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184: BKAHE BRAHMA tenor scale longer than any other man ever known. Braham also composed numerous songs which met with great popularity, and were noted for the beauty of their melody. His son AUGUSTUS acquired some distinction as a tenor singer, lie first sang in opera in New York in 1852, having previously appeared in concerts. BBAUE, Tyebo or Tyge de, a Danish astrono- mer, of Swedish origin, born at Knudstorp, in Scania, which then belonged to Denmark, Dec. 4, 1546, died in Prague, Oct. 13, 1601. He caine of an ancient princely family, the ruins of whose castle, Wisingsborg, are still visible on the shore of Lake Wetter. He was the second of ten children, and he as well as his youngest sister Sophia early displayed great intellectual ability. After having been under the care of private tutors, his maternal uncle, Steno Belle, sent him after the death of his father to Copenhagen to study philosophy, and in, 1562 to Leipsic to study law ; but astronomy engrossed his attention almost exclusively, the fulfilment of the prediction in regard to the eclipse of the sun in 1560 having essentially contributed to strengthen his faith in that science. His relatives insisting upon his pre- paring himself for the law and for statesman- ship, he clandestinely devoted the night to astronomical observations, with the aid of a small celestial globe and a wooden circle for the measurement of the stars, thus observing in 1563 the junction of Saturn with Jupiter. The inheritance of a considerable fortune in 1565 left him at liberty to prosecute his ex- periments, in which he was encouraged by the Danish government in 1568. After spend- ing some time in Augsburg, he returned to Copenhagen in 1570 with a European repu- tation, which was increased in 1572 by his dis- covery of a new star, though this did not re- appear after 1574. His uncle gave him every opportunity for astronomical observations at his seat near Knudstorp; but his marriage with a peasant girl produced great unpleasant- ness with his relatives, though Frederick II. of Denmark endeavored to effect a reconcilia- tion. At the king's request he lectured at Copenhagen in 1574 on the theory of comets and on mathematics, and he afterward visited Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He resolved in 1576 to settle permanently in Basel ; but the king secured his services by bestowing upon him for life the island of Hven in the Sound, and by building there for him a laboratory and a magnificent observatory, which was finished in 1580. It acquired great celebrity under the name of Uranienborg, and Brahe gave here such a powerful impetus to astronomical science, that distinguished personages of all countries visited him, including James VI. of Scotland, afterward James I. of England, while in Den- mark to marry the princess Anne. Frederick II. spared no effort and no money to enlarge the scope of the astronomer's labors, and gave him a pension of 2,000 crowns and the canonry of Roeskilde with a revenue of 1,000 crowns, besides other endowments. But soon after the king's death he lost all these advantages, owing to the hostility of Walchendorff and other members of the council of regency. Not only was he driven from Uranienborg on account of his inability to defray the expenses of the observatory, but he was also obliged to leave Copenhagen ; and in 1597 he abandoned Den- mark for ever. He went with his family to Rostock, and then to Holstein, where he pre- vailed upon Heinrich von Rantzau to recom- mend him to Rudolph II. of Gennany. This emperor received him with great distinction, and assigned him in 1599 a pension of 3,000 florins in gold and a residence in his own cha- teau of Benach, near Prague, where Kepler vis- ited him in 1600. Subsequently Brahe was installed by the emperor in an extensive man- sion in Prague, which he proposed to convert into another Uranienborg, but he died too soon for the accomplishment of this purpose. He was interred in the Theinkirche, one of the principal churches of Prague, where a marble effigy perpetuates his memory. The emperor purchased his valuable collection of instru- ments, but, with the exception of one sextant, they have all been destroyed in times of war ; and his famous celestial globe of brass, said to have cost 5,000 thalers, found its way back to Copenhagen after many vicissitudes, only to be burnt during the conflagration of the palace in 1720. Brahe was of a violent and hasty temper, and so superstitious that he kept about him a lunatic whose ravings he re- garded as prophetic. His system was not ex- tensively adopted, and is considered as but a modified form of that of Ptolemy. But to Brahe belongs the merit of having been the first to lay the foundation of practical astrono- my, and Kepler used his numerous and for his time wonderful observations effectively in his discoveries. Brahe's principal publications in- clude Calendariurn Naturale Magicum (1582), Progymnasmata Astronomical vols., 1587-'9), AstronomitB instaurata Mechanica (a descrip- tion of his instruments, 1598), and Epistola As- tronomicce (1610). His observations were col- lected by his disciples in 1666 (Historia Cce- lestia, 20 vols.). His chief biographers are, in Italian, Gassendi (Paris, 1655); in German, Helfrecht (Hof, 1798); and in Danish, Peder- sen (Copenhagen, 1838). See also Brewster, " Martyrs of Science " (London, 1841), and Bertrand, Les fondateurs de I'astronomie mo- derne (Paris, 1865). BKAHMA, Brahman, Brahmanlsm (also BRAHMIN, BRAHMINISM), linihinaiia. Of this, the most im- portant body of words in the religious history of India, the starting point is the neuter noun brahman (nom. and accus. brdhma), which is of frequent occurrence even in the oldest parts of the Veda, as signifying " worship, offering of devotion and praise." In later developments it is used to mean holy words, songs, action, &c., and finally the sacred principle, the highest