to be employed in partaking of food and drink. Obviously the measure of this self-restraint is not constant and invariable. It is different for dif- ferent persons as well as for different ends in view. The diet of an anchorite would not do for a farm la- bourer. Abstinence is opposed to the vices of glut- tony and drunkenness. The disorder of these is that food and drink are made use of in such wise a.s to dam- age instead of benefit the bodily health. Hence glut- tony and drunkenness are said to be intrinsically wrong. That does not mean, however, that they are always grievous sins. Gluttony is seldom such; drunkenness is so whenit is complete, that is when it destroys the u.se of reason for the time being. Chas- tity as a part of temperance regulates the sensual sat- isfactions connected with the propagation of the hu- man species. The contraiy vice is lust. As these pleasures appeal with special vehemence to human nature, it is the function of chastity to interpose the norm of reason. Thus it will decide that they are alto- gether to be refrained from in obedience to a higher vocation or at any rate only availed of with reference to the purposes of marriage. Chastity is not fanati- cism; much less is it insensibility. It is the carrying out of the mandate of temperance in a particular de- partment where such a steadying power is acutely needed.

The virtue of modesty, as ranged under temperance, has as its task the holding in rejisonable le;ish of the less violent human pa.ssions. It brings into service humility to set in order a man's interior. By trans- fusing his estimates with truth, and incrcLUsing his self- knowledge it guards him against the radical malice of pride. It is averse to pusillanimity, 1 he ]5roduct of low views and a mean-spirited will. In the government of the exterior of a man modesty aims to make it con- form to the demancLs of decency and decorousness (,honestas). In this way his whole outward tenor of conduct and method of life' fall under its sway. Such things as his attire, manner of spe<Mii, habitual bear- ing, style of living, have to be made to square with its injunctions. To be sure they caimot, always be set- tled by hard and fust rules. Convention will often