Aristotelean and scholastic views of the kosmos and of the dependence of the four elements of the sublunary region on the movements in the æthereal part of the universe. The dependence of vegetable life on the motion of the sun in the ecliptic, and the similarity of the period of the moon's orbital motion to that of certain phenomena of human life, were looked upon as proofs of the connection between the sublunary and the æthereal worlds; and as the human body was composed of the elements, it would, like these, be influenced by the forces, chiefly the planets, by which the celestial part of the kosmos exercised its power. Thus it was supposed that the state of the body was dependent on the positions of the planets among the signs of the zodiac, and that the power of the Deity over the fate of man was also exercised by the medium of the stars.[1] Galileo had not yet overthrown the Aristotelean system of Natural Philosophy, and Bacon had not yet taught us to look for the explanation of the phenomena of nature by seeking for the mechanically acting causes through observation and induction, instead of through metaphysical speculation. Until this was done, it is not to be wondered at that the greatest minds believed in astrology; and it only shows the narrow-mindedness of some modern writers, and their ignorance of the historical development of man's conception of nature, when they, on every occasion, sneer at the greatest men of former ages for their belief in astrology.
Among the professors at Rostock was Levinus Battus, Professor of Medicine, born in the Netherlands, and originally a mathematician. He has left writings on alchemy, and was a follower of Paracelsus; so that it is likely enough that Tycho, who afterwards paid a good deal of attention to chemistry, attended his lectures. Tycho does not seem to have taken observations regularly at that time; at
- ↑ "Astra regunt hominem, sed regit astra Deus."
