Calcagninus, Cælius, Italian philosopher and astronomer (1479–1541) is the author of “Quomodo Cœlum stet, terra moveatur ...” wherein he asserts that the earth turns around the sun, also of “De Re Nautica,” containing a good account of ancient ceremonies and observations, as well as of a Commentary on Aristotle, and of many creditable poetical effusions published 1533. His complete works appeared at Basle during the year 1544, and a list of them, fifty-six in all, is given by Jean Pierre Nicéron in his “Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des hommes illustres,” Paris, 1727–1745.
References.—Calcagnini (T. G.), “Della vita ... C. Calcag”; Ginguené (Pierre Louis), “Histoire Litéraire d’Italie,” Vols. IV, VI and VII; Paul Jove—Jovius—Giovio (b. 1483, d. 1552), “Eloges”; Borsetti, Ferranti Bolani (Ferrante Giovanni), “Historia almi Ferrariæ Gymnasii,” 1735; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. VIII. pp. 159–161; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. III. p. 109; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 98; Gilbert, De Magnete, Book I. chap. i.
Cardanus, Hieronymus (1501–1576), who is so very frequently mentioned by Gilbert, throughout Books I, II, III and IV, was an Italian physicist whose writings are extremely numerous and are well reviewed in the best edition of his works published at Lyons during 1663. Those by which he is best known are the “Ars Magna,” “De Rerum Varietate, Libri XVII,” and the “De Subtilitate, Libri XXI,” which may be considered the exponent of all his scientific knowledge and a notably good translation of which, in French, by Richard Leblanc was published in Paris, 1556.
References.—Morley (H.), “Life of Cardan,” 1854, wherein, Vol. II. pp. 56–70, will be found a long account more particularly of the contents of “De Subtilitate”; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. III. pp. 376–377; Dr. Fr. Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,” tr. of Geo. S. Morris, 1885, Vol. II. p. 25; Walton and Cotton, “Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, Part I. p. 142; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 101.
Copernicus, Nicolaus—Koppernik—Zepernic—celebrated astronomer, native of Poland (1472–1543), whose studies led him to reject the Ptolemaic system of the universe, and who proposed the one now bearing his name, is the author of “De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium,” which was published May 24, 1543, a few days before his death. He is alluded to by Gilbert (De Magnete, Chaps. II, III, VI, IX, of book vi.), who calls him “the restorer of astronomy” and “a man most worthy of the praise of scholarship.” The life and labours of Copernicus are fully detailed, in chapter treating of “Discoveries in the celestial spaces” of the “Cosmos” by Von Humboldt, who, in relation to a passage in “De Revolutionibus,” makes the following very curious note: “It very singularly happens that in an otherwise instructive memoir” (Czynski, “Kopernik et ses travaux,” 1847, p. 102), “the Electra of Sophocles is confounded with electric currents. The passage of Copernicus (quoted in Latin) is thus rendered: ‘If we take the sun for the torch of the universe, for its spirit and its guide—if Trismegistes call it a God, and if Sophocles consider it to be an electrical power which animates and contemplates all that is contained in creation....’
“Four men, Gutenberg, Columbus, Luther and Copernicus, stand at the dividing line of the Middle Ages, and serve as boundary stones marking the entrance of mankind into a higher and finer epoch of its development” (Kapp (Friedrich), Geschichte, etc., I).
References.—Westphal (E. J.), “Nikolaus Kopernikus” (“Biographie des Copernicus”); Delambre (J. B. J.), “Histoire de l’astronomie Moderne”; “Journal des Savants” for February 1864 and for December 1895; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. V. pp. 66–67; Edw. S. Holden in “Pop. Sc. Monthly” for June 1904, pp. 109–131; Phil. Magazine, Vol. XIX. p. 302; Gassendi (Pierre), in “Nicolai Copernici Vita,” appended to his biography of Tycho (“Tychonis Brahei Vita,” 1655, Hagæ Comitum, p. 320); W. Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” New York, 1858, Vol. I. pp. 257–290; the article at pp. 378–382, “Engl. Cycl.,” which abounds in references; Rheticus, “Narrat. prima”; Kepler (Johann), “De Temporis”; Horrebow (at A.D. 1725—the luminous process of the sun, a perpetual northern light); Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp. 109–113, for an extended list of authorities, and also pp. 1571–1572; Joachimus (Georgius) surnamed Rhecticus, who quotes many works on Copernicus.
Cordus, Valerius—Eberwein—celebrated German botanist (1515–1544), who is alluded to by Gilbert, Book I. chap ii. wrote a Commentary on Dioscorides, published by Egénolphe in 1549, as well as an extensive history of plants, which is to be found in the Strasburg editions of his works, issued during 1562 and 1569.
References.—“Biog. Générale” (Hœfer), Vol. XI. pp. 804–807; Larousse (Pierre), “Grand Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. V. p. 133; Adam (Melchior), “Vitæ med. Germ.”; “Lindenius renovatus”—“Thesaur. Lit. Botan.,” 1851, pp. 52, 334; Camerarius, “Vita Melanchthon”; Linden (Joannes Antonides van der), “De Scriptis Medicis,” 1651, pp. 572–573; “Dict. Historique de la Médecine,” par N. F. J. Eloy, Mons, 1778, pp. 705–707, Vol. I.
Cortesius, Martinus, celebrated Spanish geographer who died about 1580, is the author of the well-known and extremely scarce work, “Breve compendio de la esfera, y de la arte de navegar,” Cadiz, 1546 1551, and Seville, 1556, which was translated by Richard Eden, 1561, 1589, 1609. Of the 1556 issue, Salva remarks (II, 3763): “2e édition aussi rare que la première. C’est cet ouvrage qui a revolutionné la science nautique et qui fut le premier à indiquer la déclinaison de l’aiguille. Les instructions pour construire des mappemondes ne sont la partie la moins intéressante du texte et pourraient être utiles à tous ceux qui sont incapables de comprendre le principe des roses de vents et des loxodromes, qui couvrent la surface des cartes hydrographiques anciennes. Mais c’est justement ici que l’intelligence pénétrante de Cortez a indiqué les défauts de la projection longtemps avant Mercator.”