But such a man appeared in the year 1517, whose name was Martin Luther. He was a poor monk; but a knowledge of virtually all there was to know lived in his mind, coupled with imagination to conceive, constructiveness to plan, and courage to perform. In that fateful year, 1517, the Pope sent agents through the world to sell "indulgences," which remitted certain temporal punishments for sin, in return for gifts of money. The agent who was commissioned for Germany carried out his work with so little tact and moderation, that he made the granting of indulgences seem even a more scandalous procedure than it really was. Luther had been preaching the doctrine of a simple following of the teachings of the Savior, and deprecating a too close adherence to mere forms and ritual. He now seems to have conceived a clean-cut plan of effective action; for on the evening before the indulgences were to be offered on All Saints Day, in the Church of Wittemberg, Luther nails on the door his celebrated ninety-five theses against the sale. The printing-press reproduced copies of these in great numbers throughout Germany. A definite sentiment antagonistic to the indulgences developed rapidly, and a general movement toward the reform of the abuses in the Church took shape. Luther was threatened with excommunication by the Pope in 1520, but he burned a copy of the "papal bull" in a public place on December 10 of that year.
The emperor of Germany convened a meeting of the Diet at Worms in 1521, at which he exerted all his powers to make Luther retract: but in vain. So great a following did Luther now have that, though the emperor put him under ban, and all persons were forbidden to feed or give him shelter, he was cared for secretly by men in high position, until he voluntarily came out of hiding, and appeared in Wittemberg. The emperor called a meeting of the Diet at Spires in 1526, and another meeting in 1529. Both meetings had for their object the suppression of the movement begun by Luther. It was against a decree made by the second Diet that certain high officials and others made the famous protest, that caused the name to be affixed to them of Protestants. This name has been perpetuated to this day.
As is well known, the movement resulted, after nearly a hundred years of disturbed conditions, in a series of wars, called "The Thirty Years' War" that began in 1618, and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. This Peace marked the end of the Reformation period, and resulted in establishing Protestantism in North Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England and Scotland.
The influence of Luther's conception with its subsequent development was thus definite, widespread and profound, even if regarded from a merely religious point of view: but the influence it had on religion was only a part of its total influence. In words, the protest was against certain abuses in the Roman Church; but in fact it was against a domination exercised over the minds and souls of men. Luther's influence was in reforming not only the Roman Catholic Church and the practice of the Christian religion throughout Europe, but also the conditions under which men were allowed to use their minds.
While the inventions in mechanism, religion, etc., which we have just noted were going on during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, others were going on in the realm of science. The movement was begun about 1507 by a young man named Nicolas Copernicus, who was executing the dissimilar functions of canon, physician and mathematician in the little town of Frauenberg in Poland. Copernicus at this time was thirty-four years old, but he had even then devoted the major activities of his mind to astronomy for several years. Naturally, his efforts had been devoted to mastering whatever of the science then existed. The efforts of most people in dealing with any subject end when they have gone thus far—and very few go even thus far. But Copernicus noted that, while the Ptolemaic System (suggested, though probably not invented by the Egyptian king) was the one generally accepted, it did not account for many of the phenomena observed; that none of the other systems that had been suggested afterward explained matters more satisfactorily, and that no one of the systems was in harmony with any other.
Thereupon this daring young man conceives the idea of inventing a system of astronomy himself, in which all the movements of the heavenly bodies should be shown to be in accordance with a simple and harmonious law. Seizing on this idea, he proceeds at once to develop it; and he works on it until death takes him from his labors in 1543 at the age of seventy.
The whole civilized world had virtually accepted the Ptolemaic Theory,—at least, the part of it which assumed that the earth was the center of the universe, the sun and stars and planets revolving around it. Copernicus invented the theory that the sun was the center, that the earth and the other planets revolved around it, and that the earth revolved on its own axis once in twenty-four hours. So great was the insistence of the religious bodies in adhering to the Ptolemaic Theory, so set were the minds of all men of high position on it, that though Copernicus wrote a book expounding his own theory, he did not think it wise to publish it. He seems to have completed the book in about 1530. He did not publish it till 1543. Just before its printing was finished, Copernicus was taken ill. The first volume was held before him. He touched it and seemed to realize dimly what it was. Then he relapsed into torpor almost immediately, and soon died.
It is interesting to note that Copernicus was not the first to conceive the idea that the earth turns on its own axis, or that the earth revolves around the sun, any more than Bell was the first to conceive the idea that speech could be transmitted by a suitable arrangement of magnet, diaphragm and electric circuit. But Copernicus was the first to invent a system of astronomy that was like a machine. It was a usable thing. It could be made to explain astronomical phenomena and predict astronomical events correctly.
It may be well to remind ourselves again that no application for patent will be granted by our Patent Office unless the invention is described and illustrated so clearly and correctly that "a person skilled in the art can make and use it;" and to realize that this admirable phraseology may be utilized to distinguish any other novel endeavor of man entitled to be called an invention from any other not so entitled; for no system, no theory, no religion, no scheme of government, regardless of how attractive it may be, is entitled to be called an invention, unless, like the Copernican System, "a person skilled in the art can make and use it."
Shortly after Copernicus, came Johann Kepler, who was born in Württemburg in 1571, and died in 1630. He had been a pupil of Tycho Brahe, who did not succeed in making any great invention or discovery, but who did collect a great amount of data. Utilizing these, Kepler devoted many years to the study of Copernicus, and tried to invent a system which would explain some facts of astronomy that the system of Copernicus did not explain, notably the non-uniform speed of the planets. The main result of his labors was the famous Kepler's Laws, which were