The Sleepwalkers (270 page)
Authors: Arthur Koestler
Duhem
III, p. 110.
The
earliest
preserved
Portolano
maps
date
from
the
thirteenth
century,
but
show
a
long-established
tradition,
whereas
the
circular
Hereford
map
(c.
1280),
and
the
"T
and
O"
maps
of
the
fifteenth
century
show
that
"theoretical"
and
"practical"
maps
of
the
world
must
have
overlapped
for
several
centuries.
Huizinga,
op. cit., p. 68.
Ibid.,
pp. 45, 50.
Part
II Chapter III. THE UNIVERSE OF THE SCHOOLMEN
The
Categories
and
the
De
Interpretatione.
Whitehead,
Science
and
the
Modern
World
(
Cambridge,
1953),
p.
15.
De
Caelo
;
De
Generatione
et
Corruptione
,
quoted
by
Whittaker
,
op.
cit.,
p.
27.
There
were
of
course
notable
exceptions:
Bacon,
the
Franciscan
school,
and
the
Parisian
school
of
the
fourteenth
century.
But
the
anti-Aristotelian
physics
of
Ockham,
Buridan
and
Oresme
bore
no
immediate
fruit;
Copernicus
and
Kepler,
for
instance,
knew
nothing
of
their
revolutionary
theory
of
impetus
(though
Leonardo
did);
and
their
triumph
over
Aristotle
came
only
three
centuries
later,
through
Galileo
–
who
never
acknowledged
his
indebtedness
to
them.
Because
a
thing
cannot
be
both
in
act
and
in
potency
at
the
same
time
and
in
the
same
respect.
But
"potency"
and
"act",
as
applied
to
a
moving
body,
are
meaningless
terms.
For
a simple exposition of the Aristotelian-Ockhamist controversy on
motion see Whittaker, op. cit., appendix.
H.
Butterfield,
The
Origins
of
Modern
Science
(
London,
1949),
p.
14.
See
above
note
4.
But
even
in
antiquity,
this
blindness
was
not
a
total
one.
Thus
Plutarch
argues
in
On
the
Face
of
the
Moon
that
the
moon
is
of
earthy,
solid
stuff,
and
that
in
spite
of
its
weight
it
does
not
fall
down
on
the
earth,
because:
"...The
moon
has
a
security
against
falling
in
her
very
motion
and
the
swing
of
her
revolution,
just
as
objects
put
in
slings
are
prevented
from
falling
by
the
circular
whirl;
for
everything
is
carried
along
by
the
motion
natural
to
it
if
it
is
not
deflected
by
anything
else
.
Thus
the
moon
is
not
carried
down
by
her
weight
because
her
natural
tendency
is
frustrated
by
the
revolution."
(
Heath,
op.
cit.,
p.
170;
my
italics.)
The
translation
is
by
Heath,
who
comments:
"This
is
practically
Newton's
first
Law
of
Motion."
(
Heath,
op.
cit.,
p.
170.)
It
is
curious
that
this
passage
has
aroused
so
little
comment.
The
context
makes
it
clear
that
Plutarch
did
not
hit
on
the
idea
of
momentum
by
a
lucky
chance,
but
that
he
had
the
"feel"
of
it,
as
it
were.
So,
of
course,
had
every
spear-thrower
(and
his
victim).
Butterfield,
op. cit., p. 7.
Morias
Enkognion,
Basilieae,
1780,
p.
218
seq
.
Gilbert
Murray,
Five
Stages
of
Greek
Religion
(
London,
1935),
p.
144.
Science
and
the
Modern
World
,
p.
7.
PART
THREE
THE TIMID CANON COPERNICUS
1
The
standard
biography
of
Copernicus
is
still
Leopold
Prowe's
Nicolaus
Copernicus
(
Berlin,
1883-4).
The most important recent work about
the Copernican theory, its origins and repercussions, is Ernst Zinner
Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Coppernicanischen Lehre
hung
und
Ausbreitung
der
Coppernicanischen
Lehre
(
Sitzungsberichte
der
Physikalisch-medizinischen
Sozietaet
zu
Erlangen
,
74
Band,
Erlangen,
1943).
Concise
summaries
of
the
Copernican
system
are
given
in
Angus
Armitage
Copernicus
the
Founder
of
Modern
Astronomy
(
London,
1938),
and
in
Dreyer
op.
cit.
Prowe's
work
was
published
in
two
volumes,
the
first
consisting
of
two
parts
separately
numbered.
References
to
Volume
I
are
accordingly
marked
Prowe
I,
1
and
I,
2.
The
first
volume
contains
the
biography,
the
second,
documents
in
Latin,
Greek
and
medieval
German.
All
references
to
Prowe
Vol.
II
refer
to
the
Latin
originals.
Part
III Chapter I. THE LIFE OF COPERNICUS
The
surname
is
variously
spelt
in
documents
as
Coppernic,
Koppernieck,
Koppernik,
Koppernigk,
Kopperlingk,
Cupernick,
and
Kupernick.
The
most
usual
is
Koppernigk
(the
spelling
which
Prowe
also
adopted).
He
himself
signed
his
name
on
different
occasions
as
Copernic,
Coppernig,
Coppernik,
Copphernic,
and
in
later
years
mostly
Copernicus.